Two great tastes, my friends. Two great tastes.

Sid and the Sims team up, but not for some wonderful hybrid where our little mishuno friends spread across the world and into space. No, instead the dynamic duo hits the links with Sid Meier’s SimGolf. Think golf games are boring? Wrong — with nary an inflammatory ad, Sid and the Sims have made me their bitch.

The game starts simply enough: You’ve inherited 100,000 Simoleans and can pick from four or five courses around the world. You start with a clubhouse and golf pro (who offers advice on building the course). After that, it’s all you. Want to build a course that’s offers lots of fun but few challenges? Great. Want to go all-out and cater only to serious duffers? Your call, mate.

As a course grows, so does its membership. Yep, the lovable Sims come in droves, among them special characters who reward the player with landmarks, money or the chance to expand the course. Even better, the SimGolfers have personalities, which sometimes lead to "stories" — mini-plots that progress if the Sims are having fun. Successfully completing a story gives the player a landmark, usually used to boost other Sims’ fun factors.

As Sims play, they’ll express their thoughts in text (no symbol-bubbles here) and through the usual Sim noises: whistles and nonsensical words. I now wander the house doing little Sim-whistles or shouting "mishuno!"

You want rich gameplay? You can actually go in and tweak SimGolfers, dictating their personalities and even their conversation options. I personally created a batch based on friends and fictional characters. I actually find myself rooting for some of ‘em during play. The golf pro can also be tweaked; plus, his or her skills are raised for meeting certain goals or playing a great game of golf.

See, that’s where interactivity comes in: You can play the course (albeit in an isometric view, not first-person) via your golf pro. There are three levels here: practice, where there are no stakes; a showdown with another golf pro, with money going to the winner; and tournament, where the course clears and pro golfers show up to compete for a cash prize. The third option can only be accessed after meeting certain standards (course length, number of holes, etc.).

Oh, and remember the stories I mentioned above? You can make your own. It’s a blast watching Sims enact your own plots. Players can also swap stories, characters and courses on the official site (simgolf.ea.com) or fan sites.

Be warned — even with two patches currently out, SimGolf has its share of bugs. I recommend at least downloading the 1.02 patch before starting play. It’s currently in beta, but can be downloaded from the Firaxis site. Otherwise, your pro retires after 50 years, which for me actually made the subsequent game unplayable. Literally — I couldn’t load a saved game or start a new one.

Also, the manual is extremely thin. That’s a bit of a surprise, considering the tomes that accompany Civ and SimCity games. Don’t expect to find much help there.

Unfortunately, those factors bumped SimGolf from our top score of 10 keys. Still, it’s a must-have for anyone who enjoys excellent gameplay — even those who can’t tell a Tiger from a Trevino. This game will live on my hard drive for, well, ever.