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Weapons…none
Gore…nil
Requirement for rapid and precise reactions…not really
So someone remind me why I installed Tiger Woods 2004 again?
After many rounds with the rest of the guys out in the real golfing world, my interest was directed towards this game as something to do when I just wanted to take some time out and play a relaxing game for a change.
After installing the game from the 3 CD's (winding out to a 1.9Gb install) I was looking forward to a bit of eye candy and plenty of courses to play…I was not disappointed
After the standard video intro of a few of the PGA Pros you come to the Initial menus presenting you with the following options:
Career mode - where you build your player up through amateur ranks to master working on your game skills and sponsorship deals along the way
Simulation Mode - jump right in and hack away using the various Pro Golfers profiles
Network Play - Play on a Network
EA Sports online - Play the world and see if your skills are as good as you think
Went straight for the Career mode to see what sort of playability this game has and to see if a complete beginner to the world of PC golf games (well apart from flash based miniputt at work) could work it out.
 The first screen you are presented with is making your new golfer, and had no end of fun playing round with the editor here, allowing almost complete control over what your golfer looked like. Eventually I remembered that this was actually a golf game and not a 3D character modeler program so off to the courses I ventured. Arriving at the Carrer Menu I decided to take a few golf lessons first to get an idea of how the game works and quickly found that the interface was built for ease of use, everything that you needed to know was there and if it wasn't then you could be sure it wasn't more than a click or two away, the swing (and you have several types to choose from) was simply a matter of drawing the mouse back then sliding it forward on the same axis (hook and slice where fairly easy to avoid), one glitch that I did notice however was that if the mouse was aggressively moved forward on the down swing the golfer would jump and the animation of the swing would be interrupted.
The first match involved myself vs 3 other golfers and after about 3 holes I was back in the menu system finding out how to disable the pre and post swing animations as with these exponentially added to the length of time it took to play a hole, especially when the other 3 players did it as well, back in the game and I found the Esc key skipped the flight of the ball and just showed the final balll position, though these both added atmosphere to the game after every shot you just wanted to get on with lining up that next shot (though I now usually watch the fight of my ball to get an idea of how the wind may affect my next shot). Back into the game again the other players seemed to make just as many stuff-ups as I did which was a relief as bunkers and water hazards seemed to attract my ball, playing through an 18 hole round was actually quite enjoyable as you slowly edged ahead of the others only to double bogey a hole and be back to all square….
missing putts by inches and watching them whip round the edge of the hole bought a new definition to the term anticipation…dropping a 50 foot eagle putt is right up there with clearing out an entire opposing team in an FPS game by yourself…watching the ball roll those last few inches your will power is completely focused on making it go that extra inch, on the other hand the disappointment is there as well with the ball stopping sometimes inches short of that round winning putt going down.
The actual game itself provides a decent amount of game play as you move your golfer through the various golf ranks, earning money from winning tournaments, winning skills challenges and achieving certain milestones such as you first sub par round, first eagle etc so the moneys almost always coming in from somewhere, and going straight back into equipment and player attributes, for better power, recovery, putting skills etc (if only I could buy my real golf skills like that).
Course selection includes 18 real world courses and an excellent course editor that can have you building your own virtual course in minutes, am sure in short order there will be courses available around the net for download
Graphics are excellent with realistic weather effects, clouds that drift across the course according to wind direction and speed, rain that comes across in brief showers, greens that are able to be played even without the putting grid turned on and divots flying when you get right under that fairway iron shot. A major bonus was the tree modeling, with the flight of the ball able to shoot through small gaps (yep I got lucky a few times) and pretty much graze branches without being affected, would have been a major annoyance if hitting a ball through a perceived hole in the foliage resulted in the ball bouncing out from some invisible leaf. The animation of the golfers themselves is also bang on with one of the various video intros showing one of the golfers dressed up in a motion capture suit to get the swing and movements just right.
Network/Online play
Not tested
Conclusion
With so many games out there now that involve weapons and violence its always refreshing to get back to a game that allows you to relax for an hour or two, and I for one will be leaving Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 installed for a fair while to come as with my character building in skills and my first hole in one still not yet achieved theres a lot of fun to be had from this title
Pros -
Graphics are outstanding
Good playability
Golf terms explained in English
Cons - Bit of a glitch in the swing..but that's about it
Ratings - 5 is average, we figure if we ever give a 10 out then the review won't get written as we'll be glued to the game.
Graphics 8/10
Sound 5/10
Gameplay 8/10
Multiplayer not tested
Total 7/10
Test Rig: Shuttle SN41G2 (nforce2)
XP2500+
512 Mb RAM Geil DDR 400
Radeon 9800 Pro 128
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