Sports games are often looked down upon by the gaming community. EA and 2K, for example, are frequently criticized for only implementing minimal improvements to their yearly Fifa and NBA games. Despite this, the sporting genre generates eye-watering amounts of money for the gaming industry.
The Fifa series in particular is a huge cash-cow, with Fifa 20 being a driving force behind EA earning $1 Billion in microtransactions in just one financial quarter. The sporting genre can also claim that it is unfairly looked down upon as it has produced a multitude of classic games. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, NFL 2K1, and Madden NFL 2003 are all within the top 60 of Metacritic’s highest-rated games of all time.
Golf in particular has an impressive line-up of games, despite only being the 10th most popular sport in the world. Although the games have taken an unfortunate dip in quality lately, Golf fans have been treated to some excellent games over the last few decades.
10 Mario Golf: Advance Tour (84)
A Golf game on the GameBoy Advance may sound like a recipe for a pixelated mess. However, Mario Golf: Advance Tour was a surprise success. The game featured some of the most impressive graphics on the handheld console. With luxurious greenery and impressive character models.
Developer Camelot Software Planning did a great job creating simple yet addictive gameplay. Furthermore, the developer implemented a surprisingly deep story mode. The mode featured an interactive overworld map, customizable clubs, and four tournaments to play.
9 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (85)
It’s worth pointing out that this score is for the Wii version of the game. It significantly differed from the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC versions that scored 80, 80, and a pitiful 43, respectively.
When launch title Wii Sports released in 2006, the Golf mini-game proved to be very popular. Subsequently, the Tiger Woods series began prioritizing the Wii versions of their game over the other iterations. The Wii motion controls worked very well in PGA Tour 12, and as the name suggests, the game featured an excellent game mode centered around The Master’s tournament.
8 Hot Shots Golf 3 (85)
Also Known as Everybody’s Golf 3, Hot Shots Golf 3 offered an alternative to the PGA Tour series in the early 2000s that focused less on realism and more on fun.
The game was commended at the time for its enjoyable arcade gameplay. As well as its loveable range of characters who each had their own Power, Impact, Control, and Spin attributes. The series is still going strong today under the Everybody’s Golf name. The PlayStation 4 got its first Everybody’s Golf game in 2017 before a VR version was released on the console a year later.
7 Worms Crazy Golf (85)
Much like Mario, the creators of Worms probably didn’t envision themselves creating a Golf game with their beloved characters when first creating them. That didn’t stop Team 17 from creating a second Golfing game with the iconic Worms in 2011 though.
As fans of Worms games would expect, Worms Crazy Golf isn’t a typical Golf game. Worms Crazy Golf features plenty of the over-the-top weaponry and utilities from the main series. This gives the gameplay its own unique spin, differentiating it from other golfing games.
Each level also has several coins to collect, these coins can be spent on clubs and clothes to customize the worms.
6 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (88)
Another Wii game that scored significantly higher than its console and PC equivalents, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 was the fourth game in the series to feature on Nintendo’s best-selling home console.
It thoroughly deserves its spot as the top-rated Wii game too. The game greatly improved the motion controls from its predecessors due to the inclusion of Wii MotionPlus support. PGA Tour 10 also featured dynamic weather, using data from the Wii’s Weather Channel.
5 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 (89)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 is the first game on this list from the so-called ‘golden era’ of PGA Tour games. 2004’s iteration kept the series’ mechanics largely the same, evidently not feeling the need to fix what wasn’t broken. Thought it did add new team-based game modes such as best-ball and four-ball.
The game was also the first Tiger Woods title to allow players to create their own golfer. Although the feature is common-place in sports games today, it was an impressive feature at the time and offered a surprising amount of customization.
4 Mario Golf (91)
In all forms of media, spin-offs are usually underwhelming. Nintendo, however, has consistently made party games that are almost as be-loved as their main titles.
Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros, and Mario Party are just a few examples of Nintendo’s excellent spin-off series’. The Mario Golf series is another set of excellent spin-off games and N64’s Mario Golf is the best of the lot. The game was developed by Camelot Software Planning, the developers of Everybody’s Golf, and uses the same engine.
Subsequently, the game features similar simple but addictive gameplay as Everybody’s Golf. While adding the iconic characters from the Mario series.
3 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 (91)
The 13th game in the PGA Tour series, and impressively the second to surpass the elusive 90/100 Metacritic score. 2005’s 91 score is fully deserved as EA again caught lightning in a bottle with their golfing series. It could be criticized for bringing little innovation, but the few features that were added were solid.
Players could now customize their swing, pleasing the series’ golfing fanatics. Plus, a Legend’s Mode was added. Pitting players against some of the biggest real-life legends in Golf.
2 Let’s Golf! 2 (91)
It’s not often that an IOS game features on a best-of list. Moreover, it’s very uncommon that one misses out on the top spot by just a single point. Let’s Golf! 2 undoubtedly earns its huge Metacritic score though. As it did a great job of bringing the sport into player’s pockets.
Let’s Golf! 2 is on Mario Golf’s arcade fun side of the golfing spectrum, rather than the realistic PGA Tour side. It featured addictive gameplay with character-specific power-ups, online play, and some of mobile gaming’s most impressive graphics at the time.
The game was so impressive graphically, in fact, that it featured Apple’s marketing for their iPhone 4.
1 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 (92)
Topping the list is the magnum opus of the iconic PGA Tour golfing series. The game’s whopping 92 score impressively puts the game above classic titles like Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Spyro: Year Of The Dragon, and Shadow of the Colossus.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 finally perfected the golfing formula that the PGA Tour series had been building since 1990. The excellent gameplay was accompanied by a fantastic set of game modes too. The Tiger Challenge, Scenario Mode, and of course the PGA Tour mode all featured and were in top form.
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