Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
Posted October 23, 2007
Another year and guess what, EA releases another version of a game with some slight improvements allowing them to charge full price for what typically isn’t much of an upgrade. After last years decent entry into the Tiger Woods PGA Tour family, there were a few niggling issues that could have been addressed, and EA did actually address these while fleshing out the title a little more overall.
Similar to the previous titles the best way in my opinion, to play the game is to create a golfer from the first boot of the title to get the full experience, and PGA Tour 08 is no exception. This time however a new feature has been added called Photo Game Face, which lets you literally add yourself into the game, similar to other titles which allowed you to use a snapshot from an attached camera to intregrate yourself into the game. EA also gives the option to upload a picture of yourself to their server via the internet to get yourself in the game, if you don’t have a USB camera attached. And just like other titles which used a game face mode, this works quite well – even though it is somewhat creepy to see yourself onscreen while you play. Thankfully, there is an option to not use your custom face while playing online to prevent the onslaught of smack talk should your mustache be more pedophile than Super Trooper.
The biggest and most welcome change to the title for me was the totally revamped Tiger Challenge. Gone is the simple structure of beating a couple pros before taking on the boss himself, it’s been replaced with a hexagonal grid of challenges that require some skill and a lot of playing around to beat all the challenges thrown at you. Being a grid, in order to advance to more complicated challenges you’ll need to beat the prerequisite challenge(s) some of which can be very tough to beat. Expect to spend a lot of time in this mode, especially if you’re created player is still in the growth phase of his career.
The career mode once again encompasses more than just the FedEx Cup; while that’s a good place to eventually progress to you’ll definitely want to start your rookie golfer in the skills building and also in the Tiger Challenge. There’s no benefit to diving into the PGA tour season with a golfer who can barely drive the ball 200 yards, even with the benefit of the power boost. Similar to last year, you gain levels as you play and make specific shots like excellent recoveries or manage to hit the green in regulation. Once you’re ready to tackle the PGA season, you’ll slog your way through 16 events then the top 30 golfers will enter the playoff round, which includes four more tournaments before a champ is crowned. Good luck!
The use of the analog sticks is back again in full force with the left being used for swinging the club and the right to control the club face before the shot is taken. But for those who despise the setup, EA has graciously included and old-school three click mechanism. This can be a lifesaver if your thumb doesn’t quite like to make a straight line when shooting. I personally found the PS3 controller to be almost too sensitive when making shots, so I found myself slicing and hooking a lot of my shots no matter how straight I thought I was making my line. I played a lot of Tiger last year on both the PS3 and 360, and found the 360 controller to get the upper hand thanks to the slightly stiffer controller – the same applies this year. And once again, the SIXAXIS motion controls are the near useless spin control of the ball while it’s in midair.
In addition to the tweaked shooting mechanism, a new feature called Confidence has been implemented. As you play the game with your created player your shot targeting zone becomes much more accurate. As you make more and more of a particular shot with a particular club, the targeting circle gives a much more accurate representation of where your ball may land. It becomes quite powerful the further in the game you are as you can place the ball almost anywhere on the course, probably what it feels like to actually be a professional.
With sixteen courses available this season for play, and the option to play a custom 18 holes from any course your options are wide open. Couple this with the plethora of game modes both arcade style and more traditional, and Tiger Woods can keep you busy for quite a while. Once again, my personal favorite mode of Oneball is back – this is the mode where each player alternates shots until one drains the putt. The only stipulation on your shot is that it has to make it into a circle of trust, which essentially is your shot has to make it at least one half of the distance to the hole, including when putting so some strategy is definitely needed.
The PS3 version specifically had some issues with online play until only recently, but even now the number of players online at any given time is actually quite low. The online play when you can get it is entertaining but as is similar with the single player mode when playing against the CPU, it does become tiresome to sit through the shot animations for each player who’s in the game with you.
The slight improvements to the game over last year’s version will really only appeal to the very enthusiastic golf game player. The tweaks like allowing fades and draws to be user controlled will be lost on rookie players, while things like the adaptive computer AI will appeal to almost all gamers. I also didn’t notice much in terms of audio or video enhancements over the previous version; my fascination with the clouds in 2007 still stands here in 2008. And as always, the commentary on the game does grow tiresome after a couple rounds so likely you’ll be piping in your own audio to enhance aural satisfaction.
