Mean 18
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mean 18 is the name of a series of computer golf games released by Accolade in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is also the name of the first game in the series. In the 1990s, the series was replaced by Accolade's Jack Nicklaus series of golf games.
[edit] Description
Mean 18 had two major claims to fame: it was the first computer golf game to give the golfer's point-of-view of the course, and it was the first golf game to come with a course editor that allowed players to create their own courses.
Mean 18 featured the Pebble Beach and St. Andrews courses. It used the soon popular 3-click control system, whereby the first click starts the swing, the second sets the power, and the third sets draw or fade.
The game features Beginner and Expert difficulty options. The Expert mode has more pronounced draw and fade effects, making the timing of the third click more crucial. The player can also choose between regular and professional tees. For the regular mode, the tees are shorter and the computer automatically recommends the best club. Using the professional tees, the computer still recommends clubs, but not necessarily the best ones for the shot.
The course editor was also a big feature of the game, a first for many games of any genre of the day. With practice, it was very versatile and new courses could be traded freely. Many BBSs hosted scores of courses created by other players.
[edit] Ports
Released first for the IBM PC's DOS operating system in 1986, it was quickly ported to other popular home computer platforms of the era. It was eventually ported to the Amiga, Atari 7800 and Atari ST. Despite some of the other systems superior graphics abilities (notably, the Amiga and Atari ST), the graphics for all the games were on par with the DOS versions'.
