HB Studios Next-Gen golf game: The Golf Club

[Gangrel]

I too bought the game today. Because I'm a golf whore, and I will also admit because the game was made in a small town in my home province of Nova Scotia and I'm showing some love.

One round so far, on a pretty easy course with little wind..... I shot a + 8 I think. Mostly due to putting, I definately need to read up on how this putting works in this game.

I agree with Diablo, the graphics are ok, but not spectacular. Then again, the studio that made it is probably 1/100th of what Tiger had, so I accept it, especially for #34.99.

It's easy to hit straight shots, but trying to hit draws were hit or miss for me. Fades were easier, but the effect of the one shot i faded was a lot more than I thought!

Definately punished for going in the rough.

I think once i bite into it more and concentrate on making "real" golf shots, it will be interesting to see how it does. Wedge play is pretty good, I notice a 100% sand wedge backspin like crazy, but when i had to take a less powerful SW later, the ball didn't bite the same.


So far I'm happy I paid for it, and hope some of you guys do on Xbone so I have scores to chase!

I'm having a glass half full, and thinking they will only improve the game as it goes on, and the game is actually just a "portal" to user courses, and the "portal" will get better as they tighten things up.

[Diablo25]

Hey Diablo, I just saw you take a shot on smart glass a few minutes ago. Some reason it put your video clip up.

Im waiting to hear how you all feel about it after a few more of playing it before I jump in.

I did record some videos...I think it automatically uploads any video you save to your feed...I think. I hit the share button on one of them and it posted it but I think it automatically uploads recordings to your feed by default. I think it has to do with the new console update. If anyone has any insight on the 'auto-uploads' I'd love to hear it. I don't want to clutter up the feed with duplicate videos

And XXXIV, I do recommend the game. $34.99 for a solid playing golf sim that has infinite courses...and even ones you can create yourself. I'm heading in to mess with the GN Course Designer now.

[Diablo25]

Just randomly generated an autumn course at the low end High difficulty. Substantial trees, high amount of hills and went about halfway on the water meter. The course came out decent. Like three holes are a bit quirky...oddly placed trees that are in your way off the tee. The one green was like a bowl....way too 'deep'. I'm gonna tweak those holes for some practice. There an impressive amount of tools in the course designer - might be the most impressive thing in the game.

[Gangrel]

Hey Diablo, I just saw you take a shot on smart glass a few minutes ago. Some reason it put your video clip up.

Im waiting to hear how you all feel about it after a few more of playing it before I jump in.

I did record some videos...I think it automatically uploads any video you save to your feed...I think. I hit the share button on one of them and it posted it but I think it automatically uploads recordings to your feed by default. I think it has to do with the new console update. If anyone has any insight on the 'auto-uploads' I'd love to hear it. I don't want to clutter up the feed with duplicate videos

And XXXIV, I do recommend the game. $34.99 for a solid playing golf sim that has infinite courses...and even ones you can create yourself. I'm heading in to mess with the GN Course Designer now.

Yeah, I recorded a few clips with "Record that" and they automatically appeared in my feed......

[Diablo25]

Just randomly generated an autumn course at the low end High difficulty. Substantial trees, high amount of hills and went about halfway on the water meter. The course came out decent. Like three holes are a bit quirky...oddly placed trees that are in your way off the tee. The one green was like a bowl....way too 'deep'. I'm gonna tweak those holes for some practice. There an impressive amount of tools in the course designer - might be the most impressive thing in the game.

Wow, the Course Designer is FUN to work with. I am extremely impressed with it. It's a little quirky working with the controller but, overall, it's a powerful tool. Great stuff...and I've only scratched the surface. . I can see an addiction coming.

[J_Cauthen]

I must be easy to please because I'm loving it. Only played two rounds so far but it is a SOLID game for the price.

It's as much a case as my being difficult to please, at least where golf games are concerned. I'm really disappointed that we were led to believe that both consoles versions were running at "close to 60 fps" in 1080p. I kept asking why we never saw video of the XBox One version in action at the official website. The answer was, 'I don't see the point in it; it looks just like the PC version'... well, I guess it might - as long as the PC version is running with no anti-aliasing at 720p.

