If it’s true that much of what is written in game reviews focuses on a game’s shortcomings, then this is going to be one short review.

First, let me start by supplying some adjectives appropriate to describing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 for the Nintendo GameCube: superb, gorgeous, fun, addictive, luminous, radiant, and transcendent.

Well, okay… “luminous, radiant, and transcendent” may be a bit over-the-top to use when describing a video golf game—but with this game EA Sports’ has set the high mark thus far for GameCube golf and it will be difficult for future titles to match.

As the numbers below indicate, the sound and graphics are just about perfect. Each of the 12 courses available to play on is lush, detailed, and invitingly real. Nine of the courses in the game are actual PGA Tour courses that actually look better (graphically speaking) than their real-world counterparts do on the televised PGA Tour. Three of the courses are fantasy courses original to the game, but are in no way inferior to the “real” ones. The only thing even resembling a problem with the game’s sound is that it doesn’t play a regular role in drawing the gamer into the experience. Overall, the sound is great, but it isn’t quite as good as the graphics or as engaging as the gameplay.

And speaking of gameplay (and to use a tired golf cliché) Tiger Woods hits a figurative hole in one. Finally, someone made good use of the analog swing idea that has been so poorly implemented in other golf games. The game controls have a natural feel to them that makes it easy to pick up the controller for the first time and play, but offer a fair degree of subtlety and nuance that allows great room for players to learn and improve. The game interface for putting is blessedly simple and realistic. Although it lacks the grid overlays common on video golf greens, it does a better job of conveying what putting is actually like—and it has an automatic “gimme” feature that saves players the hassle of having to make (or sometimes miss) those annoying 2-inch putts.

The game also manages to draw players into the drama of golf (yes, there is drama in golf). When a player hits one of those gorgeous fairway shots that appears to be heading straight for the pin, it can cue one of several visual effects that dramatize the moment or it can trigger this heartbeat with tones that seem to go down to the subsonic while your controller vibrates in time. All of which focuses your attention on the game and can serve to pull players even deeper into this already engrossing gaming experience.
Tiger ready to strike

If this review seems short or hurried, it is because I am paying Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 the highest compliment I am able: rushing through the review, so that I can get back to the game.