Justified release????

Having played Links from the very beginnings of the Links times all the way through to LS2000 I would also have to rate this as the best and most accurate golf game ever produced. The number of courses and the detail of the courses means that you can play the game and watch the pros play the same courses in real life and KNOW the problems that they are facing with each and every shot.

Having said that the last two releases of the game have felt like a real 'cheat' with little or no major improvements over the previous releases. This was especially apparent in the jump (or very very small step) from 99 to 2000.

The changes in gameplay were very minor with some slight changes in the ball mechanics when hitting from the rough and also some improvement in the internet connection speed when a good connection was already established. The overwhelming feeling I got when playing it was that I had just paid a upgrade fee so that Microsoft could rebadge the same game.

I hope and pray that the next release will prove this all wrong, but right now you have to worry about the future of the game.

All regular Links users have already had to pay for each of the courses more than once if they have been playing for any length of time, I hope the same isn't happening with the game engine itself....