Summary

Links 2004 is the best golf simulation on the X-Box. Links is more simulation than game. Although it doesn't boast all of the features of Tiger Woods, it's graphical beauty and more realistic gameplay will make video golfers everywhere rejoice.

Sound

The sound is very good for a golf game. The announcers do an admireable job and the sounds of the rain patter and crowds are excellent.

Gameplay

Links plays similar to Tiger Woods. You use an analog stick to swing the club. The farther you pull back the more power you add to the swing. Links plays a little more realistic in that you cannot add "power" to your swing by cranking a button. You can overswing, which can severely affect your shot if you happen to hook or slice. Links has nine courses, five of which have to be unlocked. Also, there is no season mode but you do have to go through a ton a challenges. Links is also similar to Tiger Woods in that you earn money to buy ratings points to increase your player's attributes. There are a number of unlockables, including golf clubs, putters, gear, etc. The putting is a bit challenging and carries a slight learning curve. Once you get the hang of it you will realize it is a pretty cool system.

Summary

All in all a pretty good console golf game. I was a little worried about the analog stick swing, being a traditional 3-click swing fan, but I came to enjoy it. As an offline game Links 2004 offers a good amount of challenge and replayability. (This review will be strictly about the offline game, I will be getting Xbox Live soon.) Few things I'd like to see changed if there is another installment of Links in the future which I'll get into in 'Gameplay'. Gave this game a 5 out of 5 because I've played it for some time and keep coming back to it. I have a feeling that once I get hooked up to Live I'll be playing it even more.

Sound

Decent sound. As with all sports games the announcers tend to repeat things at times. Luckily you can just hit A button to skip through hole previews and other things. One kind of neat thing is I typed in "Matt" and my players name (also my name) and the announcers started using my actual name. Sounded a little forced at times, like "A great round for.......MATT." or "MATT........shoots a 59 today.". Still it's kind of cool. But all the sounds you would expect to hear on a golf course or at a golf tourney are there. The music is pretty cheesy but the game has custom soundtrack so if you don't like it you can add your own songs.

Gameplay

Wasn't sure if I was going to like the method of swinging, which is done with the left analog stick, but it's not bad. Pull the stick back and a power meter starts to fill up, when it gets to your desired level push the stick forward and there's your swing. It kind of seemed like a cross between a 3-click swing (like Swing Away Golf or Hot Shots on the PS2) and a Tiger Woods Golf game. I have very little experience with Tiger Woods, but I didn't really like the control method when I played...mashing buttons for a more powerful swing, mashing buttons to put spin in the ball, that's junk IMO. In Links I believe you have more control to effect you shot before you hit it and less control after the ball is hit compared to Tiger, which is the way it should be. You can control the spin on the ball with the right analog stick pressing it forward, to either side, or backwards during your swing. This feature works okay, but I found little use for it as I never really had many opportunities when I wanted to hit a fade or draw. There are a couple of game modes, I can't even recall what they are as I have been playing the 'Career' Mode since I've had the game. In Career mode you create a player profile where you get to pick a name, general appearance, and you have some clothing options and stuff...nothing special. I'm sure Tiger beats the pants off of Links in player creation and customization but to me this is really a fluff feature and doesn't add a whole lot to the game once you have it set up. Then you get to select club brand, shaft type (some unlockables), ball type (some unlockables), and ball mark. The unlockable shaft types and ball types do have an effect on your player's strength and control so it would have been nice to see a few more unlockable items here. But basically you start out with not the best strength, control, putting, and recovery attributes. By winning challenges and tournaments you earn money which you buy skill points with, thus making your player better. Very simple player progression method but it works. The why you work your way through the Career mode is to move up in World Rank which unlocks different golf tours. So you start out on a fairly easy tour with bad golfers and easy challenges to pass and work your way up to the Legendary Tour. I just made it to the Legendary Tour and some of the challenges look pretty tough so there appears to be a good challenge progression through the tours. The tournaments on the otherhand, have been pretty easy to me so far. The ease I'm having in the tournaments so far is probably due to the beginner setting I picked for my player profile. This gives you a little advantage when starting out because it gives you a recommended power level to hit the ball (although there is this recommended power, sometimes it isn't the best power to hit the ball at...especially in putting). I do have a few gripes with the gameplay. First one being hitting the ball off of a incline or decline. This obviously will effect the distance a ball will be hit (hitting off of an incline you will hit the ball a shorter distance). The problem isn't in the software calculating this effect on the ball, the problem is knowing if you have a flat lie or if you're on an incline or decline. It's a difficult to see so you're forced to watch the landing of your ball so you can at least guess as to what you think the lie is. Second is detecting the slope of the greens. When you're putting you get a pretty good idea as to the path your ball is going to take by the line given to you. But if you have a long putt or a chip and you're trying to determine which way the green is sloping with the grid, it's again very difficult to know if the green is sloping a little bit or if it's flat. As frustrating as those two things are, they do add a little more skill to the game which is good I guess because I usually shoot under 60 on 18 in the game. Some may complain the game doesn't challenge because it's easy to win tourneys by 20-30 strokes. I think this game was really intended on being an online challenge than anything else. All in all the gameplay is pretty fun.

Summary

Links2004 is the best golf game on the Xbox period. I almost stop playing golf games when EA signed Tiger Woods. I bought the first two titles after they put his name on the title. The fireworks in that second game killed it for big time. Links2004 brought the game of golf back to my console. If you like a simulation with a little bit of hip thrown in then Links2004 is for you. If you like golf and hate the Tiger Woods games then this title is for you.

Sound

The ball and club sound FX are really good. The ambient sound FX are good too. What Xbox game is complete without your custom soundtracks. You can choose any or all of your tracks and you can even shuffle them too.

Gameplay

This game is almost 100% simulation because of the popularity of Tiger Woods Links2004 couldn't be 100% simulation. The part that isn't simulation doesn't ruin the gameplay (thank goodness). The button layout feels natural and you'll feel right at home quickly. The thing I like is the accuracy and power of your shot is determined by how fluid your swing is. You have so many factors involed in determining your shot you'll never get it down pat keeping things fresh and a little unpredictable which is a good thing in my book. To me the sign of a good videogame is when it makes you feel like it's your fault when you mess up and not the programming.