ZIOGolf 2

.: Review #1 :: Review #2 :.

Review #1:

.: By: Mark Jackson :: Devices used: E-125, iPAQ H3650 :: February 6, 2001 :: Buy this game :.

Golf, it’s a funny old game, take a long bar – swing and then hit a small ball far into the distance. In that sense I’m somewhat reminded of a typical Friday night at the local British pub following a football match. That said and Golf itself is a very well respected sport, one previously associated with the upper class of society, these days it’s somewhat more widespread.

In fact GOLF was the first true 3D game to come to the early IBM PCs, so it’s not surprising that it be one of the first to do the same on Pocket PC's. As a new generation of Pocket computers arrive on the market, it’s beginning to look as if ZIO Interactive is one of a few developers making proper use of what’s available to them.

We find out how by taking a pass at ZIOGolf 2, the sequel to the unthinkably titled ZIOGolf, as if you couldn’t have guessed.

Golf, So That’s Fun Right?  

The idea behind a typical game of golf is to work your way around a course (one very big and well mowed garden) by hitting and tapping a small ball into some holes using speed, distance and most importantly – accuracy. Oh and it also helps to have a club, with a selection suited to different terrain as common practice.

It may not sound all that entertaining, doubts aside and Golf can actually be an extremely exhilarating sport both in real life and on the virtual world of a computer screen. In this case a Pocket PC.

ZIOGolf 2 (ZG2) is ZIO Interactive sequel to the acclaimed ZIOGolf, which took Pocket PC's and WinCE2 devices by storm last year in both HPC and PPC form. The new version boasts many of the features the original had, but with a completely new graphics engine, sounds, user interface, two courses and some additional features.

Same Game, New Look 

As far as controlling the game goes then it’s just as easy as the original, one touch presses with the stylus is pretty much all you need for everything. Hold it down on the swing bar depending on how far you wish the ball to go (swing strength/speed), then let go and watch the ball fly.

You can change direction by clicking anywhere on the view not covered by a menu or info box, your guiding line will then follow the track you last selected. In general very little has changed where gameplay and controls are concerned, but then this is Golf and thus a sport with limited variability.

Perhaps one of the most obviously changed areas is that which you see first of all, the user interface. As with the original, high quality background images make for a visually impressive menu system, although ZIOGolf 2 has outdone itself this time.

The interface seems a lot more practical and easy to understand, not to mention that the in-game information displays are perfect for this style of game. Big text and clever club/ball status displays really help show the progress and situation without needing to squint. Although the map view text is still a little difficult to see and read. Otherwise a very smooth looking interface.

Overall the gameplay and navigation is currently the best you can possibly get on a Pocket PC, although it really doesn’t hold that much above the likes of ZIOGolf and iGolf in terms of overall fun.

Graphics To Die For 

The Pocket PC is capable of so much more than most people realise, although with the release of such titles as Pocket Quake and now ZIOGolf 2, people should start to see why. This is where ZIOGolf 2 really gets its deserved name as a sequel; tremendously eye grabbing landscapes, high quality textures and a detailed interface and character animation system.

The original failed by having a rather colourlessly drawn character, with limited animation frames and big textures on the landscape that were annoyingly pixelated. ZIOGolf 2 fixes all these wrong doings with a new 3D engine capable of curved landscapes, very clear higher quality textures and a pre-rendered 3D character model, which is perfectly smooth.

Although it’s still not perfect, for example, the landscapes only go so far and you loose the sense of depth once the end of the landscape can be seen, which it can be from some views. Although Pocket PC's are by no means perfect and we can’t expect them to cope with everything. In addition you can also play in Landscape mode, which doesn’t seem to affect speed as much as might be expected.

It’d also have been nice to see a ‘Player Customisation’ system, a place where the changing of handicaps, player colours and pre-club selection could have been done. However the top-notch graphics do have one other disadvantage, it doesn’t run amazingly well on anything with under a 133Mhz CPU, you also need at least a MIPs or StrongArm to get the most of it.

Perhaps they could try fixed point math processing, if not done already, as this has been known to increase 3D speed.

Sounds Good To Me

Sound has also been given an improvement over the original; swings, swishes and ball landings blend into the game rather than appear as a more ‘static’ like noise. Overall a much higher quality than the original, even if sound does only play a minor role in this title.

The Verdict  

ZIOGolf 2 brings back the previously disputed ‘best golf game’ crown that was under heavy criticism following iGolf's release. The gameplay may not have changed, but everything else has, allowing ZIOGolf 2 to look, sound and feel better than any other Golf title currently on the market.

