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Not as deep as Mario Golf Advance, but a solid portable game nonetheless. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 has been out on GBA for a while, but I have never reviewed it so here goes.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 features three main single-player game modes. The first is the standard Career mode, which features numerous 18-hole games. The Career mode also allows you to play in smaller, 3-hole games. Finally, the Practice mode allows you to play one hole at a time, without competition to get your game up to snuff. While not the most varied in terms of game modes compared to other portable golf games like Mario Golf Advance, it is enough.
The actual gameplay in this game is about golfing, as expected. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 mimics the new analog swinging method found in newer console games compared to the “three-click” system found in previous games. Since the neither Gameboy Advance systems have an analog stick, EA Sports mimicked the analog system by letting you press down on the D-Pad, then quickly pressing up. The pseudo-analog system is sometimes inaccurate, particularly if you don’t use the full swing, but works rather well. In addition, you can control the power and spin of the ball with the L or R shoulder buttons.
If the behind the golfer view point doesn’t work for you, you can press the A key to see an overhead view point. This lets you see the hole (if you’re close enough), align your shot and chose the distance. Overall, I found myself using this viewpoint for a large part of the game. The only time I didn’t use it was in the first shot per course since I couldn’t see the hole anyway.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 also features a “Versus” mode for multiplayer. In this mode, you can connect to another Gameboy Advance via the link cable. If you don’t know another person with a copy of the game, you can play four-player multiplayer by passing one system around.
If you own the Gamecube version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004, you can connect it with this one and exchange stats and money between the two versions. Furthermore, you’ll unlock Cedric Andrews.
The visuals in the game are acceptable but not great. The main viewpoint has you looking behind a pre-rendered golfer. The golfer looks pretty good, as does the scenery and foliage you’ll see. As you take a closer look though, you’ll notice that everything is a bit pixilated, a bit more than the N-Gage version but nothing too bad. The swinging animation is good and looks realistic. The GBA’s wider screen allows you to view more of the scenery, compared to the N-Gage version.
In terms of sound, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 is decent. The sound effects in the game are basically the golf ball hitting something whether that something is your club, the grass or water. You’ll occasional hear the crowd cheering and birds whistling, as well. The game’s menus actually have a score, but are rather low quality.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 is an enjoyable golf game. While it isn’t as deep as Mario Golf Advance, it is good enough to warrant a purchase if you really like golf games. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Aug 11, 2004
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