Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001 is the first realistic golf game for the PS2. There is also another golf game for it too (Swing Away Golf) but it is another one of those Hot Shot look a like’s.

GRAPHICS:This is where I was impressed enough to buy this game. I first saw the graphics for this game in another one of my EA Sports games (Knockout Kings 2001) by watching the, Inside EA Sports preview. I thought they were outstanding, but what a lot of people forget (including me) is that the previews shown are always going to look better because they concentrate all the power in to it. Plus, most of the previews are just replays that are doctored up instead of the actual game, but that’s ok in this case. The graphics are as good as you would expect them to be, unless of course you hit your ball in the water. The player models are quite realistic, but what do you expect when there are only six different players and no create-a-player, what gives? You do however compete against all the golfers like, Nicklaus, Els, and Mickelson. The courses are pretty good looking too, but I don’t think they used the full power of the PS2. Also going along with the minimal theme there are only three different courses, which this time is not ok, because the first one is reasonably easy (Pebble Beach) and the other two (Poppy Hill and Spyglass Hills) are very hard.I give the graphics a 5 out 5 only because I have yet to see better.

SOUND:No music, so either you get your own or you listen to nothing but the sound effects. The cool thing is that each golfer has their own unique voice (I know that it is Tiger’s real voice, but I don’t if the others are real). The swing sounds pretty realistic, and sometimes you can even predict how your going to hit the ball, especially when you hear it pop. The rest of the sounds are pretty much what you would expect, unless you hit it in the water. There are also taunts you can do while the other player is going, but it doesn‘t bother me and it probably wouldn‘t you either.I give the sound a 2.5 out of 5 simply because that’s what it is, average.

CONTROL:The worst part about this game is when you mysteriously slice the, “s--t,” out of your ball off the tee, which usually ends up in you hitting it over because your ball went out of bounds. Another thing that will happen (which usually ends up in my friend and I throwing controllers and screaming obscenities) is when you hit the ball and it goes about 10 yards. I have no idea why these things happen because even when my friend and I tried to screw up it wouldn’t, but when we were pitching for an eagle on a par four off the fairway, mysteriously the ball would end up dropping way short of the hole even though I put enough club on it. Another thing that always confused me about Tiger Woods games is that you can control your ball while it’s in mid-air, how and why? The weirdest thing about the control has to be the way you swing is by pulling back and pushing forward on either of the joysticks, and there is no way to change it either. Another thing that can get quite frustrating is chipping, which I don’t do because it sucks, I usually use pitch or if I am close enough on the fringe I just putt. The final problem you might have is judging a putt, whether it be straight on or not.I give the control a whopping 1 out of 5 just because of all the strokes it has cost me.

Overall I would only recommend this game to someone who is a huge golf fan or familiar with the way a Tiger Woods golf game plays. It is pretty fun playing it multi-player, but like I said I would not recommend this to anyone who isn’t a fan or golfer. Plus, with only six players and three courses the game gets old quick. Oh yeah, don’t bother saving your stats because you won’t be able to tell what’s what when you look at the records. And I’ll tell you right now don’t expect a reward cause there are none. The final score I give this game is a 2 out of 5 because of all the problems with the controls and the lack of players and courses.

Recommended: No