Once again, EA Sports has proven worthy of holding the elite title of being the King of Consoles. Just like every year before, EA has outdone themselves in both graphics and sound. For starters, the wide range of characters in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, and they all look great! The environments continue to look absolutely outstanding as well, and really get you in the mood to hit the links.

On the course, you'll also be pleased to hear the voices of Gary McCord and David Farity. Not only do they offer helpful advice, but they call it like they see it. Hit a good shot, and hear the praise (as well as the roar of the crowd). But if you shank one into the trees, be ready for what you deserve. Away from the course, this year's menu music tracks were chosen very well. You'll be treated to the likes of Just Blaze, Ostrich Head, Roscoe, DMX's 'Party Up', and others. Be prepared to get songs stuck in your head though, because they certainly have a way of doing that to you after hearing them over and over again.

Mind-boggling. It's the only way to describe the extreme awesomeness (I can't believe this is actually a real word!) of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004. Building upon the (great) years past, Tiger Woods 2004 adds a ton of new features. First off, before you start anything else, you can now head over to the new Create-A-Golfer (dubbed 'EA Sports Game Face') and create just about any player you can think of, even yourself. This feature, when combined with being able to purchase different clothing, can put you 'in the game' like never before.

And on to the new features list...

• EA Sports Game Face -- Create-A-Golfer as mentioned above
• EA Sports Online -- That's right, you can finally take on the world with any player you choose! (Only available for PS2 this year.)
• Five New PGA Tour Pros (30 Total including fictional characters) -- Rich Beem, John Daly, Retief Goosen, Justin Rose, & Adam Scott
• Eight New Game Modes -- World Tour, Career (PGA Tour Season), Long Drive Shootout, Battle Golf, Four Ball, Best Ball, Alternate Shot, & Stableford
• Seven New Courses (22 Total including Random 18) -- Bethpage Black, Pinehurst No. 2, Kapalua Plantation, Bay Hill Club, Sahalee CC, Emerald Dragon, Wallaby Creek, & Penguin Falls
• Create-A-Course -- What? On a console? WOO HOO YIP YIP! Oh, crap. It only lets you choose holes from existing courses. Give me full creation tools already!
• EA Sports RTE (Real-Time Event) System -- The game looks at your PS2's internal clock, then allows you to compete in Real-Time Events, ranging from Full Moons and Holidays, to many Birthdays, including Tiger's.
• EA Sports Bio -- New to the 2004 series of games, your memory card is checked each time you load. If there are other EA Sports 2004 titles on it, you'll receive bonuses. Then as you progress through each game, you'll see your Bio Level increase with each set of new accomplishments.

Now that that's out of the way, I'll touch upon some of the highlights. First off, hitting the course has never been better thanks to the Career Mode. You can play up to 10 full seasons on the PGA, and keep track of tons and tons of different accomplishments. Can you beat Tiger's 18 holes-in-one? Within your career, you'll be able to play any tournament available on your calendar, of which all are 4-day tournaments (just like real life). In conjunction with the career mode, you'll be able to hit the World Tour and take on some of the best, both real and fictional, in Match Play events. It's here where you can earn some quick cash to build up your stats and equipment. But beware... these players aren't going to take it easy on you after the first couple of matches.

With all of the cash you earn, you will be able to build up your attributes and become the golfer you only wish you could be in real life. You'll also be able to purchase new clothing, balls, and equipment. Each will have its own attribute modifiers, from Ball Striking and Driving Accuracy to Approaches and, sometimes the most important thing in golf, Luck.

After a bit of practice (and building up your stats if you choose to use your created golfer), you can plug in and take Tiger Woods 2004 online. The overall setup of the online feature is very, very good. Players have the opportunity to set the games up the way they want to, including which courses, players, and options they want. You can also set up a time limit per shot, so playing online won't be a drag. This is a very fun new feature, but I'm a bit wary of cheaters. The game servers will keep track of players' stats and offer tournament events. However, upon looking and seeing a score of -792 (or something like that -- there was only one score like that), it makes me wonder how many people have cheat devices out there.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 offers a very wide range of difficulty. For the most part, anyone should be able to pick up and play the game without too much trouble, although there is a learning curve involved (see Game Mechanics below). As you progress through the game, you'll also increase your golfer's attributes. Doing so will keep you on pace with the competition, making the difficulty level adjust as you go. The hardest part of the game to get used to is the putting system. Your caddy will give you helpful hints, but learning to use those hints to read the green can take extreme precision to shave stroke from your game.

Anyone who has played the recent Tiger Woods games knows the beauty of the analog stick, and using it to perform your swing. Those that haven't played golf games yet (or since the days of the 3-click swing meter) will inevitably take a bit longer to master the goodness of Tiger Woods 2004. Other than that, the control layout for the game is as good as it can be, and compliments your actions well. I do have one complaint though. The new chipping feature may seem like a well-overdo blessing, but if you're not extremely careful, you'll end up chipping short (if even hitting the green at all, even when already on the fringe) most of the time. It needs a lot of improvement, but at least it is on its way.

Hands down, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 is the best golf game to EVER grace the console world, and probably the land of the PC too (minus the lack of a true Create-A-Course). All of the newly added features make this the definitive golfing sim. The realistic characters and gameplay will satisfy fans to the fullest extent, and the somewhat over-the-top characters will appeal to an entirely new crowd. If you haven't yet picked this one up yet... (in the words of every Arnold 'The Governor' Schwarzenegger's movie character) 'Get to the chopper!!!'... OOPS, I mean ... 'Do it now!!!'

NOTE -- Online plays is only available in the PS2 version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004