53 replies to this topic

[Ted_Ball]

And NO FREAKING AVATAR. Wooohoooooo   (just my little head - see left)

[Ted_Ball]

Well I've been at it for over seven weeks now. I've earned $2,225,320.00 on the circuit, managed 1,784 Head to Head wins with a win rate of 66.8% representing 2,670 matches. I've played in 10 Amateur tournaments and generally finish in the top 50 with a 20th place in one of them. I'm probably not addicted but this game is just so compelling.

 

OK. Look, it's a mobile app with all the size restrictions and drawbacks associated with that platform. Would I prefer playing golf on a top end PC? You bet. The trouble is there isn't anything out there that I would bother 1. paying money for and; 2. buying a top end PC for (and I would). If we are going to play miniaturised 'simulated' golf it may as well be on a phone if it can be done successfully. I believe it's a winner (and so do plenty of others apparently - and judging by the avatars the majority seem to be over 30s). And it's free!

 

I understand RobV saying he's not a fan of all the mobile golf apps out there and he can't stand playing on a phone. I would have put myself in the same boat. But I was bored and looked around for a golf game app - something to pass the time thinking I would delete the damn thing when I got bored after ten minutes. Let me tell you 98% of those games are garbage. If I rated Ultimate Golf at 10 out of 10 WGT would be about 6/10 and the next one would be 3/10. The majority would be 0/10. Absolute crap designed for 8 year olds (and they would probably agree with my ratings).

 

Now...let me give you some idea of how it's playing out.

 

Firstly there are only a handful of courses so far. I expect more to come online in the near future. There are 3 modes at the moment - Head to Head (permanently running matches), Golf Royale (a short all-in scramble - one every hour I think), and tournaments. (9 hole and 18 hole with various formats like all par 3s or a mix of 4s and 5s (e.g. par 86) These are weekly.) You can replay the tournament 5 times to better your score which can give you the impression of playing a four rounder if that's what you want. I don't play Golf Royale.

 

My main comp is Head to Head. One hole shoot out on 4s and 5s with a one shot nearest-the-pin tie breaker. Entry fee of $100, $200, $1000, $4000 and higher. This is where the real action is. More on that later.

 

Graphics

The graphics are excellent to be honest. The colours have a nice rich intensity and the lighting is superb. Shadows have a realistic contrast and the distant haze looks great. Water animations are excellent (Banff river rapids are a bit of a stretch but rippling effects and wind waves on lakes and ponds are very good.) The reflective water is perfect. Trees are adequate - as good as PG. Textures of grass and sand look as good as you would want. No 3DG. Bunker edges are a bit dodgy and 3D buildings are basic although the glimpses of the castle thing at Banff look amazing. 

 

Gameplay

Just about all mobile golf games have the oscillating needle where you release at the 12 o'clock. UG have a no-nonsense gauge which is very effective. The needle speed varies according to the type of shot. (Deep rough goes faster etc.) There is a set up button for backspin and 'topspin'. The degree of each depends on the club you are using. (More later) In that function you can also adjust 'sidespin' and that depends on the quality of the ball you are using. You will amass a bag of different balls over time and you can switch them during this function. 

 

From the overhead of the hole you will see a default line of your shot with the particular club you have as well as the general area of the first bounce. It will also show the run-out and the amount of run-out shown will also depend on club (and ball I think). So the aiming is by moving the wide-ish first bounce circle to where you require. If you want to lay-up to a reduced distance the club will automatically change down.

 

The cool thing here is that by using the 'pinch-in, pinch-out' method on the screen you can zoom right down almost to ground level for accurate aiming as well as spinning around for a better view of the terrain.

 

Putting uses the 'putt path line' method where you aim by holding the ball, pulling back to extend the path and aiming by moving the ball side to side. When the line suggests the ball will go in the hole there is an indicator (an arcadish bright light) BUT it does not indicate if you have too much speed making it an exact art. Putting is generally pretty easy up to about 30 feet but gets tougher on side sloping putts and over longer distances. There is a certain amount of yippy finger twitching where the line moves around slightly and, of course, you have to hit the ding spot on to give yourself the best chance. 70 footers can be holed but at a low percentage. 

 

I'm no great 'clicker' in PG but I think the UG ding is not that easy to hit consistently. I would imagine I have a 'Ultimate Shot' rate of around 60%. But it comes and goes. Some nights I can't miss the ding (and then out of the blue I'll shank one badly through loss of concentration). At other times I'll have a bad run of not connecting well. It's not easy hitting the putting ding - especially under pressure. If I have a win rate of 67% then that suggests there must be a lot of blokes who aren't hitting the ding consistently.

