Ok here it is, im just going to come right out with it. PGA 2 is better then any iteration of Tiger Woods that I have played recently, Period! The graphics are excellent, the controls are excellent, the difficulty is crazy.. but if you have played it consistantly for years.. then you can compete, Although a water hazard can still end your round.. Period!
Okay you can only play as a generic character, all characters have the same stats (Apart from popular computer characters have a random accuracy variable that triggers every swing depending on the golpher) but the game just feels as close to real golf as anything I have ever played.
The swinging mechanism allows you to select your club, the terrain you are in adds a random amount of draw or fade to your swing.. if your in rough it doesn't matter how well you hit it, if you get unlucky with the random percentage which could be say you have a 80% chance of getting a good swing (-20% = draw up to +20 fade) that is why it's essential to stay on the fairway as this usually allows you to maintain around an 98% true hit raiting, allowing your approaches to be extreamly accurate.
The swing involves a power bar with a line at the bottom, to hit it sweet you stop on the line, if you are above the line you hook it right and below it you hook it left... But when I play with family I have often hooked the ball on purpose with applied fade to get out of some tricky situations. also when you are on your game and hitting the ball sweet you can generally use draw and fade to manover around doglegs and other standard course obstacles.
The game offeres a 3d flyby of every course, I must say these are expecially helpfull, and the graphics still stand up today and do not hinder the game whatsover. Some courses such as on southwind should be looked at carefully using the flyby options and studying course maps as getting a drive in specific places on fairways that initially look like good drives can really mess your round up offering a really difficult approach.
The collision in game works perfectly although the trees are really 2d, the collision is so decent witht the way the ball bouces through branches, off hard trunks convincingly that you get convinced that that the trees are a realistic obsticle on course. Other collisions ingame to point out are that when you hit a path the ball bounces convicingly representing a golfball on stone. The bunkers act like being in rough but how deep the ball is buried affects the random draw/fade that is applied to the ball on the swing, the numeric difference is much higher representing a more difficult shot to pull off.
Other collisions include how the ball hits the flagpole, how you can get backspin on the green realistically depending on club selection/sweetness of your hit.. instead of tapping a trigger button(Tiger woods) seems more sensible.
The putting is some of the best I have played and is simelar to some of the new Tiger Woods games although you dont get assists with moving lines. You can struggle with some of the longer puts but it's a skilled game and takes some practice to get good at reading the different greens.
The course designs are realistic and the game boasts of some real life courses such as Scottsdale.. etc.. etc.. when you are leading a tournament and you are on a hole with water it can be really nailbiting stuff as you have to stay compleatly focused or your round will end up dying VERY quickly.
It's not a game I would like to play on my own, I only play competitively in tournaments with family now (As everyone else thinks it's a bit insane) but I have to say if you havn't played it, it's still worth giving a chance. We still have our stats that saved onto the original mega drive cartridge from back we first got the game... my stats are something like this:
Me
Holes in 1 : 3
Av on par 3 : 2.78
Av on par 4: 3.79
Av on par : 4.55
Albatroses - 0
Longest drive - 343 yards.
Av putts - 1.33
There is a much more detailed stats in the game, this is just an example however now when I play a full round barely even affects the stats as the game is sooo old and been abused that much.
A member of my family has got an Albatross and if we get the Megadrive out always reminds me... and shows me on the stats.
If you like golf, difficulty and an accurate version of the game rather then some I have played recently, (I was 26 underpar on Tiger woods on a single round and it still wasn't enough to beat this computer player) I reccommend this, you will love it!
