Greg Norman's Golf Power

Greg Norman's Power Golf by Virgin Games drives an outstanding array of options and features into the NES golf wars. But it takes more than that to put together a sharp game of video golf.

Power Off the Tee

Power Golf showcases an awesome number of features! You get 9 international courses and a user course, which you can build from scratch or create by editing an existing course. One to four people can play. You set handicaps and pick three skill levels. For multiple players there are four types of games including Greensome where two teams play their best-hit balls.

Power Golf's outstanding option is the Design feature where you build or edit holes. You use a point and click personal computer style interface to "drag" eight types of fairways, tees, holes, bunkers, water hazards, and trees into place. A battery-backup system saves home-made courses.

Power Golf's weakest feature is its graphics, which are simple by NES golf standards. There isn't much detail and few hues to the color. On the fairways, you get a typical behind the golfer shot, and next to that is a window with an overhead view, scorecard layout of the entire hole.

ProTip: Always check the wind gauge. Wind can shift from 30 mph to 3 mph between shots.

Gameplay is simple. Hitting with woods and irons requires two button presses which snap a rubberband-like power bar across two meters for power and hooks, center hits, and slices. The bar's velocity makes strategic hooks and slices a problem, but that's the challenge in real golf, too. The computer automatically picks out the correct club, even in the pro skill level.

• It's usually easy to hit over trees. Hit under the ball to loft it over them.
• Since the 1-wood works from the fairway, on long par 5's go for the green on your second shot.

Putting switches to an overhead view of the green. The greens seem small and they're all fast. Heavy-thumbed golfers will have to develop a light touch here.

Take a Drop

All the power in Greg Norman's Power Golf obviously went into the outstanding customizing options and the variety of features rather than the graphics or gameplay. If not for that, it would certainly earn a place among the NES golf leaderboard's top five. However, the 9 built-in courses and the course builder guarantee endless hours of decent video golfing for serious NES golf pros with a forgiving eye towards looks.

Power Golf is an excellent simulation of golf with some great graphics and other supportive features. You can choose from an abundance of options when setting the game up, and then select a number of courses or even create new ones! Different clubs, hazards, winds - it's all there!

Join Greg Norman for a round of golf in England, Scotland, the USA, or Japan, or, if you like, customize your own course!