Review: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11

eGamer Rating:

Addictive: Yes
Worth The Time: Yes
Reasoning: To play a sports game, especially golf, in the first place means you have time to waste, but in a good way.

Things Loved: Everything.
Things Hated: Not exactly a “hate”, but the golfer’s animations could be better. They are good, but lacking.

Reasons To Buy: An overall good game. Recommended for golf lovers and even those who know nothing about golf. Fun and challenging.

Final Conclusion: If you wanna be rich you gotta learn to play golf, right? Start here because this is as good as it gets — next to the real thing of course, and because it is definitely the best game in the series. If there’s one thing EA knows how to do it’s make sports games. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 is another great sports example.

• Developer: EA Tiburon
• Publisher: EA Sports
  
• Genre: Sport (Golf)
  
• Platform Reviewed on: PlayStation 3

The first thing I noticed was that Tiger Woods wasn’t the only golfer on the cover. I’ll get to why later.

Before you step on the Tee

Let’s start from the top.

Right after an intense opening video you are tasked with creating your own golfer – yes, you don’t have to play as a cheater the whole game – and my, oh my the amount of detail that can be seen here already is great. Your characters hair blows in the breeze so naturally you would think your watching TV. Similar to EA’s recent sport titles you have the option of uploading a picture of yourself onto the EA website and then select that image as the portrait when creating your golfer — you’ll then be staring at yourself. If you haven’t uploaded a picture but you own a PlayStation Eye, then you can take a picture on the spot with the same outcome.

Fear not because the in-game character creator is pretty detailed and some spectacular results can be achieved here.

Selecting the club:

After creating your golfer you are taken through tutorials of the essential components of gameplay. You have the option to skip it, but that is unadvised even if you know your way around PGA.

The tutorials also explain the new ‘focus’ system, which enables players to pull off special shots. Focus can be used to boost a shot’s power, increase a shot’s accuracy, add spin on the ball when it lands, affect its flight and give putt previews. It changes the dynamic of the game, and because the focus bar isn’t unlimited, players have to think about how they wish to use it. To replenish the focus bar, players have to perform shots without using any focus modifications – it’s a system that balances out quite nicely.

As mentioned above the essential components of gameplay are explained here, it will show you what’s new and on top of that you will earn Experience (XP) which you will need to upgrade your level, skills and attire. Meaning, don’t skip the damn thing. Got it?

On the Tee:

After the tutorial you will be taken to the main menu which looks like this:

As you can see in the pictures above the main menu contains the following options:

• Play Now
• Online
• The Ryder Cup
• My Career
• Performance Tuning
• My Golfer
• My Tiger 11
• Invite Friends & Earn XP

Most of those are self explanatory, but earlier I mentioned that Tiger Woods wasn’t the only person on the cover and now I would like to explain why: the “The Ryder Cup” is on the option menu.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 features the “Ryder Cup” tournament for the first time in its history.

Educate yourself on the Ryder Cup here.

Another option I wanted to mention was the “Play Now” option. This allows you to quickly launch yourself into any form of the game. Surprisingly there are many deviations regarding game type, and if you thought the  18 holes from TV golf was all the sport is about, well then you’re in for a surprise.

PGA gives you the freedom to choose between 12 traditional game modes to play, on any of the games 17 courses. Following this, you’ll be able to play 8 mini-games which are usually played at “the facility”.

The Majority of the above can be played with other player. Some modes ranging from 2-8 players, respectively.

Another option is Performance Tuning which allows you to test your skill upgrades before you use your XP to purchase it.

Going back a little: in the tutorial a feature that I think should be mentioned is “True View”. True View lets you see the course as you would in reality showing you distances so that you can determine which club and shot would work best. After taking the shot you follow the ball with your eye as you would in reality. You have the option to turn it off and to be honest, it is easier with it off, but it feels more realistic with it on.

There is so much I could tell you about the menu, but I’m sure that’s not really what you want to read. And yes, I know what you want to know.

On the fairway:

The gameplay is truly perfect for this game. It just…it’s perfect. It’s so smooth and responsive, it’s as if you are really swinging the club. That feeling will be fulfilled when the Move, eventually, comes out. However if you’re useless at Golf, all of the gameplay is taught in the 8 part tutorial. The game is mainly controlled by the analogue right stick — due to the fact that you use it to swing the club.

The courses are amazing. Almost every detail can be seen. The courses found on the PS3 and 360 versions are:

• TPC Sawgrass
• Turnberry
• St Andrews
• Bethpage
• Oakmont
• Wentworth
• Pebble Beach
• TPC Boston
• Hazeltine
• East Lake
• Torrey Pines
• Wolf Creek
• Celtic Manor Resort
• Liberty National
• The Greenbrier
• TPC Scottsdale
• Whistling Straits

Courses available as DLC are as follows:

• Pinehurst No. 2
• Sheshan
• Harbour Town
• Gary Player Country Club
• Bay Hill
• TPC Blue Monster at Doral
• Cog Hill
• Banff Springs
• Firestone
• Spyglass Hill
• Riviera
• River Course at Blackwolf Run
• Waialae Country Club
• The Predator (fantasy)
• Highlands (fantasy)
• Emerald Dragon (fantasy)

The Green:

A picture of the green. Are you not entertained?

Now that I look at it, Putting is quite — if not the most — challenging aspect of the game. Gradients, distance, power and many more aspects have to be taken into account. You will — yes will — spend quite a while mastering your putt, and this is a make-or-break part of the game. Walking away with the win depends on your putt.

But hey, practice makes almost perfect.

Hole 19 — the pub

To compliment all of the offline modes and the progression that’s available with the custom golfer, there’s a fully integrated online mode. There are 10 different gameplay types and it’s possible to play with up to a maximum of 24 different people. However, despite the game being built for that, 4-player games are a much more common occurrence.

Be wary if you buy this second hand because you need the online activation code that can only be used once. This can be found on the back booklet in the game box an example of mine:

Rounding things off I would like to mention the music and weather. Even if golf is the most boring sport in the world, the music in this game can make it as intense and exciting as SuperSport portrays it. The weather is executed brilliantly and Golfing in the rain shows your hair and clothes move in the wind, where the ground is affected by water and the wind has a great impact on your shot.

Entertainment goes as far as hitting the crowd on the head with the ball, causing them to fall unconscious. And if the ball doesn’t hit them, don’t worry they’ll still run away screaming. Following this, you’ll be able to give your golfer a nickname and whenever you play the crowd will call out your name to encourage you. I found it funny when women scream “Go Tiger!” or “I love you!” Pretty amusing.

My personal verdict: Everything about this game is just great. This is without a doubt the greatest game in the series.

Coincidentally we’re giving away a copy of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 in our competition. Click to enter, and if you win you’ll be able to claim a copy of the game on the console/platform of your choice. Don’t worry, it’s not the review copy which has been abused for this review.

*Credit to IGN for the screens, and EA for the copy to review.