Links: The Challenge of Golf

If takes something pretty special these days to raise even half an I eyebrow as far as golf sims are concerned, so you may be unenthusiastic at first about the claim on Link's packaging that it's a 'Golf simulation so realistic, you'll think you're there!'. Okay, such a claim is obviously a wild exaggeration, but you can't fail to be impressed by the excellent course backgrounds and options available. The animation is very smooth on the eye, and the swing of the clubs isn't impossible to control either.

I feel that I must warn you now about the one and only serious problem with this game, and for some of you it will make the prospect of a round with Links virtually impossible to bear. Every time you take a shot, your trusty old Amiga will take an average of about 25 seconds to redraw the view for your next pot at the flag. After a while this becomes very frustrating indeed, and as you can probably imagine, it takes about two hours to complete a full round. I suppose it does represent a realistic golf simulation if you take the last two points into account though. After all, the few occasions that have seen me venture onto a real golf course hove ended approximately a couple of hours later in tears of frustration.

I still like Links despite this fault, and just think what the mark below could have been if it wasn't so slow to play.

Just a final point to say that to play Links, you'll need either a hard disk or two floppy drives but A3000 + WHDLoad is recommended combination.