Existing ZIOGolf owners should soon be offered an upgrade and if you haven’t already got the original then get the sequel, it’s well worth it if only as another fashion accessory to show your friends. Although don’t expect a character editing system just yet, they seem to have left that one out for a second time round.

Ratings:

Graphics: 5/5

Sound: 5/5

Gameplay: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

Review #2:

.: By: Seth Bilodeau :: Devices used: iPAQ H3650 :: February 6, 2001 :: Buy this game :.

Near the beginning of the life of the Palm-size PC, which ran Windows CE 2.0, a company known as ZIO Interactive released a game called ZIOGolf.  The game was a revelation as to what these Palm-sized PCs were capable of, with realistic gameplay and 3D graphics.  However, in the time between that game’s release and now, we have seen Leo's Flight Simulator, various ports of Doom, Pocket Quake, and iGolf, which left ZIOGolf in the dust.  Suddenly, the 3D graphics of ZIOGolf weren’t so impressive anymore, and the gameplay had been improved upon by iGolf.

Enter ZIOGolf 2.  With incredible graphics and vastly improved gameplay, has ZIOGolf reclaimed its place as the best PPC golf game?  Ehhh.....sorta...

Gameplay: 

It’s golf.  You hit a ball with a stick, into a hole that is relatively far away, in the fewest amount of swings possible.  Do this eighteen times and you’re done.  There, quick and dirty golf summary.

This game simulates this pretty accurately over its two courses (Sedona and Hidden Valley).  To swing the club (which you select via a pop-up menu on the bottom-right of the screen), you use something called a swing meter on your golfer.  First, you tap and hold on the meter, and a bar will rise in it.  This represents the strength of your swing; stop when it is at the strength you want.  The bar will start to drop, and this time it indicates where the ball will go.  Try to hit the bottom mark on the meter, and you’re done.  Then sit back and watch the nifty animation.

Of course, other factors come into play as well.  In golf, one of the most annoying factors is wind, and in ZIOGolf 2, it’s just as annoying, for all the wrong reasons.  People who played ZIOGolf know that one of the most irritating things in that game was the wind, because of one simple error: it was random.  Wind could be coming in strong from the south one swing, and then there’d be a light breeze from the northwest the next.  This has not been fixed, and it is even more annoying now, with the addition of slopes.

That’s right, one of the most glaring oversights in ZIOGolf has been fixed: there are slopes now!  This makes the game much better (with the exception of the wind), if it hadn’t been for one tiny thing.  The interface remains virtually unchanged from the first game.  This is a big issue, because the first game’s interface was designed for a game with no slopes.  Hence, although long drives work fine in this game (although they’re a little too easy to get perfect), putting is WAY too difficult.  Although a grid has been added for putting, it is very hard to read due to the low resolution of the iPAQ screen, and is therefore almost useless (big slopes are still readable).  When you add the random wind to this, it becomes very difficult to putt from anything over 2 meters.  Personally, I would have preferred having a separate putting meter that addressed these factors, like in iGolf.

Overall, good but flawed.

Graphics:

No contest here, this is one of the best-looking PPC games ever.  The courses are incredibly detailed, nothing looks blocky, the animation is all smooth, the interface is great looking, and the backgrounds are phenomenal, all in both portrait and landscape mode.  I have no complaints at all.

10 / 10

Sound:

Alright, here I have a complaint.  The sounds may be fine and set the mood, except for one thing:  THEY ARE THE EXACT SAME SOUNDS AS IN ZIOGolf!  They may not be bad sounds, but come on, don’t do a total overhaul of the graphics and then give us the same exact sound!  This is a sequel, not an expansion.

5 / 10

Control/Interface:

As I stated in “gameplay,” it’s easy to figure out, but putting is way too difficult.  Still, everything is easy to use, and the interface is fairly idiot-proof, plus there’s a landscape mode, which doesn’t do much for the gameplay, but looks really nifty...aw, what the heck, I’ll be generous...

8 / 10

Overall:

This game, with all of its faults, is still fun to play.  I had a pretty good time, and I’m sure you will too.  Also, you get two full courses in this instead of one like in ZIOGolf, so you don’t have to shell out more money to get plenty of fun.  This is still a good game with all of its faults, and is at least worth a try.

9 / 10

.: Game category: Sports Games :: Reviews Index :: Buy this game :.

Editor's Note:

The scores from the two reviews have been averaged out to give an overall score of 8/10.