As a longtime fan of the Tiger Woods series of golf games from EA Sports, I was quite disappointed with last year’s effort. You can read the review and yell at me if you’re so inclined, but I stand by the review. I took issue with what I called an “atrocious” putting system, the lack of realistic motion sensing for half and three-quarter approach shots, and really bad voice commentary from Kelly Tilghman and Sam Torrance.
Thankfully, this year’s version of Tiger is already lightyears beyond last year’s.
For starters, the putting system is outstanding. You get one putt preview (on the middle skill level, no putt preview on the advanced level) and then you make a putting motion just like you would in real life. It works… it really, really works. Approach shots work well now too — pull the club back half way, and you hit a 50% shot. Pull it back 3/4 and you hit the ball 75% — the MotionPlus add-on really takes everything to the next level this time.
Graphics and sound are about the same. There are actual people in the crowd this year, which is nice, but player models and course renderings look only slightly improved. It’s nothing jawdropping, though. We’ve also hit a nice compromise with the commentary: it’s now Kelly Tilghman and ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt. I’ll take it, it’s not bad at all.
Check out the above video for a look at some of the gameplay. I’ll have a full review up once I dig into everything a bit more. So far so good, though.
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