Considering that Mario Golf was a surprisingly serious golf game, it’s appropriate that the Tiger Woods game on N64 is completely silly. This was developed after Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf on the PlayStation, so I guess EA wanted to experiment a little, with the N64 only getting CyberTiger instead of the more serious games.

And CyberTiger truly is a strange game. If you select the free camera option, there’s a “Head Pump” option that makes your golfer’s head bigger, which is kept during gameplay. There’s no reason, it’s just there. Also surprising with the camera is the ability to fly over the entire course – not just the hole you’re on. This does mean that the game is incredibly quick at moving between holes, although I feel like they could have done something else with this (the ability to walk around, a buggy mode, speed golf).

The controls are also nice and simple. Push the analogue stick up to charge as a percentage increase up to 100% (although it vanishes after 70%, so you have to time the final part yourself), then swing down. It works surprisingly well, far better than The Glory of St Andrews. It also makes the game incredibly snappy, making it surprisingly good fun.

One thing that is fascinating, is how different this is from the PlayStation version of CyberTiger. The PS1 version is slow and flat – with sprites and not 3D golfers, and flatter looking holes. There’s loading between each hole as well. The PS1 version does, however, have six courses while the N64 has three. Oddly, one of the three kept is a Volcano course which can only be unlocked with a cheat code.

That said, the N64 version being quick and snappy is what makes the game enjoyable.

Fun

Like a football game without a pass button, CyberTiger’s infuriating power system renders it almost – almost – too frustrating to play. Not quite, admittedly – and, yep, we’d have to concede, there is some fun to be had here – but we were hoping for plenty more than this.

Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #40. Review Score: 72%

Remake or remaster?

I think a refined version could be fun – especially if they can add split-screen co-op with you all playing at once.

Official ways to get the game.

There’s no official way to get CyberTiger.