Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 review

Tiger Woods strikes out on all platforms in the new 2004 edition, but there are considerable differences between the PC and console versions.

Every review you read is subjective, whether you’re talking about film, book or video games. All you can do as the reader is to follow a certain reviewer, to see if his opinions generally match your own. In other words I am aware that my attitude towards Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 for the Xbox doesn’t exactly follow the hype, but you are allowed to disagree.

Ever since I started playing golf on the computer I’ve envied the console gamers. They have something that is really hard to obtain on a PC. The average console gaming situation, where you sit in your couch or armchair, watching a big screen is ideal for panoramic golf courses. On top of that you have the opportunity to plug in some extra controls and play together, without having to share the mouse and squeeze together in front of your monitor. Nope, its legs up, stretched out in the sofa with some hot coffee and a snack on the table.

Are you wearing the right Game Face?

If you want your golfer to look like a pimp, then no problem.

The most obvious new feature in Tiger Woods 2004, compared to last year’s Xbox version, is the new Game Face feature. When you see the amount of work that is put into creating skins for the characters in different games, it must have become obvious to the developers that gamers want the ability to create a unique appearance for their in-game characters. This is the purpose of Game Face. With this feature you can create all the different facial expressions you can think of. You start out with a pretty neutral face, but you can change it everyway you want. The simple, pedagogical (like a schoolteacher – ed.), way the Game Face feature works allows you to create an incredibly lively face that could almost be your own. If you think you’re a little too ugly, there’s nobody stopping you from giving yourself the virtual face life you’ve always wanted.

No you fool! That's the end you hit the ball with!

Of course you have to pick a wardrobe and some equipment for your soon-to-be PGA champion. This takes place in the pro shop, where you, besides clothes and jewellery, can buy new and improved clubs and golf balls to enhance your performance. And speaking of performance enhancers, this is also the place where you improve your golfer’s abilities. You can tweak you skills in areas like the length of your shot, how hard you strike the ball, how precise your drive is, how well you hit the ball, your putting, how well you address roughs and bunkers, your spins and your luck. You don’t have to go through all of this to play, but it sure helps when you’re out on the field.

Prepare for tee off

Nice shot

Those of you who played any of last year’s editions of Tiger Woods already know that the strength of the series is the many ways in which it lets you play golf. And this year’s edition is no exception, even though the Xbox version excels in looking dangerously close to last years game in this apartment.

When you boot the game for the first time, you’ll have to start in the Play Now mode, where you’ll be dragged through the analogue swing tutorial. The system works by dragging the analogue thumb-stick back and the flicking it forward. You have to do it in a smooth gliding motion, which captures the rhythm of the shot. If you need to hook or slice you do the same thing, only at an angle. You can achieve an extra boost by repeatedly bashing the white button on the joypad, while you swing. You spin the ball by punishing the black button in the same way, while the ball is in the air. The system works, but whether you like it is a different matter.

Tiger re-enacts his favourite scene from Star Wars

The game features nineteen different courses, which is seven more than last year, but apart from that the best enhancement in gameplay is the inclusion of real-time events, following the clock on your Xbox so you’ll never know when you’ll get a new challenge. And I mustn’t forget the most important thing: you get the opportunity to play through a real fifty-two week PGA Tour, where you have to pass muster in the opening rounds to get the chance to show the big boys who’s the real tiger.

On Xbox Live no one can hear you golf

A nice walk about to be ruined by a round of golf

But what about multiplayer? Xbox Live is here and has turned out to be the best thing that has happened to the console market since the home cinema and the corner couch. But no, in Tiger Woods this is not an option. PC owners enjoy themselves on EA Sports Online, PS2 owners roam on the virtual golf courses on EA’s network, but the customers who are so unfortunate to own an Xbox gets nothing. And that’s at the same price as our PS2 owning friends. I know I’ve been down this road before, but no matter how many legitimate arguments EA have in their conflict with Microsoft, about who should control pricing online, it is still the paying customer who’s held hostage in their conflict. It decreases the score, ‘cause it just isn’t fair.

It means that you’re forced to share one console when you want to play a multiplayer session in Tiger Woods and that’s hardly satisfactory compared to the fantastic possibilities online console gaming gives us.

Gameplay bonanza

Another unfortunate Game Face creation

Tiger Woods 2004 puts me in a dilemma. On the one hand I can easily understand why reviewers around the world are praising the game. In terms of gameplay there is an incredible amount of stuff to do, even though we don’t have the online multiplayer options on Xbox.

The Play Now mode you start out with challenges you all the time, bringing new challenges and interesting set-ups to the game. The PGA Tour season is a must in any respectable golfing game. You get to join a world tour, where you’re challenged with different modes of play and you can even set up your own game types - choosing between a host of different golf games like stroke play, match play, skins, stableford, alternate shot, best ball and four ball. On top of this there’s even a number of different arcade games you can enjoy.

'Nuff said

On the other hand Tiger Woods don’t have much to offer the player in terms of real simulation. Tiger Woods 2004 is simply too easy. It just isn’t credible that I can make six or seven under par in the first run, being a beginner on the field. And when the game is too easy the satisfaction in a perfect round is practically nonexistent.

One of the things that make the game too easy is the very simple analogue swing. In contrast to the real world it is almost impossible to miss the ball and you’ll almost always land on the fairway when you drive. I also have a problem with the power boost function where you’re bashing the white button for extra power. It’s OK to beat brutally upon your controller when you play Soulcalibur, but to me golf is a matter of precision and finesse, not raw power. Should you in some mysterious way make a bad shot, you still have the spin function to try and save it. While the ball is airborne you can spin it all you like, making the ball twist toward the flag when it lands on the green.

Tyger Tyger burning bright(ish)

Fore!

Graphically Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 is also leaning towards the arcade style, with its many cinematic effects. If you make a hard shot you’re rewarded with all kinds of goodies. This comes in the shape of flames from the tee, smoke from the ball, the screen dissolving in a mosaic pattern or your golfer taking a run-up to shoot the ball. All this is probably fine, but the illusion of actually playing golf goes straight out the window. Another problem is that you can hardly avoid making a power shot and thus are dragged through the same sequences over and over. Tiring.

The support of widescreen is also a must in a golf game. I can hardly imagine a genre so dependent on wide panoramas as golf, but EA solves this by slapping black areas in the top and bottom of the screen during replays and otherwise just staying in 4:3. Actually the graphics haven’t changed much since last year. It is kind of disappointing - having seen the incredibly beautiful PC version - that the game doesn’t make better use of the Xbox’s graphical capabilities.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 has a lot of great features and there is nothing wrong with the many different modes of play, the balls mechanics in the air and on the ground and the choice of courses. But the game seems to lack a certain amount of respect for the sport of golf. This combined with the lack of an online function and the only new features you’re paying for are the Game Face option, the PGA Tour and a pretty useless new putting-grid on the green. It’s up to you to decide whether that’s worth buying a whole new full-price game for.

Translated by Jonas Rasmussen.