World Tour Golf

World Tour Golf, was released for the IIGS in 1987, Electronic Arts' first title for the platform, and it shows.

The program loads from one of the earliest versions of ProDOS 16, after which the Program Launcher greets you. Why it didn't just load straight into the game, I don't know - possibly earlier versions of ProDOS 16 couldn't support a Start Program other than the Program Launcher or Finder. But I digress.

The World Tour Golf title screen is an abhorrence; even Electronic Arts' cool logo was adversely perverted with a very poor attempt of a golf ball graphic to fill the sphere found in the normal logo. The intro music isn't much better, a simple melody of Ensoniq generated tones.

The following menus, however, simple as they look, are useful in that they are accessible during any part of the game by pressing escape. Like other golfing sims such as Mean 18 and Jack Nicklaus Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf, you can elect to practice at the driving or putting range. In driving a dozen balls, I still couldn't figure out exactly how World Tour Golf's power gauge works. It didn't help that I'm not motivated to either, because I'd rather play a game of Mean 18 anyway.

Regardless, World Tour Golf may prove to be fun for someone. The game certainly allows for variety, as it offers many, many more inbuilt courses than other golfing sims, as well as a course construction editor to create your own.