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The first ever issue of this magazine carried an advertisement for this very game almost two years ago now - doesn't time fly? And although Greg Norman hadn't agreed to endorse it at that stage, the ad sported an intriguing filled wireframe countryside with blurb promising "the definitive golf game".

Over the intervening period, the programmers have changed twice, the landscape has been tweaked slightly and now boasts trees that could be best described as abstract (some may use crueller terms), but the host of options promised has survived intact.

Up to four players can compete in any of four different game styles: Singles, Fourball, Foursome and Greensome (the difference between a Fourball and a Foursome being that the latter is played with only one ball per partnership, while the former is played as normal with only the best score from each pair entered on the card).

There's a caddy to advise on shots (if you want him to), and a number of wind, weather and ball effects that can be brought into play as the player becomes more confident.

Definitely a facility for the more advanced player, altering the swing's arc affects the flight of the ball - as does opening or closing the face of the club or the point where the ball is hit.

At any point on any hole, call up the map screen to get a bearing on your position relevant to the hole. Also at this point, the player can change the game's viewpoint - especially useful if you end up behind a tree or some other obstacle.

Putting is probably the most disappointing aspect of the whole game. There doesn't seem to be any way of determining the green's slope. It's almost impossible to over-hit a stroke and Greg's digitised image appears to hit the ground rather than the ball!

Most of the information relevant to each shot is easily accessible from the info screen which automatically appears before each shot. In Practice mode, it's always sunny and the wind never blows, but extra information is also displayed, including the facility to restart the hole, replay the shot or move to any other hole on the course. Strangely though, in the more advanced game, although the wind speed is indicated on this panel its direction can only be found by switching to the Swing screen.

A digitised image of the Great White Shark executes each shot - only to disappear as soon as the ball is in flight... very disconcerting. The Power bar to the left works in a similar fashion to previous golf games: the power bar rises (this time to a massive 112.5 per cent of full power - but use this extra power wisely, as anything over 100 per cent will magnify any errors in the shot) to determine distance, while matching a swinging needle to a fixed bar below determines direction.

The caddy can only carry fourteen of the seventeen available clubs, so prior to setting out you have to ditch three. The manual advises novices to ditch the 2, 4 and 5 Woods, but as you gain experience you may prefer to customise your 'bag' to your own personal tastes - for example, will you use a Sand Wedge and a Pitching Wedge?

While it doesn't look at all like any other golf game, Ultimate Golf is remarkably similar in many ways to most of the swing simulators which have gone before it. Where it does differ however is in the range of options on offer: this could almost be described as the Flight Simulator of the golf world, as just about every aspect of the game, the player's stroke and environment can be adjusted to taste.

This, more than anything, makes the program an almost invaluable aid to the aspiring golfer - it's actually more valuable as a tutor than it is as a game.

But if this sounds a little daunting, you can always switch off all of the options you don't want and use it as a simple 'stroke and walk' golf game. But it's not all a bed of roses: there are some faults (albeit mostly minor) which give the impression that they could have been ironed out with a little ore work - strange for a game which has been two years in the pipeline. The ball, for example, doesn't fly altogether realistically - it doesn't change size correctly in perspective and seems to bounce in slow motion once it's hit the ground.

The putting section, too, is a touch disappointing - especially considering the level of realism which the program strives for... where are all of the curves and slopes that plague the player on every green in the real world? There are some innovative aspects certainly, including the ability to 'walk' the course and the inclusion of varying weather conditions, but this is still some way off being the definitive golfing simulation.

Never in the history of 16-bit gaming have two versions of the same game been so similar in every aspect: in fact, if there wasn't a tiny audible difference in the oggle (the sound that the ball makes when it drops into the cup apparently), these two would be the most identical of twins.

The PC version is agonisingly close to completion, but nothing has been seen as yet. An EGA version is a certainty, but a price and VGA, AdLib and Roland compatibility have yet to be confirmed.