Well here are my thoughts on the Early Roll Out version of
the new stand-alone desktop app. I gave it a week of play, mostly the top golf
challenge and practice rounds, although I did attempt a couple of CC tourney
rounds also. I tried it with my current club and ball choice, and I also used
some of the leftover balls in my bag from previous purchases. In other words, I
actually tried it out, not just looked at it made up my mind.
I have a few suggestions to make, but also a few compliments
as well. Some of the suggestions I know have been voiced by others, but I am
going to reiterate them again.
The compliments:
The graphics on everything except the avatars is
outstanding! The clarity and terrain modeling is awesome.
The meter is super-smooth. Nuff said.
Although this may have been unintentional the oversize color
grid when adjusting your aim from the back view is great. This grid shows up if
I am looking from the camera behind the green back towards my ball and in punch
or pitch mode. It appears to be a 5-10 yd square grid and uses the same blue/red/black
as the putting grid but covers the green and its surrounding environment
allowing you to get an idea of the balls reaction if (when) a miss-hit occurs. (I am a land surveyor who draws and looks at
terrain models daily so I tend to take all the info I can get in that regard.)
And now the complaints:
(#1) After figuring out how to get the swing circle to the left,
it needs to be calibrated to the screen size for a desktop. Even in the
training mode where you would expect the target circle to line up with your mouse
pointer you have to move it twice the distance as suggested on the screen to achieve
a full power shot. I think something did not transition well from the pocket
screen to the big screen here.
(#2) I know it is petty, but can we please switch the player
info and hole info back to correspond with the flash version. Right now, it is
not an issue but when we get short shot clocks in multi-player going having to
hunt for info is going to make a lot of folk’s time out for a while.
(#2A) can we get the wind info enlarged by maybe 25% on the
wind speeds? Some of us old, fat, gray-haired but balding quickly guys don’t have
the eyesight we used to.
(#3) The hole map needs to be enlarged to make it useful.
(see comment for 2A)
(#4) Can we get rid of the nuisance text about 999 shots
left on putter/shot pal? I know some folks are not in a CC and they purchase these
items, but this is a distraction when you are trying to watch your avatar
movements and power meter at the same time. (I tend to use both for pitch
shots) At worst how about putting it below the power bar.
(#5) this on is just a downright nuisance (but as with #2 it
could become a problem later with timed rounds). If we are not going to be able
to scroll clubs with the mouse wheel, can the “caddy box” for club and shot
type selection be made to minimize on their own like they do in flash. Currently
you have to click to open the box, make your selection, and click to close the
option before you can begin your swing. Prior to my finding how to relocate the
swing controls to the left side I had several instances of trying to swing but
the club not moving due to my click for the drag on the power meter on closed
the dang club selection option.
I am sure there may be many more things that will be noticed
as time goes on, but those are the 5 that seem to jump at me.