Ive been a Links fan since it was produced by Access. With Links 2001 ( and Championship edition ) Microsoft had a good stable product, quick and good game play.The new version simply does not live upto this. It crashes ( and generates an error report to send to Microsoft ). Its MUCH slower doing the renderring and the new courses are bland.
What they dont tell you is what has been dropped. You get 6 course ( and can download more LEGALLY from the Internet ). But 2001 Championship Edition had 13. You get 4 PGA professionsal - but 2001 Championship Edition had 6. You get season builder but not the virtual tourney option.
Microsoft will happily take more of your money for 20 revamped courses.
And dont get me started on the new putting system...grrr...
While my PC isnt top of the range anymore ( 1.4ghz with NVida 32MB graphics and 512MB RAM ), it more than covers the recommended spec. I even moved to Windows XP to see if that would sort the problems.
My advice - save your money, buy Links 2001 Championship Edition ( with 13 courses instead of the 6 you get with 2003 ) and wait for the next release.
I gave it two stars, because it does at least read all you old courses, and has some good online features and support. And teh course builder. Thats still good.
But is anyone going to write a stratergy guide to the game and the course builder.