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Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 (PC)
Electronic Arts (
26 September, 2003 )
Video Games |
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24.99 |
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£
29.99
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 Best Tiger game yet  |
Ive played loads of golf games over the years - from the very first EA PGA Tour Golf on the Sega Megadrive right through to Sierras and Microsoft efforts.Previous Tiger games have been pretty poor I think - theyve lacked any real feel of the game and the ball physics never seemed to be right. However -2004 is a different kettle of fish. Its a completely new game with brand new feel and engine behind it. The graphics are great (of course) but more importantly it plays fantastic. It really it satisfying with true sing to hit a 300 yard drive - and unlike many other golf games that adopt trueswing, it isnt TOO hard. The flight and behaviour of the ball is the best Ive seen by a LONG way on any golf game - when you middle a shot it really does fly like the real thing. Build into this an excellent golf course designer, a flowering online community and season and career modes which will keep you going for many months youve got an essential purchase.
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| Its golf! Golf I asks yer! But .....I love it! |
It may not be evident from the title, but I am not a traditional lover of golf. Until I got my hands on this game I hated....no, despised the game in fact.
Having the natural sporting ability and coordination of a baby hippopotamus, my previous feeble attempts at pitch and putt dictated it.HOWEVER....this game has changed all that! I love it!
Gone is the previous boring three click method for playing shots that was adopted by countless terrible golf games that came before (anyone remember Leaderboard??).
This games unique control method alone deserves a quick doff of the hat to the games makers. You click the button, draw back the mouse to swing the club back, and push the mouse forwards to play the shot. Sounds easy doesnt it? Wrong. The amount of power, the timing of the back/forward motion, and the direction that the mouse was shoved in all have a bearing on where the little white ball goes (obviously wind, obstructions and selected club do too). A brilliant innovation that caught my interest straight away.
Putting is done in much the same way and it can be quite difficult getting used to shoving with the right amount of power (Ive already overhit many a 30 inch putt!). Besides the splendid gameplay the career mode adds further spice to the game. Creating your own golfer is tremendous fun....I ended up with a 7 foot tall, 30 stone man with a bright green mohican, ginger goatee beard and loads of heavy gold jewellery.
He looks awesome and can hit the ball for miles! Of course you can design your player to be any size/colour/height/age/sex (you can make them elderly or teenage), and theres also a wide variety of clothing.
You can then take your carefully designed player through months of tournaments, golf lessons and tournament play, slowly earning funds to buy new clubs/outfits/skill points to gradually improve. Brilliant fun and has really opened my eyes to the world of golf - finally! Buy it!
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| Absolute class |
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Tiger woods 2004 is a game of sheer class.
The depth and longevity of the game is simply awesome...there is so much to do and learn...so many skills to perfect.
This is not, like many other PC games, a shallow graphics demo with minimal gameplay. This is a very well thought out, very well designed and simply superb golf simulation.
Graphics wise every of the 18 or so courses is beautifully rendered, never does it look shabby or crude. Every course has its own unique style and features. The wavering grass in the wind and the falling leaves from the trees, birds flying in the sky and insects buzzing about the tees adds to the atmosphere. The water on some courses looks great...with the aid of pixel shaders and vertex shaders of course...if you have a fairly recent graphics card you can see this great effect and it looks stunning close up. Even the ball is fully rendered and you can even see the dimples in close up shots perfectly reproduced...its all these little touches which give the game its class. The players are also very good graphically, using full rendered 3D models as opposed to the shabby looking 2D photo realistic models of older golf sims.
You also have the ability to create your own character from scratch starting with a basic model which you can shape in an infinite amount of ways to create a pretty close resemblence of yourself. This can be quite hilarious sometimes as all manner of grotesque characters can be created using the options presented to you. Again the graphics here are excellent and there is definently a sense of humour involved with the design of this part of the game, as your character dances to the music and performs other actions as you design him, its very funny!
Once your character is designed you go into career mode, starting out with basic skills and a small amount of money, you progress through tournaments to earn more cash. With this extra income you can afford lessons to learn new techniques...or you can buy skill points to progress from Amateur to Pro and beyond. Also there are countrys to visit to perform certain challenges which...if successful...unlock accessories for your character and give you stat points to increase your skills. You can unlock new fashion items (Nike, adidas - quite cool!)to dress your character in, or new golf balls and clubs etc.
Progressing through the career mode will take MONTHS for me, it really is very involved with lots of long 18-36 hole tournaments and some very difficult challenges, and you really have to perfect your knowledge and your preferred control method.
There are 2 types of control in this game...the traditional 3 click method, or the more difficult True Swing method.
With True Swing you use the mouse to control the club direction and strength. I tried this method and it is quite enjoyable to use but I am very used to the 3-click method so I stuck with that. True Swing is a more realistic golfing experience and it manages very well to give a feeling of really using the clubs, where as 3-click is a more scientific, rythmic approach.
Gameplay is quite realistic, the physics engine is very accurate as far as realizing a small white ball bouncing over grass etc. You can really trust your instincts and read shots when playing and you never say to yourself well..that wouldnt happen its very good.
The main reason I brought this game was to play on-line as I used to play MS links many years ago and I really enjoyed it.
On-line play is very good with a very active community, and this really is a very enjoyable side to the game.
Entering the lobby you can set-up a game of up to 4 players or if you want, check out some of the on-line tournaments that are always in progress. These can involve quite large numbers of people sometimes, all playing for a purse of virtual money...or credits, which is what you try to earn in your virtual career. You can even join clubs or create your own club, much like clans in Quake or Half-life, and have club v club matches etc
You also get a rating and class level...which improves the more you win of course, and their is a handy on-line stats monitor to view to see all your stats and rating etc
I would say this game has pretty much changed what i do on my computer these days, as all I do now is play this!
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