This review originally appeared within iLounge’s iOS Gems series within the compilation article, iPhone Gems: Sports Games – Soccer, Golf, Air Hockey, Tennis + More. Additional details may be found in the original article.
Though it looks nice in screenshots, Par 72 Golf II ($8) by Chillingo/ResetGame is unfortunately yet another example of a Chillingo release that feels like it was sloppily ported from an old Windows PC game. Whereas GL Golf fives you five courses, Par 72 has three.
The game’s similarly presented from a 3-D perspective, but it’s all static screens—there’s no 3-D camera movement. Similarly, the control scheme isn’t just less fun than GL Golf’s; it also lacks the nuances. Textures range from slightly cleaner than GL Golf’s to decidedly uglier, depending on whether you’re on the green or the rough, and though trees look better as static images, they’re just flat objects.
The game is also designed for only one player, unlike GL Golf’s one- through four-player modes.
Par 72 Golf’s only interesting features are its ability to rotate on either horizontal or vertical orientations, its choice of male or female golfers, and the fact that it has cooler-looking elevated terrain. As with its earlier Tank Ace 1944, however, these features don’t add much to its appeal, and Chillingo puts the player off through its use of tiny and sometimes nonsensical on-screen icons to access various features, sparing audio, and dull gameplay that makes you feel like you’re going through the motions. For $8, gamers should expect a lot better than this.
