CyberTiger: Out of the Woods and into the frying pan

March 31, 2000
Web posted at: 3:38 PM EST (2038 GMT)

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By Adam Levine
CNNSI.com

(CNN) -- If you wanted to sell a golf game, it's hard to imagine a better face to plaster all over your product than that of Tiger Woods. Woods is on an impressive roll headed into The Masters after finishing first or second in 10 of his last 11 PGA events.

So it's no wonder Electronic Arts thought it was a good move to publish "CyberTiger." The game, developed by Saffire, is just the third golf title to reach the N64. "Waialae Country Club" was the first in 1998, followed by last year's release of "Mario Golf."

"CyberTiger" delivers the standard fare of features including three courses, a driving range, match, stroke and tournament play. Saffire was smart enough to motion capture Woods' silky smooth swing for the game. But the question for golf fans: did Tiger just cash in by slapping his face and name on this one?

Selectable characters include Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara and four fictional characters. You can also play as "liltiger" and "lilmark" - which are more than a lil-corny as mini-versions of Woods and O'Meara. In case fashion is your bag there are at least two different outfits for most of the characters. Players can also edit in their own name over any of these characters.

It's sort of fun to play as Tiger - clad in his red shirt and trademark black Nike swoosh hat. But you might as well be Tony the Tiger because all of the selectable characters have the exact same hitting abilities.

To make matters worse, there's really no discernable distinction between the different skill levels. The shots aren't any harder to execute in the pro level versus the amateur. The only real difference between skill levels is club distance. A driver shot in pro mode goes at least 270 yards. In the amateur mode the same shot only carries around 245.

There are two courses immediately available in "CyberTiger." A third "Volcano" course can be opened later in the game. The "Badlands" course is the most pedestrian of the three, offering little challenge to seasoned gamers. "Tournament Players" is a conglomeration of holes from six official PGA courses. "Volcano" is the hardest of the three and features the most interesting sound samples and background imagery.

The graphics don't make much of an impression. There's little in the way of texturing in the courses or the character animations. Close-ups of the ball on look terrible. Who knew a golf ball could look like an octagon-shaped glass of milk?

Fortunately the folks at Saffire didn't copy the tired click-and-go power meter common to the vast majority of platform golf games. Instead, they smartly opted to take advantage of the analog stick on the N64 controller.

In "CyberTiger," a swing is initiated by pulling straight back on the stick. Then depending on how much swing strength you want - measured with an on-screen percentage meter - you push the stick all the way forward to engage. You can further control the direction of the ball by pulling to the left (hook) or right (fade) on the upswing. Players use the "Up C" button to toggle between full swing, pitch or chip shots.

The game doesn't allow you to pick a striking point on the ball before you swing, which is usually a factor in how the ball reacts when it lands. Instead, shots are influenced by spin control while the ball is still in the air. This system is easy to learn and offers a unique and visceral pleasure when combined with the swing mechanism. Unfortunately, this works against you on some approach shots to the green when the game shifts to overhead and incoming views. These look pretty, but can screw up your ability to judge the landing and apply proper spin control.

"CyberTiger" also breaks new ground with a two-player battle mode. Each player armed with a driver takes aim on the other golfer. The first to five hits wins. More options like different courses, club selection and four-player capability could've spiced this up, but it's still pretty cool.

Other multiplayer games include match and stroke play as well as the Tiger Challenge. In the Tiger Challenge, match play rules apply, but the winner of a hole or a carryover gets to remove a club from the bag of the loser. You don't want to be the first to lose your driver.

Another good feature is the ability to cast taunts at players while they are hitting. Each golfer has four different expressions, which are kind of cute the first twenty times you hear them. Overall the sound is decent. The best bet is to leave the sounds effects up and turn the music off -- it's repetitive and consistently annoying.

Playing against the computer in any of the modes is a cakewalk. Shooting 50-below par through four rounds is not out of the question. A big factor is the never-changing pin placement. Your score will really start to drop after a few rounds of getting familiar with the best angles and approaches.

Another low score culprit is the ease of driving. Every par 5 is reachable in two shots. As a result, eagles are anything but endangered in this game. Once you get in the swing of things you can count on two or more every round. The highly effective drives also negate the use of several of your lower irons.

Bad shots don't hurt much either. When you have to hit off different surfaces it hardly matters. You can routinely hit near perfect shots off the rough with just about all of your clubs. The only tricky shots are out of the scattered sand bunkers. But if you play with low or no wind, then you'll have to be absolutely horrible to end up in the sand more than once a round.

The putting game might be the most challenging element to your score in "CyberTiger." There's no grid to help you get a feel for the greens. Instead the game generates a read-line for the putt. It's then up to you to align your shot to counter the break and to gauge the strength of the putt. It's an inexact system that produces unexpected long makes and occasional, but frustrating short misses.

Whenever you score a birdie or better the game rewards you with one of a dozen power-up items. You can also hit the driving range to earn power-ups for later use on the courses.

One of the cooler power-ups is a rocket that more or less guarantees a 400-plus yard drive off the tee. You can easily overshoot the green with a full-power rocket drive on some of the par 4s.

Other power-ups include a ball that doesn't bounce when it lands and one that skips across water. These can be fun to use, but after awhile you almost feel guilty breaking them out with a 17-stroke lead over the computer.

From the box art on up this game smells of corporate synergy gone bad. You'd think a PGA-licensed game would offer more courses and many more real golfers than O'Meara and a Nike-lover Woods.

This is a good game for kids or the casual golf fan. The strength of this game is the analog stick swing and the ability to blast through a round in less than twenty minutes. Serious gamers definitely want to rent this one first. Sadly, the only real challenge in CyberTiger is playing in the rain with the wind turned all the way up. Mario Golf, with all its goofy characters, remains the best golf simulation for the N64.

CyberTiger Tip: Enter "sthelens" as your golfer name to access the Volcano course. You can also get in by hitting a hole in one.

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Electronic Arts

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