Under Par Golf Architect Review (Xbox Series X|S & PC)

Two Point meets Sid Meier’s SimGolf in a brand-new golfing universe in which you, the curator of clubs and fledgling collector of bogies, build your own clubhouse and flesh out the “green” with all of the necessities of a fully functioning nine-hole course. Think Theme Park, or just about any Sid Meier entrée in general, for that matter, and you should have a vague idea of what this world, aptly titled Under Par Golf Architect is, as well as what it strives to achieve with its sandbox-oriented approach to old-school terraforming simulation.

Like those that have come before, Under Par saddles you with the monolithic task of establishing your own chain of golf courses, as well as equipping each of them with a wide variety of amenities in exchange for Stars—reputation, basically—and, more importantly, additional locations to unlock and upgrade as you gradually progress through the motions, terraform your courses, and embellish each design in order to maximize your profits and long-term business strategies. You can create characters, manage staff, and, of course, transform little pockets of land into booming hubs for recreational activities, with pools, bars, clubhouses, and so on and so forth. There’s a lot more to it than that, but you get the idea.

Under Par begins with a small allotment—Rookie Roads—and a simple objective: to utilize a small plot of land for establishing a clubhouse. With a little cash in your back pocket and a limited number of buildings to install, you find yourself with a transparent plan to streamline your project, and to finesse your formula to attract a sustainable golf course that can attract a continuous flow of customers. As you begin to lay the foundation for your course, more choices become available for you to experiment with, and with that, even greater opportunities to unlock prestige and knowledge that will lead to even better terraforming options, buildings, and set pieces.

Under Par is very much a game that you need to spend time with in order to truly appreciate the little details that it leaves out for you in later sections. From the beginning of the multi-course Story Mode, you find yourself with access to a limited range of options—a clubhouse, a simple hole-crafting system, and a bite-sized library of decorations and basic features. However, as you progress through the weeks and earn your Stars—a system that allows you to unlock more courses and travel across a mini-map via a matchbox car—you begin to unravel more pieces from the livery, including better amenities such as pools, bars, and special landmarks. It’s a simple conveyor belt system, if anything, but one that also allows you to venture back to earlier courses to gradually finesse existing formulas and what have you.

With a simple point-and-click interface and a helping hand to usher you through the initial portions of the process, Under Par comes across as an incredibly easy game to jump into and start swinging at right from the tee. In addition to its beginner-friendly tools and accessible UI, Under Par also gives you a good deal to toy around with, with a reliable safety net also being present to prevent you from making any catastrophic errors as you find your foot on the career ladder. Naturally, the courses begin to get a little tougher as you explore new career opportunities and biomes on the map. Yet, to call Under Par a difficult game just wouldn’t be true. It’s well balanced, if anything, and honestly, a great starting point for newcomers to the genre.

There are a lot of neat touches here that make Under Par that much easier to enjoy. For example, once you build your courses and construct your holes, you can test them out for yourself. Granted, it isn’t quite as intuitive or as fleshed out as, say, PGA Tour. That said, the simple fact that you can sample the fruits of your labor does make the act of weaning the formula a lot easier to understand. And, if all else fails, you can simulate the process and have AI do the work for you.

To add to the above, Under Par features a hearty array of fine tuning options, including memberships, VIP events, and biome-based curveballs and various environmental challenges—trees, ponds, and towering cityscapes, for example. Again, I wouldn’t put it down as a mentally taxing experience, though it does often require you to consider your options as you tweak the infrastructure and enhance your prestige.

While Under Par might not offer the breadth of a full sandbox game à la Civilization, it does cater to some great creative ideas. Again, it might not be the most visually appealing game of its kind, nor one that has the weight and complexity of a modern architect sim, for that matter. Even still, Under Par scratches an itch that a lot of other sims often fail to recognize, and that counts for a tremendous amount, truly. Could it do with a little extra meat on the bones? Probably. For an entry-level sandbox sim, though, I’d say that it does more than enough to justify the price of admission.

Verdict

Under Par Golf Architect dials it back to the heyday of old-school world terraforming with a visually simple yet surprisingly in-depth sandbox experience that’s both easy to navigate and bursting at the seams of the green with creative possibilities. With a weighty course-based campaign and a treasure trove of fluctuating ideas and dynamic curveballs, as well as a sandbox mode that features all of the bells and whistles, clubs and caddies of a jam-packed nonlinear endeavor, it certainly finds its place on the green as a genuine, even relaxing sim that ought to be celebrated within the community.

It goes without saying at this point, but if you happen to enjoy old-fashioned sandbox sims similar to the likes of SimGolf or Two Point, then there’s a good chance that you’ll enjoy teeing off in this pocket-sized portal of Broken Arms Games’. It might not be the best architect sim on the green, but it is one that will keep you thoroughly occupied for the long haul. What more could you want?