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In many ways, and more so than with most other sports, computer golf is the very antithesis of the real thing. Golf is all about getting out into the fresh air, having a leisurely stroll along the course with a chum or two, and socialising convivially in the clubhouse afterwards. It doesn't really matter how good you are, for the average hacker the playing of the game is its own reward. (Contrast this with something like Kick Off, where the ordinary gamer has neither the talent nor the opportunity - who's ever got 21 friends all in the mood for a quick kickabout at the same time? - to seriously pursue the real thing, and hence looks to the computer game to give him a flavour of something he'll never experience for real). To play it by yourself in a dark and clammy bedroom, then, is a pretty strange thing for anyone to want to do. Still, it's always a popular theme for programmers, which leads me to believe that it's not the fact that a computer game is a simulation of golf per se that's important, but that there's something inherently attractive about the basic concept that real golf was developed from in the first place. I'd have thought that this would make total accuracy of simulation the last thing which was really important in a computer golf game (when are we going to see a future sport game based on the pitch 'n putt principle? Death Golf, with exploding balls, mines in the rough and snipers in the trees, maybe? Now that'd be interesting), but nonetheless (surprise!) that's what MicroProse have gone for here, so all that remains to be seen is how good a job they've made of it.

The first thing you're going to notice when you play MicroProse Golf (hell of a title, guys!) is the stunningly-executed 3D effect. The courses are depicted in vector-graphic contours, and as the ball flies through the air, a camera tracks its progress past rolling hills, across lakes and streams and through clumps of trees in an extremely effective manner (indeed, several cameras do, as you can view a shot from any one of five moving angles). It's an impressive thing to witness, but unfortunately the programmers have gotten slightly carried away with it and over-stretched themselves. What I mean by that rather cruel-sounding comment is that when your golfer stands at the tee or wherever, you see a lovely and reasonably detailed panoramic view of the hole ahead as far as the eye can see, but when he goes to actually hit the ball, all but the close foreground is suddenly blanked out by a cloak of light blue. The effect is rather unsettling, as if a particularly thick fog has descended without warning on the course, and it gives you an unwelcome reminder of the limitations of the machine (in much the same way as 'Loading And Decrunching Level Two' messages spoil the atmosphere and flow of many an arcade game). Now you can say that's unavoidable and forgiveable - some people in the office are arguing that angle even as I type - but I don't agree. When I'm playing a computer game, I want to feel that I'm lost in whatever little world I've entered, and the last thing I want to see is the machine's little cogs and wheels grinding in front of me and dragging everything back to Earth.

If the machine isn't up to what you're trying to do, you should forget about it and concentrate on making it perform to ultimate standard that is within its capabilities. In such a way are all the best games written - it's why Rainbow Islands is brilliant (partly, anyway) and why Dragon's Lair is trash.

There are a few other areas of the game which seem to have been neglected in favour of the spanky graphics too. For one, the ball-hitting, mechanism, while perfectly serviceable, is a touch over-fussy for my liking. The circular bars are unnatural, and the moving line is too thick for the pixel precision needed for some of the trickier shots you'll be called on to play. Also, the aiming system used on the course map is needlessly confusing and unhelpful - imposing an arc on a forced 3D perspective makes it extremely difficult to know exactly where your ball is hopefully going. (The manual only muddles matters further here with lots of unnecessary waffle about bouncing and rolling and "optimum" and "maximum" distances.)

It's a pain in the neck, too, to have to keep going back to the map screen when you just want to change your club. In a game drowning in icons, having such a complicated route to one of the simplest tasks seems a little absurd.

In addition, the slopes on some of the greens are a little intangible. Having overlaid the grid lines on the green, which seems to show it as flat, it's very disconcerting to watch your ball shoot off six yards to the left of the hole! And finally, the game does so much of the work for you (selecting clubs, aiming at the hole, etc) that sometimes the player can feel that he's not exerting much real control over the proceedings.

In fact, after a while, it can seem that all you're actually doing is perfoming a quick reaction test when taking the shot, and it's the computer that's really doing all the actual golfing!

Hang on though. You might not think it, but I like this game. For all my nitpicking, it's still a highly enjoyable golf sim, and the accuracy and depth of options (well, they are MicroProse's strong points) are both painstakingly comprehensive. While it's not quite as gloriously playable or as slickly presented as Electronic Arts' PGA Tour Golf, MicroProse Golf still has a great golf game lurking beneath the stunning aesthetics.

Many people will buy it purely out of technolust, but for once they'll be getting a decent amount of play after the initial thrill's worn off, and that shouldn't be sneered at. Computer golf has always done well, and if it's what you want you'll have no real complaints about this at all. Having said that though, I'd really like to see what golf is like on the Amiga in two years' time...

Uppers: Pretty easy to get into, and the wealth of different games you can play should ensure lasting appeal for months and months. The first time you see it, your jaw will drop!

Downers: If they couldn't have kept the detail up all the way through, they shouldn't have tantalised us with regular glimpses - do it properly or don't do it at all, that's what I say. The front end is poor, the sound is unimaginative and it can be a little uninvolving overall. Oh, and the price is unforgiveable.

Technically impressive and very playable, but then you'd have to go some to muck up a golf game on that count. Undeniably very good, but for sheer enjoyment it's still got to be PGA Tour for me.