Now that the golf season is well under way, it seems an appropriate time as any for another rendition of the Tiger Woods franchise. The new model brings back a lot of the features of previous games with a few new twists for those looking for a little more depth.
The games' core mechanic is the physics of game itself. Completing your stroke feels much more natural than previous versions – directional movement of the thumb-pad instead of the old “3-button-press method” where the direction of your motion will translate into slices or hooks if you swerve off target. I found the game more than a little unforgiving at times but it still made for a more reproducible effort than I found in previous versions.
There’s also foot/hip placement and striking position to consider now when lining up your drives – it’s possible to make the same shot 3-4 different ways depending upon which set of variables that you’re most comfortable tinkering with. After some 10 hours of gameplay, I was finally at the point that I could reliably shoot a round of golf. I’m not saying that I wasn’t getting my backside handed to me online or against the CPU at anything below the amateur setting but I felt like less of a neophyte on the links. Putting still feels like an unnecessary chore; small putts still require a full stroking motion even for a small tap in… seems a little excessive that the fine control needed for a 25 foot putt is the same as a 6 inch tap.
The single-player campaign is the highlight of the game. Starting with a true amateur golfer, you gain experience towards your skills by making shots and try to be competitive in amateur tourneys. As you gain success and win the amateur championship, you earn an automatic invitation to the Master’s and with a good placement a chance to compete in the pro-circuit. Making shots on both the green and fairway earns you experience and coins. Experience can be traded in for better vital statistics (much like every other EA Sports franchise), whereas coins are used in the shop system. As you compete in events (challenges against other golfers, or skill challengers set up by sponsors) one can gain additional equipment and unlockable items. All of which can be used to kit out your golfer as you like.
The new game mode introduced is the Tiger Legacy mode which is a retrospective of key moments and achievements in Tiger’s life. While the early levels represent the training regimen that Tiger grew up with, the challenges quickly ramp up in difficulty.
Because of the lack of feedback and the general difficulty, this mode makes you appreciate the skill that Tiger possesses while coming off as non-gratifying punishment for playing.
Completing rounds of golf in all modes of play earns you Coins – coins can be used to buy packs of collectable pins or rounds of golf in one of the 20 locked courses on the game. The collectable pins can provide a variety of effects on your character when used – additional experience/coins on played rounds, increased physical attributes or the like. Packs of these pins cost anywhere from 3,000 – 10,000 coins – and worst yet, most of these pins are only good for 5 uses making it a circular problem: I have to buy pins so I can earn enough coins to buy new pins.
The rounds of golf on the locked courses cost 6,000 coins – and that’s just for one 18-hole game. After getting up to speed, I can earn about 200-300 coins on a single round… so to play a single round on a locked course I’d have to play 20 rounds and need to be on fire the entire time. (You may now imagine me making my not-impressed-face.) It is possible to unlock the course permanently if you can complete all the challenges on that specific course, which by my estimates would require some 20-30 playthroughs of said course to accomplish. My pain threshold for repetitive gaming may be quite high but it’s not an endless reserve.
As a “work-around” it is possible to purchase coins through each online store. Thanks, but no thanks.
Tiger Woods is pretty decent looking. There are some odd issues with textures disappearing and re-appearing as you play a hole. Sound cuts out regularly when in-game sounds supercedes either the crowd noise or the commentary making for odd silence in moments of high intensity. The loading times are also quite annoying – each hole has a load time of at least 30 seconds, most being a minute. Therefore, installing the game is a big "Yes!"
All in all, Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’13 showed moments of greatness while giving a general "bleh" feeling during playthrough. Worth picking up for purists, golf fans, and completionists… everyone else should skip.
- Tazman
Pros:
- Excellent stroke mechanics
- Ton of unlockable content and equipment
Cons:
- Coin system is downright AWFUL
- Collectable pins? Really?
- Tiger Legacy just plain painful
Score: 6.5 / 10
