DiscLife Rating: 2
Click here for a full-size game screenshot (52KB).
We’ve been talking about this day for years: When will someone develop a video game to feed our ravenous appetite for disc golf when we can’t be out playing? Activision heard our cries and has just released Frisbee Golf with the cooperation of “Frisbee” trademark holders Wham-O.
I was already suspicious when I picked up the box and saw the Wham-O Max Flight Frisbee on the cover. Sure, it's an approved golf disc, just not a very common one. Nonetheless, I could hardly contain my excitement while loading the game for a test drive.
The disappointments came hard and fast.
The game offers a choice of four non-descript character players with no strength or weakness variations, although one of the male characters sports a pair of suspiciously large ears, not unlike a certain nine-time World Champ. You can choose between four courses -- two 18-holers and two 9-holers -- but one would have been enough since the only real course differences appear to be variations in background images. No water hazards, no elevation changes, no tunnel shots... yawn.
As you move through different option screens, you’ll notice a bunch of blank buttons which have no use whatsoever. Gee, I wonder if this game is just a quickie redesign from some other title?
Okay, let’s play already.
Play begins on hole one, but there’s no tee pad, sorry. How long is this hole? Uh, sorry, no distances are offered at any time. The characters are in fixed positions, so no player run-ups or cool power-drive poses either. Don't even think about attempting a 360 degree distance pull... you don't have that option.
Disc selections include a driver, mid-range and putter. Wind direction is indicated by a graphic compass, with numerical wind speed offered above it. Forget about hyzer and anhyzer shots, every throw is flat. No sidearm shots, no tomahawks... yawn.
You can adjust the height of your throw, but throwing high will still result in the disc falling flat instead of hyzering, and throwing low seems unnecessary since there are no true elevation changes. Arm speed and direction of release are controlled by a typical golf game swing-o-meter, which requires a first mouse click for setting speed, and another click for determining direction of release.
A graphic overview in the upper right of the screen shows the entire hole, pin placement and location of the disc, but the hazards (read: trees) indicated on the overview screen never seem to jive with what the player sees out front. The overview might show a tight fairway, but the first-person view looks like a wide open hole. Lame.
The sound is even worse. Poor effects (dogs barking, birds chirping) are overshadowed by the cheap, annoying, synthesized music score, which would be more appropriate in an 80’s porno flick. Perhaps the most horrifying failure of Frisbee Golf is our beloved “ching,” that most beautiful and satisfying sound of a completed hole. The game’s version of “ching” is more like a “crash,” and makes you look around for the window you just broke.
As the first video game of its kind, Frisbee Golf is better than nothing... but not by much. In the least, the computer game will increase disc golf's exposure to a wide audience, and Activision should be applauded for their effort to serve the gaming needs of disc golfers. Maybe next time they can find programmers who actually play the game.
