Developer - Sega / T&E Soft   Catalogue No. - G-5527

Type - Golf Simulation

Originally released on the Super Famicom a year before this Mega Drive version, Devil’s Course is just one in the many T&E Soft golf simulation games. Unlike many of the others that are based upon real life golf courses, this one is pure fantasy. Think of it as a large version of crazy golf.

This Mega Drive conversion is by Sega themselves and what a poor job they’ve done. We all know that the Mega Drive can suffer in the colour department compared to the Super Famicom but we also know that it can look fantastic if programmed correctly. Sadly the same can’t be said for 3D Devil’s Course. The graphics although fully polygon generated all have this nasty mesh effect over them which I guess is meant to be shading of some sort. This effect looks awful and why Sega decided to do this I don’t know. Even very early polygon based games on the Mega Drive such as Hard Drivin’ look a lot better than this. Add the fact that the 3D flyover the golf course moves at something like 5fps and you have yourself one ugly looking game.

It’s not all doom and gloom though.  Devil’s Course does actually play quite well. The ball normally goes where you’d expect it to and the adjustments to your stance and power do make a difference to the quality of the shot. The audio is also pleasant enough to keep most of us happy although it could have been better I guess.

The Mega Drive does have it’s fair share of golf games but none that are polygon based. So when you take this in to consideration and the fact that it’s one of the better golf games on the system it is easy to look over the ugliness of this title.