World Golf Tour: Play Golf, Enjoy Bacon

Last month I was asked to beta test an online golf game called, World Golf Tour (WGT). They told me that if I would write about my experience with the game, they would sponsor a blog post on my site. I hope after you read this post you will be able to tell that my opinions were not swayed by the sponsorship.

Now that I got the disclaimer out of the way, it’s time to talk about that game. WGT is a multiplayer flash game that you play in your browser (IE or Firefox). It also has a social network site that goes along with the game that keeps track of your scores and standings in tournaments.

The game is very solid and it feels like hybrid between an arcade and a simulation. The graphics and interface look impressive and they are on par with the other golf games you know and love. The swing controls are decent but I found putting to be difficult (it just takes practice). If you like other golf games you should be satisfied with the gameplay.

Here is a video of the swing controls:

Since the game is still in beta there have been a few bugs that I came across. The biggest one I found was that the games doesn’t launch in Safari, so if you’re a Mac user you will to have to download Firefox to play. The only other major bug I found was the game would intermittently fail to load the next hole. This was frustrating because it wouldn’t save your progress when it happened. These bugs are to be expected and once its passes beta they should be fixed.

Closing Comments:
Would Golf Tour is the best looking and playing online golf game I have seen in a long time. It’s just like playing a game you have installed on your computer, it has all the gameplay options you expect to see in a retail version. I only have two complains: the lack of Safari support and the lack of sound effects. I would like to hear a few more sounds like birds, wind, and clapping when you make a good shot while I am playing the game (I am sure they are coming in the future). Once this game is complete, it will set the standard for all of online golf games that come after it.

Be sure to give the game and try and share your thoughts about it via comments. I would like to know if you’re just as impressed as I was about the game.