Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09
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Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
Tiger is back!
Tiger didn’t had an extraordinary 2008 season. He did win the U.S Open but his knee injury made him miss the rest of the season. Still, for the gamers, it doesn’t mean that his annual game will be affected. If the last two games weren’t what gamers expected, I can safely say that this game is better, features some cool additions and will definitely give enough to say: Thanks EA Tiburon! Here’s our review for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09.
Gameplay
This years’ version of Tiger Woods isn’t just another chapter in the popular golfing franchise but an important upgrade over the past two versions of the game, especially in the gameplay department. First of all, Tiger Woods’ coach Hank Haney will now assist you as you try to advance your career further along by giving you tips on how to improve your drives and putting skills. Once you start your career, he will put you through a series of drills that will calculate your character’s skill level in four different categories: Power, Accuracy, Short Game, and Putting. Tied to that, the dynamic skill level system featured in the game constantly adjusts your skill level throughout every golf round you play. At the end of each round, Haney will deliver feedback on your player performance. Although the inclusion of Hank Haney is rather interesting, we could hope the next iterations of the game will feature a more in-depth incorporation of the coaching system. But it’s definitely a good start.
Also new to the game is Club Tuner, which gives gamers the opportunity to calibrate their clubs to fit their personal tendencies and preferences. Players can test and customize their driver, fairway woods, irons and wedges. The Club Tuner allows gamers the ability to create a bag of clubs that fit specific course conditions or needs, but strategy will come into play as gamers must weigh the risks of club performance versus ease of use. While this new addition is as interesting as the Performance Coach tool, I only see this being used by the most veterans and hardcore Tiger Woods gamers. Personally, I did use my club tuning for some rounds but I quickly got tired of using it. Tuning clubs isn’t just as fun and interesting as tuning cars in Forza 2…but like I was saying, this feature will only please the hardcore golfer.
The integration of the EA GamerNet system is perhaps my favorite new feature of the game. While connected to the internet, instant challenges, such as long drives, approach shots and putting will be automatically delivered to players throughout any and all rounds. Players will then have the ability to post their own GamerNet challenges at anytime from any fairway with no interruption to their current game. Beating these challenges, will give you GamerNet Points that will help you climb the Online Leaderboards and unlock some achievements in the process. But if EA wanted to add more to the whole challenge thing, here’s an idea for next year: Why not using these GamerNet Points to unlock some clothing, clubs or new courses in-game? Sure, these points can be used for Avatars on easportsworld.com for now…but who gives a damn, really?
As for the rest, Tiger Woods 09 features the same winning combinations as the past versions did. Your swings are still controlled by the left thumb-stick by default, although the alternate but less interesting three-click system presented last year returns as an option. I must say that the use of the thumb-stick is once again not fully optimized as the sensitiveness of the stick still a major factor. Don’t get me wrong, it does respond well and better than it was before but I don’t see it getting better than it is today. On the other side, a swing meter makes its debut this year, and is sure a nice addition. At least now, you can see how your swing did and what went wrong if you missed, which excuses how sensitive the thumb-stick swing could be.
On the Multiplayer side, the addition of simultaneous four player matches has added a new dimension to the game. Instead of waiting for each player to take their shot, every one plays at the same time and every hit is marked by a coloured streak that shows how your opponent’s are doing. I don’t know what took EA so long to add that option. I do remember Links 2004 on the original Xbox having simultaneous online play back in the day while Sony’s Hot Shot Golf series already featured that. And while this option isn’t available during single player play (sighs), its sure good to finally see it appear.
Graphics & Sounds
If you ever watched Robin Williams’ Live On Broadway stand-up show, you do recall the part when Williams imagined what golf would be if the guy who does Mexican soccer would do the golf commentary. Yes, it would be interesting indeed but it will never happen. A golf game has and will always be about environmental sounds since the commentary of the game itself isn’t as electrifying as the other sports. But it doesn’t it has to be neglected. The commentary on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 could be better. It’s poor, boring and off-beat compared to what we’ve been accustomed to in the past. Now, if you could only use your own custom soundtrack, the game wouldn’t be that much boring to listen to but then again, the game won’t let you.
Graphically, Tiger Woods 09 looks very good. Not excellent because the game has always looked good since Tiger 07 but EA Tiburon did improved the golfer animations and the courses renders missing in last years’ version. The Create-a-Golfer face rendering is cool once more but most of the time it doesn’t work correctly. It will take you some good lighting and at least 3-4 tries before getting a portion of what you were looking for. Plus, it’s painfully slow. I hope this gets fixed. In general, the game has no huge graphical jumps, just nice and well welcomed touch-ups.
Value
Of course, the hardcore Tiger Woods gamer will go out every year and buy the new version without even asking himself why and how. But for the casual virtual golfer, buying this new version might not be necessary if you’re still enjoying your current version. Even so, if you’re still playing Tiger 06 or 07, you should seriously consider upgrading to this one. The variety of modes, the tweaked thumb-stick control and the addition of EA GamerNet to offline and online play adds an excellent replay value to your virtual golfing experience by giving you a far more complete game.
Conclusion
Another year, another solid Tiger Woods game. The franchise continues to go in the right direction but frankly I would be surprised to see it evolve more than it has become unless they add a Golf Course Creator (this would actually make the game almost perfect).
Still, the developers are delivering a nice bag of interesting additions to a franchise already at the top of its game. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 is a good upgrade from last year’s version not only for the hardcore fan who buys the game every year, but also for those looking to add an interesting golf game to their gaming library for the first time.
Pros
- Simultaneous 4-player online play
- EA GamerNet Challenges
- Improved visuals
- Club Tuner offers something extra for the hardcore players
- Dynamic skill level
Cons
- Thumbstick still a bit sensitive
- EA GamerNet Points are almost useless
- No custom soundtracks
- Extremely bad commentary
- Face rendering is slow and not fully optimized
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
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