The putting is very good, although the greens can be hard to read even with the grid overlay and the useful ground-hugging flyby cam. It seems that the developers have compensated for this by making the short game rather easy yet nothing can take away the feeling of elation from a well-sunk putt. Chipping can be a bit of a nightmare so Links 2004 gives you plenty of options as to the shot type. But to really make an impression you are going to have to play through the single player game to raise enough money to buy enough gear and abilities. This is a shame as my player soon dropped behind the ability of my flatmates, who wound-up getting rather addicted to this game for a time. Saying that, he had no other games to get through like I did, but even with a growing gulf between us a good and close game of skins or match play was to be had, and regularly.

Playing over the Live service is a treat. As is usual with Live, games can be started with next to no fuss and there are plenty of ranking tables to get yourself stuck into if you have an overabundance of spare time, (I seem to recall the top player as having played around 600 games). Not bad for a title out less than three months. There's recently been some content added for download here and I can give nothing but high praises for the smooth implementation of golf over the net that the developers have accomplished here.

This is a fun game to play, which although it can be overly punishing and is lacking in some of the more outrageous features of its competitor remains an enjoyable and worthwhile purchase. The graphics are something truly impressive, with an abundance of different weather effects and environments to keep things varied and some nice assorted textures to make sure that the courses don't look like they have been stamped out of a cookie cutter. I was particularly impressed at the way the grass gently blended in with the sand at the edges of bunkers. There's a bunch of very cool Matrix-style animations when particularly impressive shots are played, and even after weeks of playing they can bring a smile to the lips. The 5.1 sound is also very nice. There are lots of small incidental sounds that add to the atmosphere, and the birdsong will lull you into a belief that the course isn't as fake as your rational brain tells you it is. It never assaults the ears but caresses them and I found myself getting a true appreciation of how fine the work here is only after a few weeks of playing and listening. Overall the presentation is superb, not overly flashy but more in keeping with the serious nature of the game. Ahem.

Saying that the game gets ridiculous once you have mastered the middle difficulty as 18 holes can be swung through with a player coming in at well over twenty under par. Stick the difficulty up one more and this problem abates somewhat but this, to my mind, is the biggest failing in an otherwise splendid golf game. The rest of the title is reserved so why it was felt permissible to allow these barmy scores to remain within the realm of possibility is somewhat beyond me. Or maybe Paul and I are just too damn good at golf. Ahem.

If the touchiness of the controls at the highest difficulty level is acceptable to you or you aren't looking for the more serious simulation of the game as previous incarnations of Links may have lead you to expect then you will most probably really enjoy this game. We had a number of visitors who came round, quickly got the hang of things and then enjoyed many rounds with us. It looks and sounds great and plays really well. Not perfect, but if it was how on earth would they convince you to buy the next one in the series?

78%

By Sam Gibson