I also asking several times, without being pushy, what level of AA and AF the XB1 was going to be using, after finding out that the XB1 version was running in 720p. I got 'I'm too busy to find that out right now and I honestly don't know' and "dead air" when I directly questioned a couple of the devs who would have know that it was using none. I was really deflated by the way it looked when I booted it up. Then I was sucker punched by the occasionally choppy performance to the point that it affected the swing interface.

When TGC is not being bogged down by the demands of the course being played or server issues, it does deliver a pretty solid game experience, albeit with muted, but mostly serviceable graphics. I'm glad that you are discovering that aspect of the game. Hopefully, after and update or two, this game will play more like I know it can.

Try playing Autumn Ridge G.C. and Tomahawk (don't know whether it's GC or CC... it's rated at almost an 8, which is solid) and you'll see better what this game can do with an efficiently designed course that's also a feast for the eyes (particularly Tomahawk) and also a realistic golf challenge.

I can see where JCauthen would be disappointed after playing on a high end PC. The game, however, is far from below par (sorry for the pun)

No doubt this had an effect on the way I saw the game. I had been conditioned by the two graphic card upgrades I made to my machine to see what this game is capable of looking and feeling like at higher resolutions and image enhancement settings. The underlying game that is there in the XB1 is fun, no doubt, and I have seen how HBS truly works to improve things. The PC version is running about 45% more efficiently than it was when I played the first beta, and they're still optimizing it.

I don't doubt they'll eek out some performance improvement in the XB1 version with what they've learned from the initial release. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't see a consistent step change in its network performance by Saturday. This game is more server side dependent than I thought it would be. I should have tried to play a round in "offline mode". I won't be able to do so until this evening, but I bet it would free the game up to devote more processing power to the game while it's not trying to network. If you get a chance today, try offline mode yourself and see if you see a difference I'd love to compare notes on this...

[Diablo25]

I must be easy to please because I'm loving it. Only played two rounds so far but it is a SOLID game for the price.

It's as much a case as my being difficult to please, at least where golf games are concerned. I'm really disappointed that we were led to believe that both consoles versions were running at "close to 60 fps" in 1080p. I kept asking why we never saw video of the XBox One version in action at the official website. The answer was, 'I don't see the point in it; it looks just like the PC version'... well, I guess it might - as long as the PC version is running with no anti-aliasing at 720p.

I also asking several times, without being pushy, what level of AA and AF the XB1 was going to be using, after finding out that the XB1 version was running in 720p. I got 'I'm too busy to find that out right now and I honestly don't know' and "dead air" when I directly questioned a couple of the devs who would have know that it was using none. I was really deflated by the way it looked when I booted it up. Then I was sucker punched by the occasionally choppy performance to the point that it affected the swing interface.

When TGC is not being bogged down by the demands of the course being played or server issues, it does deliver a pretty solid game experience, albeit with muted, but mostly serviceable graphics. I'm glad that you are discovering that aspect of the game. Hopefully, after and update or two, this game will play more like I know it can.

Try playing Autumn Ridge G.C. and Tomahawk (don't know whether it's GC or CC... it's rated at almost an 8, which is solid) and you'll see better what this game can do with an efficiently designed course that's also a feast for the eyes (particularly Tomahawk) and also a realistic golf challenge.

I can see where JCauthen would be disappointed after playing on a high end PC. The game, however, is far from below par (sorry for the pun)

No doubt this had an effect on the way I saw the game. I had been conditioned by the two graphic card upgrades I made to my machine to see what this game is capable of looking and feeling like at higher resolutions and image enhancement settings. The underlying game that is there in the XB1 is fun, no doubt, and I have seen how HBS truly works to improve things. The PC version is running about 45% more efficiently than it was when I played the first beta, and they're still optimizing it.

I don't doubt they'll eek out some performance improvement in the XB1 version with what they've learned from the initial release. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't see a consistent step change in its network performance by Saturday. This game is more server side dependent than I thought it would be. I should have tried to play a round in "offline mode". I won't be able to do so until this evening, but I bet it would free the game up to devote more processing power to the game while it's not trying to network. If you get a chance today, try offline mode yourself and see if you see a difference I'd love to compare notes on this...

