Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 Review

Oh yeah, Tiger fucking LOVES him some golf!

When it comes down to it, I’ve never really been a big fan of the sports game genre. Probably because I’m not really a giant fan of sports in general. One of the few series that I have always enjoyed over the years are golf sims, probably because while I like playing golf, I’m simultaneously quite awful at playing it. It’s also one of the several games that lends itself well to drunken play. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 continues the great tradition of games I’ll suggest playing while a little tipsy.

First of all, Tiger 10 isn’t the kind of game to play if you’re looking for instant fun and excitement. While some clever-dick down at marketing succeeded in making the cover art read “Feel The Drama”, it’s really not that kind of game. It’s the kind of game to be enjoyed at leisure, with a glass of wine, listening to the soothing waves of the ocean, on an abandoned beach where your lamenting howl as a ball slices off into a water trap won’t disturb anyone.

For such a laid-back game, the real background tension comes from that one occasional stuff up that will ruin an entire eighteen hole round. So while you do play this game with a kind of relaxed attitude around yourself, it’s only a swing, slice and a sandy landing between zen and unbridled rage. Which, when you think about it, is probably a great representation of the real game of golf.

Tiger 10 has several different ways to play. Players can pick their favourite golfer, or make their own, then set off to conquer the PGA tour, overcome various challenges from great games of the past, or just tee up and let loose against a partner of their choice. EA Sports have kind of gone to town on the options in this series, so chances are if you’re any kind of golf fan, you’ll find yourself something to enjoy.

Gameplay-wise, the mechanics have gone almost unchanged since Tiger 09. For the Xbox, your club swing is pathed out from your joystick, which you’ll attempt to make go straight back and then forward. Landing the joystick in the wrong position on the front swing will send your ball flying off in the wrong direction easily, and the sensitivity of the readout can surprise you at times. The game retains it’s power boost ability for the back swing, and you can change a ball’s spin midair as it heads towards it’s target (something you’ll be doing almost non-stop anywhere around a green). If you’re realism obsessed, you can also turn these features off, which is common during online play to preserve a level playing field.

The golf round plays out around you, updating the scoreboard as you go

The game carries on the reactive statistics from Tiger 09, which change as you play. If you’re teeing well, hitting the fairways, landing close to the pin, your stats will improve accordingly, or lower if you’re hitting sloppily and carving your way out of the sand.  If your stats need work, you’ll also be given training drills at the end of a round by Tiger’s coach that will help your game.

The one thing they have changed, and thank god, is putting. Prescision Putting takes the place of the old system of selecting your putter’s distance range and hitting accordingly. Players are now presented with a backswing gauge while putting, which displays the “sweet spot” or ideal level of power to use to putt to the point you’re aiming. This doesn’t take into account a green’s speed, angle or height however, so players must still make a good green read to putt successfully. This is taken care of by the Putt Preview, which allows you to see, once per putt, where your currently aimed ball will go with the ideal power behind it. This means, on most occasions, players will make a green read for themselves, aim their shot, check the putt preview, and then fine tune against the results. If anyone does happen to miss the old method (although, save for years of habit, I couldn’t tell why), you can also switch on the old distance range style of putting.

The game also makes good use of the EA Sports server, which on top of giving you a live sports score ticker at the bottom of the menu, also provides you with amusing features like live weather conditions. Switched on, the game communicates with the Weather Channel, and if it’s raining at St Andrews Golf Course at the time of play, then playing the course in game will reflect that. It’s kind of unneccesary, when you think about it, but it just goes to show what developers can do with a little internet connectivity.

The visuals are clear enough to make out the brands Tiger uses

There are some very cool things they have managed to come up with using this heightened interconnectivity. Live Tournaments allow you to post your scores alongside the pros as real-life tournaments play out. Given that the pros don’t have the luxury of power boost or perfect fade control, your scores might make you feel a little more superior than you should, but again it’s a great feature that works easily. Online tournaments can now be handled differently too. No more waiting for the person in front of you to get back from making their sandwich (although you can use the shot clock feature now too), you can simply play your course and post the score at the end.

One thing that did leave me dumbfounded, however, is that if you connect to the EA servers upon entering the game, you better stay connected to them, even if you’re only playing single-player. I had one particularly frustrating moment when on Hole 16 of an 18 Hole round (and one that was scoring rather nicely too), my internet cut out, which severed the connection to Live. Now instead of just withdrawing whatever tracking and spyware I assume EA runs on me the moment I switch on the Xbox, apparently this is enough to require you being booted straight out to the Start screen, no save, no resume. So anyone who’s playing with an internet connection that isn’t “all that” may want to just leave the EA server disconnected while playing their single-player rounds.

Given my love in the past for the level of customisation available in the Tiger series, Tiger 10 doesn’t disappoint. In fact, they’ve taken it even further. If you read my love letter to drunken gaming, you’ll know that when it comes to playing a golf game, if you’re going to make a custom character, well it might as well be playing as one of the invincible men of culinary skill, the Iron Chefs. Well now thanks to Photo Game Face, you can create your very own, picture perfect, Iron Chef Sakai. All it takes is uploading and positioning some pictures on the EA Sports website, and you can download them into the game. Alternatively, you can also use an Xbox Live Vision camera to capture your own sweet mug and drop it on your custom golfer.

You know the Hedgehog can swing his club

What blew me away about this, is that your photo game face doesn’t actually have to be your own, something which I’m not entirely certain EA would have factored in to the idea when they thought of it. When you think about it, most anyone famous has both a front shot and a side photo of themselves online somewhere, it just takes a little Googling, and all of a sudden you’re celebrity golfing around the game. In an effort to test this, I also created an in-game golfer version of: Illinois born actor Gary Sinise, Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert D.F.A, and even adult film star prodigy Ron “The Hedgehog” Jeremy. The system just lets you run stupid with your whims to tuck whatever humanoid you like into a pair of golfing slacks and driving cap.

In the end, it’s a fantastic addition to the Tiger series, and a very worthwhile golfing sim. Is it worthwhile throwing away your copy of Tiger 09 for? Probably not, unless you’re a keen online player. This is a game to have on hand for one of those weeks where nothing else seems on the horizon (which ironically, best described the week of this game’s release).

The verdict:

Pros: This release simply adds to the solid improvements made to the Tiger series every year. Customisation is great fun, there is a good range of challenges and activities, and reactive stats keeps players from simply maxing out their character and reaping the benefits.

Cons: While the game is a solid improvement, there is nothing amazingly new, so if you own Tiger 09 and you’re not into online play, you might as well hold on to your money. The game’s reliance upon your internet connection can come back to bite you for no reason.

Overall: 3.5 out of 5. A great title to sit back with a drink and play. The lack of urgency and focus on perfecting your shot and swing makes for both a challenging and enjoyable game. Not for everybody, but then which sports sim is? Thumbs up!