Once you do unlock all of the courses you'll have some very nice and varied settings in which to play golf. The courses include a variety of locations including Hawaii tropical, desert, mountain, and woodland settings. The courses look fantastic and are all very detailed, and scroll by smoothly as the game tracks your ball. The players also look good, with smooth and realistic animations. Good shots are rewarded with a Matrix-like slow-mo view of your golfer making contact with the ball and of the ball in flight. These shots are an interesting touch, and are just short enough so as not to become annoying.

As mentioned above, the game features a career mode that starts you on the junior circuit and eventually puts you up against the best in the game. Well, the best of the game in the game that is. Famed real-world golfers such as Tiger Woods are absent from the game, primarily because of appearances in another golfing game. It would be nice if golf games were more like NFL games where players appear in every game and differentiation is achieved through gameplay, but alas we're not there yet. Anyway, back to the circuit play. You'll get to play in several different types of tournaments including match and stroke play over a varying number of holes. If you finish at the top of the standings on one of the tour circuits, you'll also get the chance to play in a special skins game.  Since the game is relatively easy to play and to play well, you won't have much trouble playing your way through the circuits. I found that I usually had enough of a cushion to prevent an occasional errant shot from knocking me out of the running. Winning circuits not only unlocks courses and additional circuits, it will also reward you with cash that can be spent to improve your golfer's rating in areas such as power and accuracy. 

The game also has a challenge mode which presents you with a series of challenge shots such as landing a shot within a small distance from the pin or finishing a three-hole sequence within a given number of strokes. You'll want to play through the circuits and to beat the game's challenges to unlock everything the game has to offer, but for some real challenge and excitement you'll want to go online on Xbox Live.

Links 2004 is the only option for Xbox gamers looking to play golf online, so it's a good thing that the online support is excellent. You can easily find individual matches for match, stroke, or other game types such as skins or even best ball. Online tournaments are also available, both open and closed to your friends only.  You can log onto the XSN site from your computer, find a tournament to join, and then play your round on Xbox Live and have your score recorded.  When playing against other players online, you can speed play by playing simultaneously with the other golfers. Instead of taking turns you can opt for this speedier version which will use colored tracers to display the shots taken by your opponents as you play the hole yourself.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 84%.  Links 2004 is good golf game, but it may disappoint gamers looking for some challenge.  The online support is excellent, so if you're looking for some tournament action against live gamers you can't go wrong with Links 2004.

« Page 1 of 2