Previous Next

Sports games seem to be getting more and more popular these days and as some of them have been rather poorly done, this one comes as a welcome addition.

George Bernard Shaw defined golf as the best way he could think to ruin a good walk. He might well have approved of Birdie Barrage, which allows you to test your golfing skills without leaving your armchair.

The program presents an 18 hole golf course with a variety of different lengths and configurations of hole: you complete the round with as few strokes as possible. Par for the course is 72.

The program presents each hole in turn as a plan view, depicting tee, fairway, rough, water, bunkers and the green. The course must have been constructed on a series of islands, judging by the amount of water shown. It is all done in a fairly symbolic fashion, down to the clumps of identical art deco bushes, but is attractive nonetheless. A random wind blows across the course, changing speed and direction between holes. You carry a full complement of clubs with four woods, nine irons, a sand wedge and a putter. For each shot you select a club, input the direction of your stroke using a compass marker and adjust the strength of shot on a thermometer-type scale. The strength of shot uses the up and down cursor keys. The travel of the ball seems accurate, the wind affecting its flight when it is slowing and falling to earth.

Once you've got the ball on the green, the display changes to give a close-up view of the ball and hole. You use your putter and simply input direction and strength until you sink the ball. There are three different speeds of green and quite a difference in the strength of shot required on each type.

In between holes your score is shown. This is useful, but it would be valuable to have a stroke count during play of each hole so that you can see how you're progressing.

A full 18 holes takes anything up to half an hour to play and it would have been nice to be able to select a shorter round, or to play certain holes only, or even to be able to play a partner, taking it in turns to play each shot. Otherwise, there is very little to fault in this implementation of golf. All in all, a straightforward idea well presented and as accurate as you're going to get.