User Rating: 7.5 | Links 2004 (Xbox World Collection) XBOX
The first question I had when Links 2004 was released was "Is it better than Tiger Wood 2004?" The answer is: yes on certain aspects, and no on others. Let's see the "better" aspects first: 1. Links 2004 is more difficult than Tiger Wood 2004. It is more difficult to align a shot, it is difficult to predict how the wind will have an impact on your shot... Also, there seems to be a random factor when you hit a ball because sometime, the ball goes far off the target even if you think you made a good stroke. 2. Another "better" aspect, there is no loading between holes. Gameplay is a little faster that way. 3. Golf course look more realistic when you look at them from a general point of view (bird eyes view) 4. Putting is much more challenging. In fact, I really like the grid lines that can be displayed and try to figure out the break of the green by myself. (With Tiger Wood 2004, I was too lazy and let the caddy gives my advice). Now for some "worse" aspect: 1. Commentaries are not integrated nicely. You know that the XBOX is actually taking bits of speach here and there and put them together to make a whole sentence. The voices used are also not very convincing. 2. Animations (especially slow motion) are sloppy. In slow motion, you can see that some movement are not natural. My guess is that motion capture was not used all the time or they have been tweak by animators. 3. The ball sometimes gives the impression of spinning backward. Even if it may be just an illusion, when I saw this for the first time, I said to myself "Did I bought a pool game????? (you can make the cue ball do a backspin)" 4. It is very difficult to see if your shot is good until it hits the ground, because when the camera follows the ball, the angle from where the ball is seen sometimes (a lot of times) gives a wrong impression of the ball path. 5. The online feature is nice, but when you don't have a link, it's useless (it's my case). In conclusion, yes the game is nice and is challenging enough to buy it. If you are tired of playing Tiger Wood 2004 courses, here are 9 new courses (there is 4 available right now, and 5 unlockable). But it could have been more polished. It makes me feel that Microsoft was in a hurry to release the game before Christmas rather than taking the time to make a better game than Tiger Wood 2004. So I was a little disappointed, but it still is a good game of golf. But between Tiger Wood 2004 and Links 2004, Tiger Wood 2004 is still the best (even if it's easier). 
