Tiger’s back, and just like the real thing, he has a new swing. But have this year’s tweaks brought the game forward or back?
Some us have been playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour games for so long, we can remember when the game was less impressive than the man himself. Back in the days of the first Playstation game, Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘99, no computerised wizardry could match just how good the real thing was.
Over the years the game has caught up and now surpassed the great man, and the appearance of a certain Mr McIlroy on the front cover with him since the ’11 edition was a sign that perhaps Woods’ days as the face of console golf may be numbered.
But just as the man himself has started to show signs of his old self, helpfully bagging his first win in two-and-a-half years the week before this game was released, the latest edition of PGA Tour is also a return to form.
If you bought Tiger Woods last year it was for one reason and one reason only. To have a hack around Augusta, the most mythical, and until then, unplayable course in console golf. The game that was hung around this very tempting morsel was not quite so tasty.
The entire structure of the game was tweaked to focus solely on the Masters, when in real life the first Major of the year is just that, the first Major of the year.
Perhaps due to the shorter time they had to develop it – eight months rather than the usual twelve – there were aspects of the ’12 edition that just bugged gamers. Chief of these was a hugely unhelpful, and screen clogging, caddy but we were willing to forgive a lot just to have a lash at Amen Corner.
We hoped they would iron out those wrinkles in the ’13 edition and while it isn’t as smooth as, to borrow a phrase from Ian Holloway, ‘a cashmere codpiece’, it is a large step up on last year’s model.
The caddy has now been relegated to a small table of advice in the top left, and that only becomes visible with a button press. His advice is still rubbish, but EA claim that the more you play and the further you get, the more he will learn your quirks. Surely it should be the other way round and he should help you when your stats are low and your equipment is of the Fisher Price level? Anyway, it’s only a minor inconvenience, and he can be ignored.
As for the gameplay, the big change this year is a new swing control, called Total Swing Control. Rather than just gripping and ripping, this year’s method is all about smooth, even swinging of the left stick. It takes a bit of getting used to but it is, pleasingly, very satisfying when you get it right.
Get that swing right or else
What isn’t pleasing is the fact that the spot where you are supposed to start your downswing is often obscured if the sky is cloudy or white, leading to unnecessary over or under swinging. We’re sure we will learn these stopping points ourselves in time but it will certainly slow your progress early on.
But don’t let the above grumbles put you off, as there is far more fairway than rough in this game. The graphics have been sharpened up and there is a new, easier way to adjust both your stance and where you strike the ball. This gives more control and shape over shots and works very well.
There are also five new courses to play (The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, Crooked Stick Golf Course, Valhalla, Royal County Down and Royal Birkdale) and five new golfers (our own G-Mac, Ben Crane, Hunter Mahan, Ross Fisher and Dustin Johnson) to play with too.
On top of this there is a brand new challenge game called ‘Tiger Legacy’, where all the big moments of his career, from the age of two, are there for you to emulate and progress your skills and coins, enabling you to improve your equipment, buy those all important pins that boost your stats and unlock downloadable courses.
Add in the all-new Country Club system for collaborative online play, the usual career mode from amateur to world number one and more dowloadable content than you may ever need and there is more than enough to keep you swinging well into next year.
If you skipped last year’s release, or felt it was a little below par, in a bad way, then get back on course and I’ll see you down the Country Club.
Format: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Developer: EA Tiburon; Publisher: EA
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