Game Review - by StormDaemon
Pro 18 World Tour Golf is another lineup of the increasingly popular golf sims that features television-like announcing over beautifully rendered golf courses with awesome amounts of actual control over golfing. You'll be amazed by the look and feel of the courses, which are rendered down to the tiniest detail, and you'll watch as the pros themselves hit amazing shots to beat the pants of you. Whether you're playing for money or for fun, if you love golf, then you'll find this game to be a great deal of fun.

Features:
Pro 18 provides several features such as three different methods of hitting the ball, the ability to play as or with several different pros, televised tournament style play, realistic weather, multiplayer golfing, several beautiful courses, and a lot of realism. No matter which of the many game types you play, such as strokeplay, tournament, skins, and shootout, you'll be very involved in the amount of control given to you as the player. The courses will also keep you involved with their varying levels of challenge and good looks. Not only can you also play those courses as one of several pros, but you can create your own custom golfer with their own ways of play and stats.

Gameplay:
The game had numerous ways to play which made it stand out from many other games. Though not having one incredibly strong point in particular, and having a few asthetic pitfalls, such as lots of clicking and a lot of cpu time usage, the game has several good points that keep it above average. The 3 different ways of practicing your shots, putting, driving, and chipping, all allow you to actually improve your handling of the game and are kinda fun if you just want to drive balls all day without having to run around and compete on a course. The courses themselves are another strong point of the game because of their looks and their creativity. They all are a mixture of challenging and fun holes that golf enthusiasts will love. The challengers are all well-rounded golfers which make good and bad shots, mostly good but still an occasional off shot that will work toward your advantage. Playing the game can be done in 3 different ways in this game, allowing for several different approaches to simulating the hitting of a golf ball. You can choose 3 click, 4 click, or mouse to control the hitting, with my personal favorite being the mouse. The clicking relies more on chance and timing that actual control, whereas the mouse method relies more on control than chance and timing. No matter what way you choose, its all pretty good. You can even control other variables such as your stance, and the angle that the club will strike the ball. Simulation of control in this game is pretty big, and it is another strong point.

Graphics:
The best part about the graphics of the entire game would have to be the scenery of all the courses and even the practice areas. They were all photo realistic and made you feel right in the middle of a golf course. Unfortunately the graphics for people that were on the course, including the golfers, looked out of place and the crowd especially stuck out like a lot of sore thumbs. The golfer you play didn't look as bad, but had a bit of the blue screen effect, which is a bit taboo with the more advanced computer graphics techniques in use today. Though not enough to warrant a lower rating, it was still there and generally annoying. The course graphics made up a lot for the people, and I spent much more time looking at the scenery that the people that were akwardly placed on the sidelines.

Sound FX:
The sound effects, which included announcers, crowds, and general miscellaneous sounds, were the most average part of the entire game, with nothing to special going on. Announcers certainly added a better feel of realism to the game, and they were accurately done in the sense that you didn't hear "that was a great shot" if you only hit the ball 2 feet off the tee, but it there wasn't enough in the rest of the game to warrant a higher rating.

Overall:
Pro 18 is one of those golf games that goes for realism over looks, and thats not to say that the looks are bad. They graphics are good, but only with the courses and the menus. The people don't look so good, but that doesn't really matter if you're just after playing a good game. The amount of detail and control make up for any graphical faults, and the challenge level will surely entertain any golf fan. The bottom line is that this is a slick game that has only a few asthetic faults.