I have been enthralled by golf games since the days of the original Hot Shots Golf, and since this was an arcade-type game, I grew to like to these types of golf games. When it comes to sports games, I like to have a good balance of realism as well as arcade playability. Outlaw Golf was my next endeavor. And as I tore that up, I found myself yearning for something new.
Links 2004 takes the gameplay that most people know and love from the PC incarnation of the series and adds an exciting home console spin. Although there were the occasional quirks here and there, golf game fans may have find a decent alternative to Tiger Woods for a change. Since 1986, Links was originally spawned under a different name for the world-famous Commodore 64. But since the breakthrough in broadband technology, online play has been almost an essential gameplay selling point in almost any game. Links takes advantage of the Xbox Live service and over 750,000 users but offering some extensive online modes that only help boost this game in value, so before you go out and buy the old EA golf game, sit down and take a look at Links 2004.
The mammoth of the golf industry (Tiger Woods) is not only the most popular golfer, but his videogame has dethroned Links as the most popular golf series. Xbox owners that are fans of this series can all agree that EA makes a great game, but online support is nowhere to be found on my beloved 8-pound system. But is Xbox Live a reason enough to switch over from the dark side?
Microsoft’s first attempt at porting over the Links series onto the Xbox was quite impressive. It seems to have kept the essence of the game that the PC version had, but it also transforms this game into one beautiful piece of scenery. I debated whether or not to shell out $50 for this title, but after the recent price drop of all XSN titles to $30, I was convinced that this game was worth a shot.
For starters, let me just say that golf sims are not my cup of tea; the problem with some sports games on the market is that they play too slow to hold my interest. What Microsoft tried doing with Links (and what a lot of developers are trying to do now) is to keep the real look and feel of a sport while increasing the pace.
The offline game is deep enough to have any “Live-less” soul teeing off for a long time. On the surface, you get six tours for all you career mode players out there. Each tour consists of several skill events that fine-tune various shots/scenarios, tournaments that will put you up against AI golfers and finally the tour championship. I should mention I couldn’t complain about having to play so many matches or holes to progress because I was having so much fun just playing this game. Along the way you will win money, and of course, the better you perform, the more money you will earn. This can be put towards adding stats to your player. This will only makes things more interesting the next time you tee-off. With eight famous courses included and 2 that are downloadable through Xbox Live (one is free and the other is $4.99), one will argue that Tiger Woods has Links pegged as far as courses go. But don’t worry folks; there is still fun to be had.
For a career, you will need to create a custom golfer. There are plenty of variables that can go into creating your custom golfer: Numerous shoes, shirts and pants are supplied to choose from. Although there is a lot to pick from, I know for a fact that it comes up short as compared to Tiger Woods. There’s something about my desire to play in a clown outfit that needs to be fulfilled when playing a golf game.
If you don’t feel like jumping right into competing, you can simply go over to “Challenges”. This is where you participate in specific skill competitions like “Closest to Pin”, “Chipping Challenge” or my favorite: “Water Hazard Budget” in which the green is virtually surrounded by water and you must hit the ball onto the green to complete the hole. These challenges don’t only earn you money, but they’re fun and teach you a lot about playing the game as well as factoring various weather conditions/lie of the ball.
Ever since Microsoft has launched the XSN network, gamers around the world have been able to compete in virtual leagues online. On paper, this was a great idea; teaming up people and putting them head-to-head in conferences online. The problem I had with this functionality was the work you must do for the payoff. Setting up leagues are a synch, but getting in touch with teams from your league and getting all the games completed is a real pain. Take it from me, someone that never likes to make plans. The idea in its own is great; but I would recommend starting a league with those members that you communicate with daily, not just a random group a people that have no way in contacting you.
This is not to say that all online play is this frustrating, not by a long shot. Playing a regular game online is as easy as playing any other videogame in your library. Having played for well over two weeks now, I have seen some glorious moments online. From making a few eagle shots here and there to the embarrassment I endured from missing a “gimme” shot, there is much that can be done here.
Hosting a game gives you plenty of options as to how you would like your game to run. You’re in charge of the number of mulligans (if any) you will allow in a game as well as how many holes you would like to play and what course you want to take a shot at. Of course weather conditions can be toggled as well.
A great feature is called: “Fast Play”. This is where you can play any game mode you like but you and your opponents all play concurrently, this way the game moves a lot quicker. Watching someone else play a golf game is boring anyway. There are 14 variations of golf you can play either online or offline. Some of them consist of your average stroke, match and skins play, but this game takes it a step further and introduces games that are new to me like “Nassau”, “Stableford” and “Bestball”. It’s interesting to see all of these different modes you can play online. This makes for
One of my biggest grievances about online play is that there are no tiebreaker holes online! A friend and I were playing over Xbox Live and we ended up with the same score after 18 holes. Needless to say, we were both anxious to play a tiebreaker but were disappointed that no winner was decided. This is a shortcoming for Links indeed.
For some reason, whenever I have played an XSN title online (NFL Fever, NHL Rivals, Links), the voice quality coming over my headset is sub par at best. For the most part it’s choppy or at a much lower byte-rate. It’s like this overall because the same players I had this problem with are the same that I hear loud and clear over on Project Gotham Racing 2. You would think that out of any developer, Microsoft would make sure that their games had the highest quality in voice communication. Unfortunately for me, this was not the case.
But what Microsoft did deliver in this game was some nice game presentation from easy to use menus to an easy to use power meter/screen interface. The custom soundtrack feature is executed very well in this game. The selected soundtrack plays continuously, both in the game and the menus. It’s a game that pulls off custom music very well. Along with the presentation comes the lackluster commentary. This commentary is pretty stale and at times, inaccurate. Not that I put too much emphasis on commentary or anything, but when overshoot the hole by 20 yards on a chip and the commentator says, “Oh boy, he should be happy about that approach!” in a non-sarcastic tone, something needs to be said.
The controls are something to talk about. Right off the bat, I caught the striking similarity to the stroke system from Outlaw Golf. This is when you draw back the left analog stick until you have reached the strength you want for your shot and then draw the stick forward. It’s an easy system to use, but no matter how good you are, there is always that one time you’ll shank the ball when you need to hit the pin most. This proves that even though it’s an easy system, even pros can mess up from time to time. Chipping and putting have the same control structure.
I guess my only grievance on gameplay for the game in general would be that the computer sometimes selects a 3-wood instead of a 1-wood for a lot of approach shots, but this is not really a big deal considering that you can switch clubs to what you want easily. Also, when chipping with certain clubs, it will state that you are X amount of feet from a hole but the club will tell you that it can travel the ball up to X amount of yards. Converting yards to feet is no fun when playing at 2:00 in the morning, I assure you.
Since this game was built for the Xbox, the graphics looks gorgeous. Simply admiring the oceanfront view from the tee is proof enough that the scenery caught my eye. Lighting effects are pretty stellar as well. And while it’s not the best look game of year, it is prettier than Tiger Woods (Take that EA!).
All in All, for $30 I have to say that Links 2004 is a smart purchase. I have little experience and know-how of golf and I still picked up this game with ease as well as learned a thing or two about putting. It’s interesting how Microsoft churned out its first console golf game. Although this game is not the greatest golf game I have ever played, it is one of the deeper ones I have cracked. With a fun yet challenging offline mode and fun Xbox Live action, this game will be in my console for a few months. A $50 purchase is a questionable one, but for $30, this should be a no-brainer in my opinion. Pick this game up and kick some balls.
