Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2000

Poor Mr Woods. As we speak he's putting backwards and forwards across what can only be described as the side of a mountain. Me is 12 shots over par after 15 holes on the final day of the tournament, and he looks miffed. He needn't be, because he's still bloody winning. Now, when we say this game is difficult-you'd better believe it. Tee-shots and fairway shots are fine, but putting? That's another story entirely. Everything has to be taken into account from the speed of the greens to the lateral and vertical slope, and even wind. In short, it's the cruellest, most unforgiving experience ever. On the plus side, it's just like real life.

Help Me!

If you ignore the putting for a moment, there's no denying that the customisable options on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2000 make it the perfect game for armchair golf fanatics of any standard. Play on amateur setting and you'll get a fairly respectable score after just two or three rounds. Not that you're doing it alone though; a variety of playing aids (including direction arrows and power help) ease you into the groove, plus a decent in-game commentary gives you some surprisingly useful tips - 'straight from the experts'. Making the leap from amateur to professional level is not so easy. Only when you finish in the top half of the qualifying event do you gain a place on the PGA Tour, so be prepared to put in some serious hours, especially on the putting green...

On top of the usual singleplayer tournaments and handy practice modes, there are different types of games, including matchplay, fourballs, foursomes and even pro-celebrity matches with Michael Jordan of all people. All these choices can be enjoyed over a LAN or the Internet -extraordinary effort has been put into creating an excellent online championship featuring regular events and prizes. The number of courses is pretty respectable too; there are eight of the buggers in total including Pebble Beach, Sawgrass and Heron Bay. If that's not enough, you can always use the architect to design your own course from hell - although it's not quite as easy to use as the one in PGA CG.

Clicking Hill

There are problems with Tiger Woods 2000and they tend to centre on the 'tri-click' control method. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if the alternative 'pro' swing worked better, but the sweeping left to right mouse movement simply doesn't cut it.

Ultimately, it leaves you with no choice but to attempt to master the lightning-quick triclick. If you can suss it out, you'll have yourself a near faultless golfing game.

Other areas need work too. Ambient sound is a little on the sparse side (there is hardly any crowd noise) and in the graphics department some of the backgrounds are a bit blocky.

Still, when it comes to the crunch these are minor points and generally don't detract from what is, on the whole, a great golf simulation. It's Electronic Arts' best golf game yet, but hopefully Tiger Woods 2001 will be even better.