PS2 - International Gold Pro

BARGAIN PRICE

GOOD CONDITION

GREAT GAME

Original Game + Booklet

The golf games niche has been flattered heavily through the years and when you can boast such fully playable titles as PGA Tour Golf, the Tiger Woods series, Actua Golf and many others, you know you’re damn lucky. Cabbage throwing would kill for that kind of accessibility.

It’s possible to take the line of thought that, since most people have no idea whatsoever as to how to play golf, you can make any old game and call it golf. Unresponsive controls? Don’t worry, how many people know how to hit a three wood anyway? Unrealistic physics? Who knows about wind? That’s presumably the theory behind International Golf Pro, design an atrocious game and throw anything you can at it. If some code sticks without blowing everything up, then keep it in. They can’t even write the box and manual in correct English – that is indeed a series of typos. The initial inspection turns up a dud, but we would gladly exchange a thousand typos for something, anything, that would make International Golf Pro slightly bearable.

There are three modes on offer – quick round, match play and championship. Notice the lack of a career mode, which is rather odd, but then you quickly realise that this is more intended to be a bad arcade game and nothing else. On that level it succeeds beautifully – you can pick it up, play for an hour and walk away in the safe knowledge that you’ve just been crowned the best golfer ever. There is little to no scope for anything in these three modes and you will quickly lose interest in them. The few golfers on offer and a massive selection of three courses to play leaves a bad aftertaste – is this it? A search for something more from them will prove fruitless, what you see on the main menu is exactly what you’ll get. There is virtually no long-term playability from International Golf Pro, unless you take an unexplained liking to the game then chances are it will be gathering dust after a few hours.