Well I'll be frank right from the word go. I don't like this game and hardly play it. I bought Links 2004 afterwards and it is everything I hoped TW would be. So what's wrong with it and why do the other reviewers like it so much?Well, I can see their points. The heartbreaker feature which pumps the handset with your racing heartbeat is a nice touch, the graphics are good, the courses nice and the cut scenes well done. The commentary is fun too. So what's the problem?
Well, it's just far too easy to drive. I found my concentration seriously wandering, I was getting the sweet spot all the time with no effort. Plus, you spin by pressing the black button repeatedly. Since you want to hit as far as you can, you find yourself always tapping it furiously and that gets sore quite quickly. Plus it's too easy as well.
Then we come to the real problem as far as I'm concerned: the putting. It's not much use driving and trying your best only to find yourself guessing completely at the putting stage. It ruins the whole hole and thus the whole game. I just ended up not caring less about any of the holes because no matter what I did I was groping about in the dark as far as the putting control was concerned.
My advice is that Links is far better. There, you really feel in control and so you can put all your effort into trying your best. With TW I just had this strange feeling of boredom wash over me whenever I even thought about playing it. I guess the bottom line is I never felt properly in control of anything I was doing. Still, it has some cool bits that hold your interest for the first day after you buy it.
Well, that's my opinion anyhoo :)
I must admit I haven't played Links 2004 or TW PGA Tour 2004 yet, and bought this because it was cheap. I'm not too worried about online play with sports games though and to tell you the truth I used to find golf really rather boring. However, I'm happy to say this was the best purchase I've made on the X-Box - it's the best and most realistic sports game I've ever played on a console and I'm now completely hooked.What sets it apart from other sports games are the graphics. It's obvious that a lot of effort has been made getting the movement of the players' swing, reactions and the facial expressions to look right. The cut screens, ball movement, water movement, tree effects and collision detection is all excellent, and the camera view following the ball after a stroke is good (but could be better - at times it's difficult to see the ball, especially on long putts where you sometimes want to be able to move the camera yourself...)
The sound too is second-to-none.
Commentary, as with all EA Sports games is excellent, and based on the on-screen action. If you play into the rough be prepared for cheeky comments and playful banter like "Oh dear, that's simply awful" and similar! One little gripe here would be be that if played for a long time, you do hear a lot of repetition.
Ambient sound effects are effectively used - you can even hear seagulls crying and the crashing of waves on the rocks at Pebble Beach for example! And if you listen closely you can hear fans cheering on other holes/courses nearby. The spectators also cheer wildly and groan according to how good your shot was.
The little touches add so much to the game - when you connect with a good shot and it's headed for the pin, the pad rumbles as if you're heart's beating fast, and the cut-screens with close-ups of the players' faces all add to the excitement.
Controls are always going to be a critical issue in a golfing game, and I'm happy to say that they're easy-to-use, but are ideal on the Controller S (spin and power buttons easier to reach and use). Either one of the analogue sticks can be used to control the swing - push back for the backswing, and push forward at the right moment to do the forward swing. Easy-peasy you might think, but you will soon be challenged by wind, sloping greens and dog-leg fairways so getting used to the spin and power controls (with the excellent tutorials, on-screen tips and a Skill Zone to practice your shots in) is essential. The putting technique takes a while to be good at however - judging the distance is often difficult and the "caddy tips" are all too often misleading.
Although the game does not have online play, the excellent multiplayer options make up for it. Playing with friends is hilarious, especially when placing a wager on the hole, and there are a variety of different options you can change to spice things up a bit.
With a host of different game modes, including a World Tour, full Season, tournaments, challenges, skins, progressively more challenging players and courses (some real, some invented)
it will be a long time before you get bored.
The ability to improve your golfer by buying attributes and unlocking equipment (winning rounds earns you money to spend in the club shop, so you often have to play just that one more time.....!) really adds another dimension and makes it even more engrossing.
There is a wide choice of locations, and you can choose from more than 20 courses, which are unlocked as you progress in the tours and other game modes, some invented but most from real tours (Pebble Beach, TPC at Sawgrass, St.Andrews etc).
There really is so much to do and explore in the game and various game modes to try out that it will take weeks of solid playing to get through it all to "unlock" everything, and helping Tiger progress through the ranks, earning money and buying kit, can be a very rewarding experience!
All in all, this is so excellent, I had to give it 5 stars. If you want a realistic golf game with a few surprises and great gameplay and graphics which you'll always enjoy coming back to, then you know what to do!
I've only been playing this for a month-or-so now, but I can tell that it will keep me going for a long while more. The controls are simple enough to grasp, but give you enough control to either really ace a hole or die with frustration as you miss that eagle putt by 1/2 and inch. The graphics are stunning, with a broad selection of real courses to help you maintain that pretence that "I'm Tiger Woods".The skills practice is a great way to get into the game, allowing you to build your skills and earn prize money to buy more power on your swing, accuracy on your putting etc. These practice rounds vary from Fantasy Par-4s to pitching onto a selection of greens for prize money against the clock, so you get to practice your whole game.
I haven't even started on tournament play or "speed golf" (kind of, like, extreme golfing, dude...), but I know as soon as I get my skills up, this next level will keep me playing for months yet.
I'm not a sports-sim fan, but this is a top notch game for XBox. The only thing that stops me giving out 5-stars is that EA stil refuse to provide any XBox Live support. Just imagine playing a game this good this online....
