Maremy's Blog

As most of you know, I've got two weeks before I start my internship. Going from being very busy all the time to basically not being busy has been a bit of a shocker. Of course I've been wisely using that time and playing video games. The one I'm working on the most: Links 2004.

I've never really been a huge fan of golf. I've always found in boring to watch on TV and always thought that it probably isn't much to play. I actually played my first round of golf about a month ago and even though I'm not very good (in fact, I'm down right bad; I couldn't even hit the ball onto the green and it was a par-3 course!), I actually enjoyed myself a lot.

I picked up Links 2004 about two months ago for the amazing price of $7.00. It's an X-Box game but happens to be backwards compatible so I can play it on my 360. It is an amazing game! I've created my golf character (named Bellatrix) and I'm on what would be considered the second level of the game (the Pro Tour). Yesterday, I played through two tournaments and placed first in both. I felt like this was a huge accomplishment for me because, despite my passion and love of video games, I don't consider myself to be particularly good at them.

The controls for the game are simple and easy to learn. At first I was playing on Beginner level, which gives you a little cheat at showing you how far to swing the club. Intermediate, which I'm now playing at, gets rid of this. Although it's tough at first to know how far to swing the club, I found that I adjusted to it pretty quickly and it's simple to judge now.

The single player mode of Links 2004 is amazing. There's lots of tournaments, championships and challenges in each level. You get money after each of these and this money is put towards making your golfer more powerful.

I had the chance to play through the multiplayer mode with Jeremy, Allen and Bryan a couple weeks ago. It was so much fun! Multiplayer is done near perfect with this game. All players can golf at the same time so there is no waiting around. Great concept! And surprisingly, yet to be duplicated on another golf game.

From what I've heard, Links 2004 has yet to be surpassed. Apparently, other golf games released after it (for example, the Tiger Woods series of games), haven't been nearly as good.

I know this post isn't too exciting for you non-gamers but for the gamers who read our blog, hope you enjoyed!

More on the gaming front: Jeremy and I ordered our copy of Bioshock today (Xbox 36o). There was no point in us getting two copies, since there is no multiplayer with this game. I played through the demo last night and it is amazing (graphics, story line, etc). I'm sure both of us will post more thoughts about the actual game later one (once our copy arrives from Amazon).

Not much else has been happening. Our Charlotte trip is just over a week away and we're really looking forward to it!