EA SPORTS BR> Tiger Woods as he appears in "PGA Tour 2001."

EA Sports’ ‘PGA Tour 2001’
not quite up to par

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001
PlayStation 2 "EA Sports"

---

Review by Shawn "Speedy" Lopes
slopes@starbulletin.com

As with most PlayStation 2 titles, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001 will initially bowl you over with astonishingly realistic graphics and intrigue you with its enhanced playability before you realize that, just as with previous titles on lesser formats, this one falls just short of its full potential.

Oh sure, the scenery is stunning, and the images are as detailed and vivid as ever, but there are a few drawbacks. Perhaps the biggest disappointment this year is the game's extremely limited variety of courses to choose from. While previous editions -- including the ancient, pre-Tiger Sega Genesis version of the game -- featured a slew of renowned courses from around the world, PGA Tour 2001 boasts a mere three. Yeah, that's right, three: Pebble Beach, Poppy Hills and Spyglass Hill.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tiger Woods in real life.

Also, many of golf's top stars can be found on the leader board, but only in name. A total of six players can actually be used in the game: Tiger Woods, Mark Calcavecchia, Justin Leonard, Stewart Cink, Robert Damron and Brad Faxon.

The motion capture animation on these players is impressive, with each golfer characteristically cheering -- yes, Tiger does his patented "fist pump" -- or throwing a personal fit as they would in real life. However, hearing the same handful of comments that come with these displays, play after play, quickly gets wearisome.

True to the laws of physics, the ball is influenced by each player's stance, club selection and swing (you can put spin on the ball for distance or add a slight curve to its flight path when the situation calls for it), and putts are made only after careful consideration of the varying greens surfaces.

Gone is the old triple-tap method of setting your player's swing, with this year's version making full use of the PS2's analog stick function to determine timing and swing power. It's not necessarily any better than the old way, just different.

In short, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001 may indeed be one of the finer golf titles on the market, though it does have minor flaws which we hope will make for a better game next year.

Click for online
calendars and events.