Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002
Score: 92% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: EA Sports Developer: EA Games Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 4 Genre: Sports
Graphics & Sound: Easily the best looking golf game ever, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002 displays the game of golf in genuine form. Of course, being on a golf course means that you'll see a lot of green (grass, trees, etc.), but even if you hate the color itself, you will be impressed by the little details. Details like the cut of the grass and the thickness of the trees make the game that much more playable. And player models look outstanding, especially after sinking a long put and watching them perform flawless celebration animations. Tiger Woods 2002's audio quality is very good too, for what is there. You'll hear everything from birds chirping to the roar of the crowd after you sink your first eagle put. Perhaps the best audio feature is in the quality of the commentators, David Feherty and Bill Macatee. Although you'll definitely hear repeat phrases, they provide the much-needed TV-style presentation, adding a fourth dimension to the game.
Gameplay: If you're looking for a great golf game, look no further. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002 is the best on the market, hands down. The amount of features in the game outweighs any of the negatives. In addition to your standard Practice rounds, Skins games, Stroke and Match Play, and Tournaments, TW2002 also offers up a cool monetary system involving mini-games. The first of these mini-games is in the form of golfing Scenarios. You'll be thrown onto one of the seven courses, and have to perform many different tasks in order to earn much-needed cash. The other mini-game is the Tiger Challenge. Here opponents will take you one-on-one for a cash prize. All of this cash will eventually be used to juice up your created golfer's attributes. In addition, throughout your golfing experiences you'll be able to pick up extra cash by knocking down birdies or eagles, as well as hitting all of the greens or fairways in regulation. In all, there are more than 30 ways to increase your money as you play. A new addition to the lineup this year is the Speed Golf mode of playing. Essentially you do exactly what the name suggests, and play the game as fast as you can. The key is that you will be challenging another player (human too) in a split-screen dual. Steal his or her money by performing certain actions first. The first one out of moola loses. Another great feature in Tiger Woods 2002 is in the presentation. When you bust out a great shot, you'll be treated to a 'Letterbox' type movie screen showing your shot. But one of the best features in the entire game is actually not seen, but felt. That's right. When you've got a pressure putt, or a 'gamebreaker' shot, your controller will begin vibrating to help you feel just a bit more stress as you attempt the shot. This is such an added presence that you'll be able to 'feel' the pressure that your character feels. Even with all of these great features, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002 is missing perhaps the most important ingredient of this golf soup - a Career Mode. Yes, you can enter tournaments, but you really don't proceed through an actual career. The closest thing to a Career Mode is that you will be able to create golfers, then enter them in Tournaments and complete the Scenarios and Tiger Challenges. This way you will earn money, which is then used to boost your player's attributes. This in turn allows you to play harder courses, and have a much better chance at winning them.
Difficulty: Most golf games have always offered a version of the 3-click swing meter. For the first time (*that I know of), a golf game has REQUIRED that you use an analog stick to swing. What this means to you and I is plain and simple. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002 has probably the highest learning curve you'll ever see in a sports title. I guarantee you will both enjoy playing the game and get extremely frustrated at times. However, if you stick it out through all of the difficulties, you'll soon be able to golf on a competitive scale with the many greats direct from the PGA Tour.
Game Mechanics: Tiger Woods 2002's biggest flaw is also its biggest attribute. Forcing you to use either of the dual analog sticks is a frustrating experience at first, but once you get the hang of it, your gaming enjoyment will increase tenfold. It would have been nice if the swing meter would have been an option, however, as everyone will certainly not take kindly to this style of control. Another thing that should have been in the game is a way to customize your swing, as every person that plays will have a slightly different style. The precision controls of the analog stick require exactness like you wouldn't believe. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002 is a very solid title with many options available. It's unfortunate that it is lacking a true career mode, but the created players do make up for it somewhat. Fortunately, TW2002 has enough to do in the form of gameplay that the replay value of the game is outstanding. If you're into golf games, you'll want to check out Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002. I would suggest renting first, to make sure you can handle the controls. But make sure you play the snot out of the game, or you won't fully appreciate it. That's why I also recommend buying after a first rent, because this is a game that you'll always be able to play with a few friends.
-Woody, GameVortex Communications AKA Shane Wodele
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