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Tiger Woods debuts on the PS3. Like Madden, Tiger Woods benefits from the fact that EA has already published two next-generation versions of the game. While gamers making the jump from PS2 (or Xbox or Gamecube) will find this version much different, it’s nearly indistinguishable from the Xbox 360 version.
Tiger Woods 07 features many gameplay modes. The game includes the typical game modes like stroke, best ball, skills 18, skins, real time event calendar, battle golf, etc. For a more in-depth mode, you can head to PGA Tour where you’ll go through a season mode and be given quite a challenge from the pros. The game also includes the Tiger Challenge, some 20 challenges against both pro and fictional golfers. As you go through it, you’ll gain skills and the ability to purchase new equipment.
Tiger Woods 07 includes 12 courses, which is on par with the Xbox 360 version but significantly less than the 21 that graced current-generation consoles. The included courses are: Bandon Dunes, Carnoustie, Firestone, Glen Abbey, Pebble, Pinehurst, Riviera, Spyglass, St. Andrews, The Prince Course, TPC at Sawgrass, and Turnberry. The game includes 15 pro golfers including Tiger, Daly, and Annika Sorenstam, as well as ten fictional golfers. Although next-generation Tiger 07 doesn’t have quite as much content as the current-generation version, every course and character looks great.
Tiger Woods 07 significantly changes the gameplay of the Tiger Woods franchise. Instead of aiming for a specific spot, you now aim for an area. Tiger Woods has a fairly small area that the ball can land in thanks to his precision, but some of the other golfers (and certainly your new created golfer) will lack that precision. The game’s swing mechanics are also slightly different. You now control fade and draw by pulling back on the analog stick, and you can change loft using the right analog stick. The game retains the classic control schemes for people who don’t particularly like change though. If you do want to try the new mechanics but don’t think you have the skills, you can ramp down the difficulty and drastically improve your chances of doing well. Interestingly, this is the first PS3 game (out of 9) that doesn’t include Sixaxis support.
As expected, the game includes four-player offline and online multiplayer on the PlayStation 3. Online works very well, we noticed no lag or disconnects while playing the game. There is some ESPN integration which comes in the form of the streaming ESPN radio and ESPN News updates.
Visually, Tiger Woods 07 is clearly the best looking Tiger Woods game yet. The courses are intricately detailed, so much so that you may have a hard time telling these apart from pictures of the real courses. The courses are now littered with interactive fans that follow the ball and walk with you to the next hole. You’ll still notice the animals mobbing around the environments. The created players also look excellent and have much detail thanks to the extensive tool. With it, you can create players and adjust pretty much everything including height to something like ear shape. The professional golfers look very good, as well, with Tiger Woods’ character being quite possibly the most realistic sports character yet. EA perfectly nailed his mannerisms without running into the Uncanny Valley. The graphics
The game’s audio is equally impressive. It is still top-notch, accurately recreating the sounds of golf. The commentary from Gary McCord who provides well-meaning commentary contrasts with the comical arrogance of David Feherty. The game’s create a player tool allows you to choose one of give voices for your character. All of the voices are pretty good and add life to the character. Once again, it would be nice to hear some new sound effects or voice overs every now and then.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is the best game in the series. Although it doesn’t have the same number of courses or golfers as the current-generation games, the graphics and gameplay make it the definitive Tiger Woods experience. On the PlayStation 3, this is certainly true even if the game is indistinguishable from the Xbox 360 version of the game. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Nov 20, 2006
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