 

The ELO

Even though I like the concept of ELO the implementation in UG is not quite right in my opinion. Your ELO rating determines your Global ranking. I have an ELO of 456 which gives me a Global ranking of 1,204th. The trouble I have with their system is that my ELO won't rise with a win if I don't play in a higher Tour. I can beat someone ranked much higher than me but if we are playing in a low tier I won't receive any points although I can lose points. It shouldn't matter what conditions my opponent and I are playing in if I beat that guy. I have won against a bloke with an ELO of 1850 and didn't get a point. Does that seem right? If they are going to use the ELO ladder for Global rankings it should reflect each players success against higher (or lower) ranked players. Never mind.

 

Career?

I don't really know what you guys expect from a Career mode or how a good one would work. In UG there are enough indications of your results to suggest a personal career. For one thing, there is an overall career earnings tally which is just like the real thing as an indication of success. There is a list of all the tournaments you have competed in showing the division, your score and your finishing position in each individual tournament. General stats show the aforementioned Career Earnings; Head to Head wins; Head to Head win percentage; Golf Royale finals appearances and wins (ho-hum). Stats also include Longest Drive, Longest Putt, Holes in One, Albatrosses, Birdies and Eagles. There are Badges to accumulate if you are into that sort of thing.

 

You can pull up all the stats of any other player to compare yourself. That can be very revealing.

 

But a 'Career' doesn't end there. What I really get into is building your career by means of prize money. This, in some ways, replicates the struggle of a Pro golfer to earn his way on tour. Let me explain...

 

Career Strategy.

You start out as a Rookie with nothing. Sleeping in your car. Borrowing clothes. Eating from free buffets. You will get a little bit of sponsorship money (regular free 'Bags' (every 3 hours) with a special ball, a promise of a better type of club, a few bucks and some 'tour money'). You will have to use what money you've saved to enter the lowest tier H2H Tour. Tournaments come around once a week but will cost you $1000 (at Amateur level - the lowest) to enter but you'll have to finish top ten to make money - although you will get some freebies wherever you finish. Your bread and butter dough will come from Head to Head matches. 

 

The lowest tier H2H will cost you $100 to play against some other poor sap. You'll have to get your game together though because any high ranking jock can be matched against you if they decide to come down and slum it. In this way you slowly build your bank to a point where you can afford to play in the $200 H2H. You build your bank so you can afford to lose!! 

 

Meanwhile you will be getting a bit more equipment (from sponsors for example) and your clubs improve in quality (e.g. through R&D). You'll get some better balls as well but they are one use only. 

 

It's a struggle out there on tour with inferior equipment. You win some, you lose some. You'll slog away playing H2H at the lowest tier itching to get that grand or two more to compete in the $200. If you have a losing streak your capital disappears and it's back to sleeping in the car.

 

My strategy was to slog away for small returns until I got to $20k. From there, with every extra grand over $20k I earned I would enter the $1000 H2H. A different beast. I have now built my capital up to $200k which means I can be playing $4k stakes H2H with occasional $10k matches.

 

The matchmaking system means that you will be playing against tougher and tougher opponents as you get higher into what they call 'Tours'. From the Worm Burner rookies up to the Fresh Start and on to the Rising Stars and so on. The pin positions become more inaccessible. The wind picks up and the swing gauge gets quicker later on.

 

Meanwhile you get noticed (to use an example of the real world) and you get access to better equipment - especially clubs. You upgrade for extra distance, better accuracy, draw/fade, top spin, back spin and shot view (roll-out line).

 

I started to get some real success but only because of two things. 

 

Firstly - I was able to upgrade my driver for extra yardage which incorporates extra topspin. You have a choice to spend hard-earned cash on upgrades. The access to the basic club is free but upgrades cost. I consistently out drive blokes with the same brand driver as me - and other brands - for some reason. I can't quite remember how this happened. There are 'drops' happening all the time but I jumped at the top spin upgrade as VERY important. I don't know what other guys spend their money on or even if they have enough money. 

 

Secondly - I did some homework on something important.

H2H matches are played on par 4s and 5s. The general result is a draw with birdies. (My length off the tee wins me a lot of matches with eagles on par 5s - a lot of blokes can't reach the green with their approach clubs (even very high ranked players!) where I can reach the putting surface in two shots). Because of the high percentage of draws there is a high percentage of sudden death, one shot nearest-the-pin tie breakers. These are played on par 3s from the tee. In each Tour tier there will only be the same 5 holes for sudden death. I figured it would make sense to study closely each of those par 3s for where to land the ball and how the ball reacts on the green. You play the same rotation of holes over and over (with varying wind directions) so you slowly build a knowledge base but it's amazing how badly a lot of blokes play the par 3s considering the number of times they play those holes. They always seem to miss to the same part of the green. You get 40 seconds to make your shot. GB would like that.

