Links 2004, where to begin. As a golf game it blows Tiger Woods out of the water. This is definitely a sim and not the arcade driven golf game that TW has become. As a pure golf game in today's marketplace it leaves a lot to be desired.
First is the create a golfer feature. TW and Top Spin gave us incredibly deep options for creating our virtual likenesses. In comparison to those two Links is in the 2600 era. Next is the cloting options, there aren't many. After being spoiled by seemingly endless choices on Top Spin and extras on TW I just feel again, they didn't do much.
The most important feature where Links 2004 falls behind is course selection. A mere 9 courses when TW offers 20. Yes they look good, there is only one course that is duplicated, St. Andrews, but 9 and 20 are years apart. Even if download expansions come they will no doubt be premium content and quite frankly they should have matched EA from the start.
Okay, so the good, 4 players online instead of 2 and voice chat. Play modes for 4 players out the wazoo. If I'm not mistaken there are 12 in all. Pretty impressive. If you find a group of gamers who will play golf online you will have a blast and this is where Links 2004 and every other XBL enabled game shines. Even the XSN portion of the title makes the title a little more worthy.
Would I recommend it for $49.99? No. Not unless you're a die hard golf gamer and can justify $6 each for 8 new courses. If you're an online addict, like me, you may also find it worthy of purchase. However if TW has you entertained and you're stuck offline with your Xbox wait until the $29.99 or $19.99 price point, at that point the game is worth while.
Note to Microsoft, if you want to run with the big dogs you have to have to be near the same size and play in the same yard. This year you've done neither with Links 2004.
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