Jack Nicklaus' Turbo Golf

~ JACK NICKLAUS' TURBO GOLF ~

Accolade

HuCard

1990

This isn't even close to being the complete piece of trash that everyone makes it out to be, although I can see why it receives so many beatings; it practically begs to be hated in a lot of ways. The worst element by far is the slow redrawing of the course between shots, and at first I really thought I'd despise the game due to this one flaw, as play seemed unforgivably slow and tedious. But I don't exactly have the patience of a saint and I still got used to the methodical redraws after just a few holes. I use those "wasted" seconds to survey the terrain as it pops into view, and the time gone down the drain here isn't as annoying as the multiple delays that afflict almost every shot in Power Golf 2 (which people never seem to come down hard on). Get over that part and you'll still need to accept the blocky, somewhat Atari-like course graphics and hideous color choices, and the lack of music during play certainly doesn't make matters any more exciting. But the gameplay actually ain't that bad at all: driving is standard-but-solid stuff, and the putting system is somewhat challenging and rewarding. It all feels better than Power Golf, for sure, and it boasts far better course design than PG as well. Of course, beating out one of the worst HuCards ever and its so-so CD sequel is nothing to brag about, and Fine Shot Golf on Human Sports Festival is still far and away the PCE's golf-game champ in my book; but Jack Nicklaus, believe it or not, is actually a pretty respectable title.

With its blocky graphics and ill-advised color choices, Jack Nicklaus looks more like an old computer game than it does a mighty TG-16 title.

Putting can be kind of fun and rewarding. It feels great to sink a long one.

Take it easy while the "beautiful" scenery is drawn in.

You'll need to use the "overhead" view to get a really good idea of where you should go with your shot, since it's often difficult to tell anything about the course from the ugly main playscreen. But as long as you're competent enough to hit the ball straight ahead, you'll usually be fine (unless you set the difficulty to "Expert," but screw that)...

...I mean, I suck, and I barely paid attention to what I was doing, and my scorecard still looked all right at the end of the day.