I'll give offline mode a shot in a bit.

[Spooky]

I want my money back.

Appreciate the effort but the game feels unfinished and buggy. WAY too long to load up every screen and menu. Graphics are not great. Pop-in EVERYWHERE. Wish I would have been more patient...

Back to Powerstar Golf - which is really great but missing real time multiplayer.

[RobVarak]

Played one round. +13, mostly because I couldn't get a feel for my short game. Really enjoyed it.

The commentary is both odd and strangely endearing.

Gameplay was fine. Only snafus appeared in the pregame menus with some weird lag when communicating with the servers.

The instantly-loading holes are a freaking Godsend!

The graphics are far from jaw-dropping, but there are some cool things going on around the course (airplanes, balloons other traffic) that add a nice touch.

The entire package feels very serious. The ambition of the developers is apparent in the presentation.

Menus could be a little more intuitive. A tooltip here and there would go a long way.

[RobVarak]

Weird, Spooky. I had no lag at all anywhere but the menus.

[Spooky]

Weird, Spooky. I had no lag at all anywhere but the menus.

Tried the game for about an hour yesterday and ended up pretty frustrated. I will give it a bit more time but my initial impression were not good at all. Feels much more like a $9.99 - $14.99 game than a $35 one.

[TheTruth]

I've really enjoyed my time with the game so far, even with the sluggishness on some courses. Like JC said earlier, it seems some courses the way they are built take a performance hit. It can be frustrating trying to even swing on these such courses. Many times it takes me 5-6 swings before my golfer will even hit the ball. I will just try to avoid those courses in the future. I mean heck, there are plenty of courses to choose from.

Hopefully HBS can optimize the XB1 version even further. Will be curious to see how the PS4 version runs. Is everyone turning vsync on? I turned it on first thing yesterday morning, but when I loaded up the game last night it was set to off. May try running with it off to see if it helps much.

[Leadfoot5]

Bought it for the PC yesterday, my initial impression is "Meh." Was there a tutorial that I missed? I had to figure out how to swing by trial and error, although it's just like every other game that uses a gamepad, so not a huge deal. I think I like the way aiming works, but I really dislike how easy it is to hit the ball straight. I feel like I'm playing connect the dots, not golfing. I think I will always prefer a horizontal swing meter to the stick/mouse approach, just for the potential for a shank or bad slice if you aren't concentrating. I think I will love using the course designer, but if the gameplay isn't compelling, what's the point...

Al

[Diablo25]

Weird, Spooky. I had no lag at all anywhere but the menus.

Agreed Rob. In the course designer there is some lag after applying an edit. I'm sure that will be cleared up as they optimize things. Only snafu I had was later on last night I lost my connection to their servers. Came back in a few minutes. I really don't have any complaints...I knew what I was getting. The dev team is very responsive to users. They will continuously be updating the game. Spooky, did you enable V Sync in settings? That gets rid of the screen tearing and the frame rate stays consistent.

[Diablo25]

Bought it for the PC yesterday, my initial impression is "Meh." Was there a tutorial that I missed? I had to figure out how to swing by trial and error, although it's just like every other game that uses a gamepad, so not a huge deal. I think I like the way aiming works, but I really dislike how easy it is to hit the ball straight. I feel like I'm playing connect the dots, not golfing. I think I will always prefer a horizontal swing meter to the stick/mouse approach, just for the potential for a shank or bad slice if you aren't concentrating. I think I will love using the course designer, but if the gameplay isn't compelling, what's the point...

Al

Leadfoot, Here are some tutorial vids that HB has been posting on their site for the past few months.

http://thegolfclubgame.com/category/video/tutorials/

[Diablo25]

HB Studios forum is saying a hard reboot of the XB1 clears up a lot of sluggishness. Forum members are saying it definitely works. Again, a hard reboot not just going into standby.

To perform a hard restart, hold the power button for 10 seconds while the system is on. The system will turn off. When you hit the button again, it will start and display the green start-up screen. All your data is preserved, but cache is cleared and some settings are reverted and log-in or game start issues are resolved.

