The world of golf does not appeal to most people. It is seen as a boring sport that takes a long time to play and the attention span and patience needed for it has to be very long. The image of a man with a knitted sweater, chequer trousers and a bobble cap come to mind that make your entire body cringe. If you have this view of golf gaming, then bin it right now and send it to the far corners of your imagination! Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 comes very close to being one of the best games in its genre and is also claimed to be part of the best-selling golf franchise. Its true! In this game there are no pulled up trousers with long socks pulled up to the knee or fluffy animal club socks, there are sleek strokes, detailed courses and much more.
The game being stuck within the virtual world, it cannot give you the feel of the wind in your hair, sun on your face or rain soaking your clothes but the realism of the game play itself has been very well looked at. Moving away from the tradition method of stopping the cursor at certain points on a power and aim bar to make those all important swings, this new game uses the more recent method that has been used on the new generations of console. By using the up and down motion on the analogue, or in the case of the N-Gage, the D-Pad, it makes the player swing back the club and then follow the stroke through in a fluid motion. At times, if you do not hit the shot correctly then the character model will not run as smoothly. Using the 1 and 3 buttons on the keypad, you can charge up whilst taking your shot and by using the * key you can also vary between what club and type of stroke you use. This is how it is when hitting from the tee-off or from the rough, bunkers or freeway.
When the ball gets to the putting green it follows the same suit of controls, although you can only use one type of shot---putting. There is a little bit of difficulty in judging the level or terrain of the green when making that all important shot to make sure you end the course on par or below if you can help it. This is because of the lack of design when it comes to the green. In some stages you can see a little bit of shade to indicate a slope but it is not very noticeable and so it becomes very tedious and frustrating when your ball will either go too far or not far enough. If you go through the career mode and buy the stats to improve your putting ability then it becomes a little easier to sink the ball and it allows you to make a few misjudgements.
All of the time your mind needs to be thinking with this game. Although many would say, “All you have to do is whack the ball” there is a lot more to it. Depending on the terrain or the weather, you always have to make judgements and tweaks to your aiming or power that you hit the shot with. One false move or miscalculation could send your ball into the water or sand of a bunker. Concentration is needed throughout the entire course and attention needs to be paid to the smallest detail to become a master of this game.
There is also a view, if you press 5, to see where your shot is going to go in a birds-eye-view. This is a very useful way of lining up and judging what strength you will need to hit the ball. It also allows you to manoeuvre your way through the many bunkers, lakes or trees that stop you from getting the ball into the hole. One downside to this is the fact that you can only move the target as far as you are able to hit it, depending on your strength and power, which means that you cannot view the entire course. Although the blue dash line of aim will automatically point towards the green, it still does not help when you are trying to avoid obstacles.
Regretfully, this game does exactly what it says on the tin---you play golf. There are no new modes that put a fun side to the sport or add any type of lengthy game play but even though the ‘career mode’ and ‘scenarios’ will add to the length of the game and allow you to customize your golfer to a point, it does not add any flare or excitement to the game. Mini-golf could have been added as a bonus feature but players will have to be satisfied with the practice mode, career mode, versus mode and arena options that are open to them.
Although this game is also ported to the Gameboy Advance SP, and is pretty much identical in everyway talking in a general sense, there is one advantage that the Nokia N-Gage holds over it. And that’s the extensive multiplayer options available. Not only can you play with up to four golfers by passing your N-Gage around for all of your gaming buddies to have a go, there is not only the option of being able to play against another gamer by the use of the Bluetooth wireless technology either but you can also compete against many others in the entire world through the use of the Nokia Arena. The options of play open to you are endless! Out of all of the good points about this game, the access and use of the Nokia Arena has to be its best, allowing real time contests against other people meaning you do not have to wait until it is your turn to swing and try for that hole-in-one. Throughout the tournaments you can have a look at the progress of those you are playing up against and try harder on the next course. Multiplayer gaming is the main feature that the N-Gage boasts about and this game is among one of the first to utilize it well.
There is nothing more enjoyable than being good at something and being able to show-off your stuff and compete against others to prove to them that you have what it takes to be the next pro champion. The Nokia Arena offers this; it holds competitions where you can compete for certain titles and earn trophies that will be put onto your personal profile, including statistics that will change depending on how you fair in the championships.
Perks of the sport are being in the outdoors and having the pleasure of breathing in all of that fresh country air and taking in the breathtaking sites of course locations. Lines of pine trees, shimmering lakes and lush grass is but a start to the wonders of the golf surroundings and this game massacres that dream. In more of a lighter sense, it obviously cannot re-create the real world in such a way as described but the design could be better. When golfing, the character model stands upon a 3D terrain and sometimes it looks as though he is about an inch off of the ground. The colour design is bright with fresh surroundings but it is very blurred; each of the different types of terrain seems to fuse together and create a bumpy landscape. Because of the specifications of the N-Gage, the realistic 3D graphics of home consoles cannot be created to the same effect but it works well in its own right.
Having a range of golfers to choose from, the character models are made to imitate the players as closely as possible and the pixilation is very fluent and smooth. Many of them do resemble their real life examples and each of them moves with great motion when both swinging and putting. The designs themselves are also colourful and of a good variety so that they are distinctive from one another.
The 2D birds-eye-view map is also very detailed and colourful, designed in a cartoon and bright like way. All of the different terrains are drawn out far more clearly then they are done for the 3D landscape and the movement of the ball is enjoyable to watch as you see the rewards of your calculating efforts.
Blaring pop music or funky R’n’B would not be the most suitable music to be the soundtrack of a golf game but they do have a good selection of the usual EA sports type tunes that play in the background whilst you are choosing between the options.
Whilst in game mode there is no music but the sound effects are really good and they have paid attention to detail as there are many realistic sounds to accompany the hit of the ball, the sound of terrain being brushed by the club, your ball landing on the ground, plonking into a sand bunker or splashing into a lake or pond. To go along with the wholesome golfing experience, they have also created a location background selection that has the sound of calling birds to make it all feel as though you are there in person.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour is one of the few sporting games available for the N-Gage and is definitely worth the buy. With its more realistic style of playing the shot, career mode and variety of courses, it is a game that will soon get you hooked. Golf will no longer be an area of boredom, after playing this game you will be able to understand what ‘Par’, ‘Birdie’ and ‘Bogey’ meant all along and you will not be able to put your N-Gage down for long before wanting to relief some tension by hitting a few balls through the air.
Tobias Rowe
