Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002

"Wow...simply....WOW!"

Holy ****! Console golf is back with a vengeance. Back in the days of the Genesis and SNES, EA made the best console golf games with their PGA series. Then the PS1 was released and EA suddenly forgot how to make a quality golf title. Their games weren't just bad, they were sloppy. Truly an embarassment to all involved. Then Tiger Woods 2001 came out on the PS2 last year and it was merely ok. It definitely didn't give any hints to the game that TW2002 would become.

Apparently the true miracle workers here are the folks that wrestled away control of game development from the team at EA that had previously been working on the Tiger Woods series. TW2002 was built from the ground up by a new development team (Headgate), and their approach is fresh and amazing. Quite simply put the greatest console golf title ever created. Bar none.

Where to begin...

What's great?

- Analog swing method. Simply the best. No, without a doubt, this is THE BEST swing method available for any golf game ever made. It's perfect. Astounding how good it feels to pull back, push foward and see the ball fly. You can control your hook, slice, and power of the shot by simply managing the way you pull the club back. Wonderful. No more of that click-click-click twitch golf garbage.

- Dramatic camera angles and special effects for well-hit golf shots. They never get old either.

- The Courses. There's 7 of them and they all offer a unique golf experience

- Real PGA players and a mixture of fake female and male players thrown in.

- Awesome physics engine. The ball bounces feel real, and yes, that's important.

- The audio is the best I've ever heard in a golf game and if you've played the other major golf title for the PS2, you'll understand why TW2002 is so great and the other is so poor.

- 4 of the 7 courses are the real deal. Licensed Pebble Beach and Sawgrass? I'm there!

- The 3 ''fantasy'' courses are extremely well-designed to offer a challenge.

- The single player mode is deep. Very deep. There's a mode where the game gives you a scenario and you have to complete it. You're then rewarded with a medal based on your performance. There's a tournament mode in which you compete in tournaments. Win and you move on. Finally there's an awesome 1 on 1 match system, which opens up the other players in the game while also opening up a hole on Tiger Woods Dream Course for each opponent you beat until the entire course is revealed. But I just have to ask: why is Tiger Wood's dream course in what appears to be The North Pole? It's a beautiful course, and offers tons of shortcuts, but I doubt Tiger would rank the Antartica Invitational as his favorite tourney to participate in.

- The ability to hold the X button to speed shots up when in the air. It may not sound like a big deal, but it is. You can complete an 18 hole match of golf in about 15 minutes. I like this better than hitting a button and having the ball magically appear in its final resting place. I prefer seeing the entire shot but in a fast foward presentation. Brilliant, EA, brilliant.

What's good?

- The audio commentary (Bob Macatee and David Fehrety) is nicely done, but gets a little repetitious after about 50 matches. I found myself turning this off because some of their comments would reveal a great(or poor) shot before the shot was complete, which kind of ruins the suspense.

- The 7 courses they have are all great, but I would like more. Specs for TW2003 indicate there will be 14. Now that's what I'm talking about!

- 18 players in the game total is nice, but graphically they look a bit strange. The real player licenses are ok, but the fake players feel a bit like stereotypes. Why does everyone have tatoos, EA? Yeesh.

- You can control the spin of the ball while its in the air. This only really matters when you've built your character way up. It definitely isn't realistic, but it's a heck of a lot of fun.

- I like the putting method, but I can understand where it might confuse some people. I can sink any putt within 30 feet, but I've seen people struggle with it simply because the game doesn't make it obvious how to putt well. It's something you'll need to adapt to, but I like that two awesome TW2002 players can putt completely different but achieve the same results.

- The audio of the shots, ball landing etc. are as realistic as you'll find. I don't particularly care for gallery comments, but they're nowhere near as intrusive as you'll find in some other golf titles.

What's bad

- The more you win, the more money you get. The more money you get, the more you can afford to build up the abilities of your player. Suffice it to say you'll eventually have a player so maxxed out that par 4s can often be played like par 3s. Not very realistic...but tons of fun. Still I'm going to list it as a negative.

- The save method for player info is not intuitive at all. It feels like a Masters degree is required to figure out how to play in 2 player mode and each select a different user-created player(and I have a Masters Degree! yeesh). This has to be fixed in the 2003 release.

- You can't save during a tournament. How hard would this be to add? Sheesh. Stupid oversight.

- Because you can't save, EA limited tournaments to 2 rounds maximum. Ouch. What tournaments are played for only 2 rounds?! Fix this, EA. I'm not suggesting it, I'm demanding it.

Well, that's about it. Tiger Woods 2002 is quite honestly the best console golf title ever made. The lifespan of the game is determined by what you want to do with it. Do you want to take your maxed-out character and try to shoot in the mid-40s? You can do that...I know I have and it's so much fun to do. Do you want to choose a realistic player, create real life conditions (wind, tough tees, hard pin placements) and then take on Tiger Woods in match play? You can do that. Careful, he'll eat your lunch and laugh at you in the process. Great stuff indeed.

More courses, better licensed players (outside of Tiger) and online play would be the only things that could improve an already great golf title. Enjoy the best golf game ever made.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/02, Updated 08/04/02