[Naples39]

Bought it for the PC yesterday, my initial impression is "Meh." Was there a tutorial that I missed? I had to figure out how to swing by trial and error, although it's just like every other game that uses a gamepad, so not a huge deal. I think I like the way aiming works, but I really dislike how easy it is to hit the ball straight. I feel like I'm playing connect the dots, not golfing. I think I will always prefer a horizontal swing meter to the stick/mouse approach, just for the potential for a shank or bad slice if you aren't concentrating. I think I will love using the course designer, but if the gameplay isn't compelling, what's the point...

Al

I have been tempted to get this on PC, but basically have the same concerns regarding just going through the motions and finding the fairway every time and getting bored. A simple vertical swing just isn't interesting to me.

[Diablo25]

Gonna broadcast a round if anyone wants to watch.

http://www.twitch.tv/epdiablo25

[vader29]

Gonna broadcast a round if anyone wants to watch.

http://www.twitch.tv/epdiablo25

Good stuff Diablo, I just caught the back 9 and the game play looked smooth playing to me, like the instant loading of the next hole.

[Diablo25]

Gonna broadcast a round if anyone wants to watch.

http://www.twitch.tv/epdiablo25

Good stuff Diablo, I just caught the back 9 and the game play looked smooth playing to me, like the instant loading of the next hole.

Yeah, no wait between holes is great. I rushed thru the last 3 holes on the front and went like +8 on those holes. Shot well on the back. The difficulty of the course is what makes the game challenging. I just shot a -4 68 on a fairly easy (low wind flat greens) course.

[Diablo25]

Evidently HB Studios did something (servers?) and the game plays a lot snappier today. Several people on their forums are saying the game and course designer are working MUCH smoother today. Gonna play some more later on after I get back from a meeting. Gonna be Madden and TGC all evening (well, 6 hours worth of Madden )

[J_Cauthen]

Evidently HB Studios did something (servers?) and the game plays a lot snappier today. Several people on their forums are saying the game and course designer are working MUCH smoother today. Gonna play some more later on after I get back from a meeting. Gonna be Madden and TGC all evening (well, 6 hours worth of Madden )

It's a bit better late last night and early this morning. BTW Diablo, I'm enjoying playing rounds against your ghost. We've had some epic matches in the last two days

I also want to post this bit about the suggestion that was made in the support forum to set your XB1's video output to 720p, to take some of the demand off the XB1 to upscale the output to 1080p. I tried it and didn't see any noticeable effect. I performed a cold reboot of my XB1, set the video output in XB1 settings to 720p, and then tried to play Ross Hollow GC (an official course) in offline mode (it's not playable due to low frame rates online). It made no difference in the frame rate that I could detect and Ross Hollow GC remains unplayable, at least for me.

I did notice the loss of image quality with the loss of the XB1's upscaling to 1080p. You have to pick out things to look for to spot the difference, going from one to the other, but it's there!

[Sudz]

How is the course designer? I would draw full courses on paper when I was a kid ( and created a game using a 10-sided die) and love d it. If this is easy and fun, i may just buy it to build courses.

[J_Cauthen]

How is the course designer? I would draw full courses on paper when I was a kid ( and created a game using a 10-sided die) and love d it. If this is easy and fun, i may just buy it to build courses.

It's powerful for a gamepad controlled interface. On the surface, it looks easy to use and it is, but it's tough to master. I haven't made a course yet that I felt was worth publishing, as I would have rated my two courses a 4 and a 5, if I was objective The new shaping tool is a real plus and you're going to see even more realistic courses because of it.

[MERACE]

How is the course designer? I would draw full courses on paper when I was a kid ( and created a game using a 10-sided die) and love d it. If this is easy and fun, i may just buy it to build courses.

I've always wanted to be a budding course designer in previous golf games (PGA Championship Golf 2000, JNGB, Links 2003) but found the learning curve way to high and gave up. The Greg Norman Golf Course Designer in TGC is extremely user friendly. I can easily generate a course in less than 20 seconds and then spend hours tweaking it to my liking.

IMHO, the course creator is worth the cost of the game alone.


-MERACE