Gamernode: Reviews - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07

• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
• PlayStation 3
• EA Sports
• EA Sports
• November 07th, 2006

Like the familiarity of leaves falling from the trees, each year we can expect to receive a new Tiger Woods title. In Tiger '07 you can find some new integration with EA's ESPN license, as well as new licensed courses and enhanced graphics. EA seems to really like the Tiger-to-leaves-falling-off-a-tree analogy, because just like those leaves, Tiger seems all-too familiar.

From the outset, you'll immediately realize that this is just an updated version of past Tiger titles. Following a fairly long load, you'll be able to immediately hop onto the course to test out the new control scheme and to knock around a few golf balls. Alternatively, you can hop into the excessively complicated menu system to either begin your career or access the rest of the game's features. I say excessively complicated, because the branching menu system - used in other EA Sports titles like Madden - has become a hassle to navigate.

Beginners to the Tiger series, or golf, for that matter, would be well advised to head straight to the game's tutorials. The new control system - while precise and a welcome addition - can easily become overwhelming with its finer nuances. Tutorials are brief and concise enough that you can go in and simply play one that pertains to an area you find confusing, or you can opt to play through them all, giving you a fairly good starting point to begin playing.

The golfing is superb, and some of the best around. It plays much like previous iterations, and that isn't a bad thing at all. Both casual fans and hardcore golfers alike will be able to enjoy Tiger, although the nature of the sport undoubtedly lends itself more to the latter of the two groups. Regardless, the game is accessible enough that most anyone can pick it up and at least have fun with the included mini-games. Tiger manages to retain the complexities of golf while still maintaining that broad-range appeal, and that's always a good thing.

Career mode is the staple of the game, and the clear focal point of the single player experience. You're allowed to begin playing either as a rookie Tiger Woods, or a created player. The customization is fairly in-depth and basically parallels that found in The Godfather. Despite its many choices and options, some of the specific details (like scars or moles) would have been much more useful if they allowed for more variety, rather than two or three different options.

The ESPN integration that EA is beginning to implement hasn't exactly met with the best of criticism; NBA Live 07's wasn't nearly the rich, ESPN-streaming station that many had hoped it would be. Tiger doesn't do much to improve upon that, only providing ESPN Radio SportsCenter updates, text articles to read and the Bottomline. The SportsCenter updates are very nice, streaming to you in-between games while you browse the menu (which, as you know by now, isn't the simple task it should be). Unfortunately, if you get into and out of games quickly, you'll hear the same SC update over and over again. Couldn't EA have just had the update play on-demand (something you can do, but it's a tedious process to navigate there), or, y'know, every 20 minutes when there's a new one available?

It would have fit in nicely as you were playing, as the commentary overall is pretty solid and could have easily provided a line of dialogue to use as a segway. The commentators set the mood nicely, giving you an accurate account of the emotion on the course. The crowd, on the other hand, will react in seemingly arbitrary fashion; they'll cheer as the ball soars out of bounds, and once it finally arrives out there they'll begin to boo. It's really a stark contrast to the otherwise aurally-pleasing Tiger.

Tiger and company look phenomenal, thanks to the new Universal Capture (UCAP) technology used in the game. Five players in total underwent the makeover, and it certainly shows. The rest of the game doesn't look quite as good, with very unrealistic looking water and bland textures on bridges and trees (it does look great on HD, but more than 2/3 of gamers still play on SDTV sets). The six new courses and six updated courses overall look nice, but are dragged down by specific issues. Spectators look extremely plain, and their movements are arguably dumber than their ignorant cheering/booing. Every spectator apparently believes that he or she is tough enough to take a shot from a golf ball, refusing to move when one comes soaring in. Once they do strike, the collision detection is poor; many times I watched as my golf ball hit one of the spectators (sometimes more - it was like human pinball) in the leg or foot, and he or she would limp around, holding their back. Fortunately, much of this is only noticeable up close; from afar, the strictly-graphical issues aren't too bothersome.

All across the game, it's clearly evident that EA could have used some extra time to polish certain areas of the title. Several times, I watched my computer opponent take a swing, and instead of having the camera follow the ball, it stayed stuck behind the player and I was treated to a view of their stationary body. Annoying but forgivable.

The developers did do a nice job with making the game more challenging using the True Aiming aspect of the game, which makes it much harder for inexperienced golfers to hit those automatic birdies and hole-in-one's which plagued previous Tiger games. However, even with the new system once your golfer is maxed out (or if you use someone such as Tiger Woods), it's very easy to shoot extremely low scores every time you step out on the grass.

Once again, we've been treated to - at its core - an updated version of last year's game with a few minor tweaks to try and spruce things up. ESPN integration is sparse, the game itself plays much like last year (even with True Aiming once your golfer is good), and the complicated menu system and buggy online game yield more frustration than fun. Still, this is a solid golf title that enthusiasts will be sure to enjoy. But just be sure that the new features are enough to warrant the higher price tag over '06.

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