 

But it's also important to hit the best part of the fairway to set up the approach shot in the main hole part. Course management is always important.

 

Another part of this game that I really like is Promotion/Relegation. Prize money from H2H matches (as well as Golf Royale and tournaments) goes to a League leaderboard. A League lasts for 6 days and your prizemoney accumulates on this ladder. You don't lose money. It only adds your winnings. At the end of the 6 days the top 25 players are promoted to a higher division. The next 50 players remain in the same division they were in. Everyone lower than 75th gets relegated. This makes for some exciting and frantic golf. The higher your division the more money you earn in your regular 'bag' drops and the better clubs and balls you receive.

 

With my playing capital buffer at $200k and playing $4k matches I can maintain position in the top 25. I lose a lot more matches at $4k level but because it only accumulates winnings I just need to win a reasonable share to be comfortably inside the top 25. At present I've won $477k in this weeks league and I'm sitting in 12th position. The promotion cut off is at $328k after a couple of days.

 

If all that isn't a 'Career' then I'm a bad judge.

 

In conclusion

I'm loving this game. It has it's flaws simply because of what they can't do on a phone but I'm playing a hell of a lot. As I've said before - I can always get a match within 10 seconds on average. The competition is fierce. The golf is as authentic as I want in a computer game. The physics are superb as far as I know. There are no ads which are the scourge of all other types of mobile games. It is extremely well run.

 

This game has so many things that I have wanted and suggested for PG. No avatar. An ELO. Promotion and relegation. Fierce one on one multiplay competition. (I have come to the conclusion that a one hole shootout with a tie breaker is perfectly adequate. The sheer amount of golf I'm playing makes up for the lack of holes to play in each match.) Hugely popular game with player numbers in the tens of thousands. I expect ongoing development. There is absolutely no controversy over what swing method players use. We are all using the same!!!

 

I posted this to give you an idea of what this game offers.

 

Thank you.

[Jugador]

The only real negative is that it's only a one hole shootout with a tie-breaker nearest the pin. One shot. In a way that isn't so bad because you quickly play again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Actually, I think that would be a great idea for the PGA tour. If 2 or 3 guys finish tied, we go to a par 3, closest to the pin wins! I've always thought the U.S. Open 18 hole playoff is overkill , and even a 3 hole playoff is unnecessary.  I can just see it now, Rory, Tiger and Phil all tied at the Masters, one swing at #12 for all the beans! lol 

 

 

[Ted_Ball]

Yeah Jugador it has merit for the PGA tour. 18 hole playoffs are a menace and sudden death play-offs can last till it's too dark to play.

 

I've changed my mind since that post of mine from 25 April. Maybe a 3 hole match play in UG would give the competition a bit more substance but I get the impression players want quick results and rewards (judging by the speed they play. I'm always slower.). 

 

Another thing I didn't mention that PG refused to consider is that UG has crowd sounds. When the two players are on the tee there is mild clapping to welcome them and chatter etc. If you hit the ding they give a good roar (and polite clapping for not so good shots). You'll get some build up of excitement in the crowd as your long putts get closer and a hearty roar for eagles and birds.

 

It's quite encouraging frankly. You can turn off those sounds but it feels dead without them.

 

There's also a groovy bass driven loop of music for the general background theme while you're navigating around the lobby.

[SteadiEddie]

Bloody hell , Ted. This self isolation is really doing your head in ! Roflmao.

[Ted_Ball]

Bit long Steadie?

[SteadiEddie]

Mate, it's a two can read, lol.

[Ted_Ball]

It was a half a 1L bottle of Gordons to write. 

[SteadiEddie]

Hey mate, you live in the same State as me. Love to play a game with you. And in a day or two I am going to post an even bigger comment than you on how we might save this game and PGLS. Love ya stuff, Ed.

[SteadiEddie]

you can call me 0260170081, too easy, Ed

[SteadiEddie]

waiting for your call, I don't bite, will be fun.

[SteadiEddie]

still waiting, lol

[Ted_Ball]

Just woke up Steadie. I'll give you a call for sure. (I've seen your other post. Good stuff.)

 

Just moved from beautiful Cabarita/Casuarina NSW. Now in Brisbane near South Bank (I haven't started following the Broncos (natch)). First time back in the big smoke for 35 years. Great village atmosphere though in West End. Lot of crazies, bros, hippies, etc. We fit right in.

 

Catch you later. Maybe tonight - when we're talkative (*cough)

[Ted_Ball]

Well, I missed all the stuff that's been happening.

 

No phone call for you SteadiEddie.

 

Cya