Over the past year or two the golden boy of golf, Tiger Woods, has fallen somewhat from grace with his personal life having been dragged out for all to see on the front pages of tabloids. With injuries and the aforementioned scandals besetting him his game has naturally suffered and its only recently after a self imposed break from the sport that he has returned to grace the fairways of the golfing world. The same can be said of the game that bears his name and image. The Tiger Woods games have also struggled recently to reclaim the glory of their previous years with below par performances that haven’t endeared the franchise to the hardcore fans of the series.
The first thing that strikes you when playing Tiger Woods 11 is that the control scheme is still without equal. Using the left analogue stick to drive a ball down the fairway is a simple matter of pulling it back and then forward. Of course you can add draw and fade to your shots if you need to deal with some of the tougher holes but the game makes it remarkably easy to do all these things by giving you a set of straight forward controls that will feel natural to most gamers. You can also opt to make things ultra realistic for yourself by using the new True aim mode which strips away all the assists and tasks you with playing a round using only a simple overhead map of the hole and your golf skills.
This year we see the addition of Focus which replaces the Tiger Vision mechanic and is a subtle but important change. Rather than allowing you to use Tiger Vision once every hole you now have a limited resource of Focus that lets you improve your accuracy or preview putts whenever you want. To regain your Focus you need to play shots without using it. It makes for far more strategic approaches to matches as you have to decide whether it's worth the risk to add spin to your ball and drain focus that you might need to get in a match winning putt later on in your round.
The career mode guides your created golfer through a series of PGA Tour events, including the FedEx Cup, earning experience points for winning, getting birdies, eagles and so on. Experience points are the new currency in Tiger Woods, and you'll use your XP to improve your abilities and skills, as well as buy equipment and clothing from the Pro Shop. The biggest addition to this year’s iteration, however, is that of the prestigious Ryder Cup, which pits up to 24 players in a Europe vs America battle for supremacy in both offline and online modes. The career mode provides plenty of playtime, and the new experience points system is a streamlined process of upgrading your golfer, however, I found that its far too easy to ignore new equipment in favour of maxing out your golfer’s skills. Perhaps the ideal scenario would have been to use both experience points and monetary rewards, with the money you have won being used to purchase new gear, and XP being used to upgrade skills.
The online side of Tiger Woods 11 is probably where you’ll spend the majority of your time and it's here that you’ll soon realise that if you’re not playing with a maxed out custom character or a pro golfer, you’ll struggle to keep up in most matches. This is due to the online skill level not taking into account the player's offline skills, with a maxed out golfer being seen as Skill 1 in many cases - even in the amateur playlists. The matchmaking system could also be a bit more streamlined, especially when trying to team up with a Xbox LIVE friend before heading out, as it normally requires the user to create an open match, and then only can your friend join in. In terms of actual online gameplay there is hardly a hint of lag in most games, and the ability for all players to play off at the same time allows for quick and entertaining group matches. The focus on teams is also apparent here with the 12-on-12 team mode which sees you playing for either Team Rory or Team Tiger. In addition, you can take part in one of the many Live Tournaments, including the Play The Pros tournaments which feature a ball trails option, allowing players to see how the leaders played out a certain hole.
It's refreshing to play a sports game that does not have ear-grating commentary that you turn off as soon as you hear it. Both Scott Van Pelt and Kelly Tilghman manage to avoid repeating themselves too often and lend the game an extra bit of realism. A laid back selection of remixed music is on offer that also suits the spirit of golf, by which I mean it's as far from rap or heavy metal as you can get. Graphically the game looks good enough with the flapping of the players’ clothing in the breeze being the only thing of interest. Not exactly the most scintillating addition to the graphics department this year, but when your game has very few competitors, those are the sorts of details you spend your time on it seems.
This year EA Sports has gone out of their way to create a fun and enjoyable game that caters for both golf pros and amateurs alike. Melding the fantastic control system that has always been present in the franchise to a new set of game modes and gameplay changes that make for a refreshing change from previous years. There’s also a robust online community which, although challenging to break into at first, ensures that once you’ve had your fill of the offline game modes, you’ll still have plenty of hours of game time available to you online.
Of course the most important question when it comes to sports games is whether it's worth buying over any of the previous iterations. If Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 had been a basic by the numbers upgrade as with the last one or two games in the series, I would have said you'd be better off sticking to your old copy of Tiger Woods. But this year EA Sports has done enough to warrant this as an essential purchase for golfing fans.
Pros:
- Immaculate control system
- 12 vs 12 Ryder Cup challenge
- Great longevity
Cons:
- Online matchmaking / skill levels could be improved
- Could use more courses included by default
Rating: 
| Tweet |
RSS Feed
Atom Feed
Follow us