If you picked this up for the PS3 last time around with the 07 version you’ll be cursing spending the additional funds on this. But if you’ve been itching for an enjoyable golf game which is tilted to the simulation side a little more than some other titles then this could be good to pick up. However, my recommendation to you would be to rent this title first before dropping sixty Benjamin’s on it.
Similar to the previous titles the best way in my opinion, to play the game is to create a golfer from the first boot of the title to get the full experience, and PGA Tour 08 is no exception. This time however a new feature has been added called Photo Game Face, which lets you literally add yourself into the game, similar to other titles which allowed you to use a snapshot from an attached camera to intregrate yourself into the game. EA also gives the option to upload a picture of yourself to their server via the internet to get yourself in the game, if you don’t have a USB camera attached. And just like other titles which used a game face mode, this works quite well – even though it is somewhat creepy to see yourself onscreen while you play. Thankfully, there is an option to not use your custom face while playing online to prevent the onslaught of smack talk should your mustache be more pedophile than Super Trooper.
The biggest and most welcome change to the title for me was the totally revamped Tiger Challenge. Gone is the simple structure of beating a couple pros before taking on the boss himself, it’s been replaced with a hexagonal grid of challenges that require some skill and a lot of playing around to beat all the challenges thrown at you. Being a grid, in order to advance to more complicated challenges you’ll need to beat the prerequisite challenge(s) some of which can be very tough to beat. Expect to spend a lot of time in this mode, especially if you’re created player is still in the growth phase of his career.
The career mode once again encompasses more than just the FedEx Cup; while that’s a good place to eventually progress to you’ll definitely want to start your rookie golfer in the skills building and also in the Tiger Challenge. There’s no benefit to diving into the PGA tour season with a golfer who can barely drive the ball 200 yards, even with the benefit of the power boost. Similar to last year, you gain levels as you play and make specific shots like excellent recoveries or manage to hit the green in regulation. Once you’re ready to tackle the PGA season, you’ll slog your way through 16 events then the top 30 golfers will enter the playoff round, which includes four more tournaments before a champ is crowned. Good luck!
The use of the analog sticks is back again in full force with the left being used for swinging the club and the right to control the club face before the shot is taken. But for those who despise the setup, EA has graciously included and old-school three click mechanism. This can be a lifesaver if your thumb doesn’t quite like to make a straight line when shooting. I personally found the PS3 controller to be almost too sensitive when making shots, so I found myself slicing and hooking a lot of my shots no matter how straight I thought I was making my line. I played a lot of Tiger last year on both the PS3 and 360, and found the 360 controller to get the upper hand thanks to the slightly stiffer controller – the same applies this year. And once again, the SIXAXIS motion controls are the near useless spin control of the ball while it’s in midair.
In addition to the tweaked shooting mechanism, a new feature called Confidence has been implemented. As you play the game with your created player your shot targeting zone becomes much more accurate. As you make more and more of a particular shot with a particular club, the targeting circle gives a much more accurate representation of where your ball may land. It becomes quite powerful the further in the game you are as you can place the ball almost anywhere on the course, probably what it feels like to actually be a professional.
With sixteen courses available this season for play, and the option to play a custom 18 holes from any course your options are wide open. Couple this with the plethora of game modes both arcade style and more traditional, and Tiger Woods can keep you busy for quite a while. Once again, my personal favorite mode of Oneball is back – this is the mode where each player alternates shots until one drains the putt. The only stipulation on your shot is that it has to make it into a circle of trust, which essentially is your shot has to make it at least one half of the distance to the hole, including when putting so some strategy is definitely needed.
The PS3 version specifically had some issues with online play until only recently, but even now the number of players online at any given time is actually quite low. The online play when you can get it is entertaining but as is similar with the single player mode when playing against the CPU, it does become tiresome to sit through the shot animations for each player who’s in the game with you.
The slight improvements to the game over last year’s version will really only appeal to the very enthusiastic golf game player. The tweaks like allowing fades and draws to be user controlled will be lost on rookie players, while things like the adaptive computer AI will appeal to almost all gamers. I also didn’t notice much in terms of audio or video enhancements over the previous version; my fascination with the clouds in 2007 still stands here in 2008. And as always, the commentary on the game does grow tiresome after a couple rounds so likely you’ll be piping in your own audio to enhance aural satisfaction.
If you picked this up for the PS3 last time around with the 07 version you’ll be cursing spending the additional funds on this. But if you’ve been itching for an enjoyable golf game which is tilted to the simulation side a little more than some other titles then this could be good to pick up. However, my recommendation to you would be to rent this title first before dropping sixty Benjamin’s on it.