15 out of 15 people found this review helpful.
Phil Mickelson Should Have His Own Game! - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001
Date of Review: Jul 23, 2004
The Bottom Line: I would give this game a try if you are a golf fan in need of a golf game fix.
One word comes to mind as I begin my review of this game: options. You will see an amazing number of options that this game features as you read.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001 is an easy to install golf game for Windows. The game features 2 CD's, one for the main game and another called "Course Architect". If you want to build an entire detailed golf course, and I mean with excruciating detail, this is a nice feature. I popped in the CD once and found that it was too much for me personally, but is always there if the architect in me needs a fix.
Now on to the game. You start the game by going to the "New Game" option on the main menu, and options is what you get:
Practice Area: Go to the driving range, chipping area, or putting green and practice your skills.
Practice Holes: Practice on an actual hole or sequence of holes.
Stroke Play
Tournament: Play 1-4 rounds
Pro-Am Tournament: Play as a team with a professional golfer
Multi-Course Tournament: Each round can feature a different course.
PGA Tour Season: (My favorite mode) Earn your tour card and compete in PGA Tour events for big prize money.
The President's Cup: Compete in this team competition that pits the U.S. vs. the World. Team match play, Four Ball, Foursomes, and Individual matches are featured.
Skins game: Compete for prize money against other tour players. Win individual holes against 1-3 other players to earn the dough.
Match Play: You vs. another player. Attempt to win more holes than you lose against your opponent.
Foursomes- Teammates alternate shots (Usually 2 on 2)
Fourball- Total scores are compared (One team's score vs. another, lowest wins)
Shootout- Try to get closest to the pin.
The range of game modes doesn't really serve to make the game much better in terms of replay value, at least in my case. I find the PGA Tour Season fun to play, but am not as interested in the other game modes. I could see myself trying the "President's Cup" game, which seems interesting, along with the occasional practice, skins game, and shootout.
The numerous game modes are coupled with an equally wide variety of gameplay options. To play the game, you can use the keyboard, the mouse, or both. I don't believe that this game supports controllers, but is still fun to play with the mouse (the game doesn't require the rapid movement that would necessitate a controller).
Choosing your opponent's skill level, wind speed, and conditions of greens, fairways, and rough are all possible. The game features a create a golfer option, where you can choose the golfer's animation, handicap, clubs, and options such as green reader, which provide on the course guidance. There are drawbacks to creating golfers. You can't make the golfers left-handed, and the animations to choose from are limited.
In addition to created players, you can play with tour pros such as Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Mark O'Meara, Stewart Cink, Davis Love III, and even with basketball star Michael Jordan. However, you won't be hitting the links with Phil, Ernie, or Sergio, unless you create them.
You will learn the game quickly, but set your levels low to start. Compete against the computer as an amateur and set their skill level to poor. Soon, you will want to change those settings to make your games more challenging, which is no problem with all the above mentioned options. This helps the replay value of the game, since you will never be bored trying to beat the tour pros when their skill is set at "spectacular".
When playing the game, you will be treated to good graphics, including well detailed greens, sand traps, and fairways. Trees that are close to you are detailed and realistic, while those in the distance are fuzzy. A standard gallery greets you at the green, but is nothing spectacular in its detail. Generally, the colors and details of this game are sharp and effective.
Commentary is provided. Like golf broadcasts, you get limited commentary, which is usually helpful, telling you about the hole and/or your next shot. You will also hear the birds chirping and the plink of your club. Crowd noise is canned, but adequate.
MORE FEATURES AND OPTIONS:
Yardages are provided constantly: distance from the pin, distance of your shot, distance that a certain club can hit the ball. Wind speed is included.
A complete leaderboard is provided for tournaments, and you can check your scorecard for the round at virtually anytime you are on the course. Player statistics are available in game play as well as being accessible from the main menu.
You can play several PGA Tour courses such as TPC Scottsdale and TPC Sawgrass on this game. However, I found the selection of courses rather limited, especially when playing the PGA Tour season. In the season, you only play about a handful of tournaments in a calendar year because of the lack of courses. Some courses appear gray on the different menus, leading me to believe they are available with some sort of supplemental game disk.
Even with the options and features that Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001 offers, I did get bored with this game over time. This had to do mostly with the lack of courses which dulled the Season mode of the game. However, the different game modes can be a way out of this, but not really in my case. Maybe I will go back and play President's Cup or another mode. The graphics and gameplay are definitely positive features in this game, and I think it is a good choice overall for a golf game.
