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> Results: Links 2004
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Ah golf, a tranquil walk (sometimes spoiled) through greenery and nature, pitting your skills against your own foibles and against nefarious course designers. A most frustrating pursuit, or obsession, that can make your day and break your heart, and after the 18th hole, ultimately, you only have yourself to blame. It's also a sport that's fun in small groups and cannot be played for about half the year in most of the country. That's why the videogame versions always sell so well. Because it's really nice to play 18 holes on some course in Arizona or Nevada, while there's five inches of snow outside.  Traditionally, Links has been the king of this genre, with PC the platform of choice, but Microsoft liked its franchise so much, they bought the developer. Meanwhile, EA tapped Tiger for its own brash and rocking take on the gentleman's game, and have had a lot of success. Tiger Woods 2004 is an excellent game on PS2, but not quite as appealing on Xbox; for Links 2004 takes full advantage of Xbox Live and the nascent Xbox Sports Network (XSN). With XSN, you can set up your own tournaments, participate in officially sanctioned tourneys, track your win/loss ratio, handicap, and all other stats, feel secure in the knowledge that everyone playing is using broadband, and enjoy up to (in some game modes) four-player voice support for trash-talking purposes (Tiger Woods on PS2 only supports two-player golf). Links offers several tours of varying difficulty, play in tournaments, or you can opt to take a character through career mode and compete for skill and money. There are plenty of skill events that challenge you to score below par, make chipshots, putt and more. The game supports all the basic and expert modes: stroke, skins, baseball stroke, match, and Nassau. Nothing's missing here. One new wrinkle is that beating challenges and winning can open locked difficulty modes and other extra features. The kind of content you'll appreciate if you're a hardcore player, but won't miss if you just play casually. Gone are the days of the two to three-button swing. Now that we've got sticks on our controllers, we use those instead. Xbox's controller's got a good feel and Links gives you terrific feedback. Best of all, you have to concentrate. It's possible to go awry here and mess up your shot (something that's really hard to do using a mouse on PC). Links takes note of just about every factor. From your backswing, to your tempo, and to how well you drive through the ball, Links is tracking it. The wind, lie, rough and more affect the trajectory as you'd expect, and the game has an excellent putting system. The ball physics are flawless, or at least they're convincing enough that you won't be crying foul. The only way it could be more realistic is if they abandoned the rear view and forced you to look down at the ball. Sergio Garcia is front and center on the game's box and within you'll also find the lovely Annika Sorentam. That's about it. No other licensed golfers are used. Has EA locked them all up, or is Microsoft playing this a bit cheap? Still, you can create your own golfer to portray, and although you can't use a picture of yourself like in Tiger or Tony Hawk, you can choose a male or female model, customize hat, pants, shirt, glove, shoes, clubs (all kinds of name brand equipment is available), and decide if you're a north or southpaw. All the name brands are here - Titleist, Calloway, etc., and if you've ever golfed, you know this is a big selling point. Microsoft also didn't get the best courses. Or rather, they didn't get the HOTTEST courses. They may have gotten the most beautiful, though. The game features locales like the Four Seasons Resort Aviara in sunny California, New South Wales in Australia and Greywolf in Canada. One thing missing from Links is outrageous special effects. The game has slo-mo, and some streak effects to highlight a well hit ball, but it lacks the rock n' roll EA added to Tiger. Links is stately. Like a country club, while Tiger Woods is... Tiger Woods. This may make Links feel a bit stodgy and boring, but hey, you can always rip some Twisted Sister, Tool or Prodigy tunes to play over the menu. The contrast might drive you insane, so fair warning. Despite the staid atmosphere, Links is the fairway to hit if you're just in this for a round of golf. Especially if you want to play that round online... with voice and three of your friends. Links 2004 has a sweet swing and a nice finish.  Kid Factor Sports games are great for kids but golf is pretty staid (and Links is even more staid than most). Save this one for the pre-teens and the teens, who will appreciate the nuance. Itﾒs a great supplement if youﾒre trying to teach your son or daughter to be the next star golfer, and to teach golf clubs and strategy. And, come on, how else can a GamerParent and Child duff together in their PJs? Reviewer's Recommended Ages: 8+ ESRB: E-Everyone Developer: Microsoft Producer: Microsoft Genre: Sports Rating: 4.5 of 5 This review was originally published at Games Domain 
Ah golf, a tranquil walk (sometimes spoiled) through greenery and nature, pitting your skills against your own foibles and against nefarious course designers. A most frustrating pursuit, or obsession, that can make your day and break your heart, and after the 18th hole, ultimately, you only have yourself to blame. It's also a sport that's fun in small groups and cannot be played for about half the year in most of the country. That's why the videogame versions always sell so well. Because it's really nice to play 18 holes on some course in Arizona or Nevada, while there's five inches of snow outside.
Kid Factor by Andrew Bub
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