Jack Nicklaus 6: Golden Bear Challenge (PC)

CNET editors' rating: 4.5 stars Outstanding
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Overall score: 9.1 (4.5 stars)
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Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: T. McDonald
• Reviewed on: 05/07/1999
• Updated on: 05/01/2000
• Released on: 03/31/1999

The Jack Nicklaus golf series has been a critical darling since it reemerged several years ago with the superb Jack Nicklaus 4, but that hasn't helped it fly off the shelves any faster. It and its sequel, Jack Nicklaus 5, received rave reviews but flat sales, leaving a cash-strapped Accolade to sell its crown jewel to Activision. The core design team, lead by Jack 4 creator Mike Franco, stayed with the product line when it jumped to Activision, and has created the superlative Jack Nicklaus 6: Golden Bear Challenge. Maybe with a fresh start at a new publisher, this game can finally find the audience it richly deserves.

Jack Nicklaus 6 is fundamentally very similar to its predecessors, but improves on it in many important ways. The game follows the pattern of not only offering a cutting-edge golf game with multiple courses, but also a stunningly powerful course editor. This mix makes it far and away the greatest value and most replayable golf game on the market. (Since many stores, like CompUSA, are selling it for only $20, it's even more of a value.) Owners of previous Jack Nicklaus games will see some familiar options and menu items, but once you get in the game, it becomes clear just how much has changed.

Jack Nicklaus 6 is a more streamlined, better-looking game. The minute you see that beautifully rendered fully 3D Nicklaus waggling at the tee, you can tell the visual benchmark has been raised. There are ten meticulously crafted, motion-captured, hardware-accelerated 3D golfers. Their fluid motion and animations look very natural, and they work perfectly in the 2D game world. Terrain is as sharp and photorealistic as Links, with excellent object modeling and amazing terrain effects and sloping. Some small animations, such as divots and flags, help bring the course alive with a minimum of fuss. Hardware acceleration is not mandatory, but it greatly smoothes the terrain and makes the golfers look spectacular. Without it, there is some slight pixelization; and even with it. there are some of the odd smoothing effects that tend to make hardware-accelerated graphics look a touch fuzzy at the edges. But overall, this is one fabulous-looking game.

The main screen and in-game options have been optimized to highlight this natural beauty. There are myriad preset camera angles (low, medium, high, and aerial from different angles) that can be viewed full screen or in moveable windows, including the hole map. You can also move and aim the camera anywhere on the course to create any view you like or set the game up to switch angles automatically. You can set the game up to view that 3D club from a tee's eye view, from the gallery, or from anywhere else, and you can shoot from these angles as well. The putting view is handled in the best manner I've ever seen. Instead of just using the traditional contoured grid, the developers have color-coded the grid so you can read the slope of the green with great accuracy. Add in some new (although repetitive) color commentary from Jim Nantz and Gary McCord as well as great flyovers and audio tips from Nicklaus, and you have a very full audio-visual experience.

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