 One step forward... two steps back... |
| Review Date: June 10, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Tyler Barnes, Tulsa, OK |
I will start by saying that I'm a fan of the Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise. The best years in my opinion were the last couple (09 and 10). With last years game being so great, I was excited to get 11. I was disappointed to say the least. EA try to do too many changes... some were helpful but most changes took away from the game. I'll just go with the old and trusty pro and con list.
Pros:
Addition of the Ryder Cup
Sharper graphics
Better online play
Face maker is a little better but still lacking.
Cons:
EA went to an XP only system which is spent in skills and pro shop items... In the older games, I enjoyed making money and buying new clubs etc, also making loads of money just like the pros, especially during the majors. Now you have to focus 100% on putting your XP into skill and it doesn't seem the big tourneys make a difference... Why the change????
Ghostly limbs will grab your ball out of nowhere.
Making your player better through XP points starting out isn't realistic... You pretty much put all your points into power to have a chance in tourneys.
Where's Augusta? How hard could it be to get that license? No Masters this year....
EA still haven't fixed the view problem... the one I'm referring to is the when you hit the ball on certain occasions, the view changes to something way in the distance and you can't see how to spin your ball.
Ryder Cup takes a long time to play, 80% of the time is being spent watching the other players hit.
A Downloadable course is available... 1 course for 800 MS points!!! Why?
The players haven't been updated in a while, they still have Dimarco, Montgomerie, and others that should have been replaced years ago by recent players that are doing well currently.
Conclustion:
I know it seems I've been hard on the game but I would have loved to save $60 and played Tiger Woods 10 again (I miss the money and the great situationals). I had to give it only two stars due to making a product sub par to the previous 3 titles. Next year they must bring the money factor back, newer players, and hopefully a more realistic looking set-up, swing, and divot action. The game is ok at best to play but very frustrating if you played the previous titles. |
Backwards step from 2010
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| Review Date: June 11, 2010 |
| Reviewer: M. Malinowski, Buffalo, NY |
I'll start this off by saying that I haven't yet played through the Ryder Cup nor have I played through any of the PGA career. I have the swing difficulty set to Advanced using a WiiMotion Plus and I use precision putting. I played a significant amount of the 2010 version (2 PGA seasons, 2 times through the skills competition).
Right off the bat, nothing has really changed with the interface. You can "play now," play a career, enjoy the mini-games, go online, etc. The GUI is different, but who cares about that? The career interface is the same. When you get to the character modeling, everything looks the same, except it doesn't behave the same as the 2010 version. I literally set everything identical to my model from last year (because I had done a spot on job) and the face looked completely different. Hair and skin tones are horrible. Why did EA change something that worked fine before? Not a big deal, as it has no affect on gameplay, but annoying nonetheless.
Let's move on to your skills. You now have only 4 categories; Power, Accuracy, Recovery, and Spin. Removed are the sub-categories, putting, and luck. Luck shouldn't be there anyway, but putting?!?! How can you remove putting skill? Also, improving your skill is VASTLY different. You simply gain general XP points as you play, whether that be through good shots or winning competitions/tournaments. For each 25000XP that you gain, you get a single attribute point that can be put towards one of the 4 skill categories. So, if you git a 350yd drive, you don't get power-specific XP, you just get general XP that moves your closer to the next level. Each skill category maxes out at 10 attribute points. You can gain these fairly quickly through the skills competition.
The skills competition has also changed. You now have 16 player cards (Tiger has 4) with 3 skills competitions per card (48 total) that have the bronze - silver - gold medal system. These can be quite difficult and frustrating, but are definitely fun.
Keep in mind that I have played no actual tourneys yet, just played in the skills competition. This is enough to determine that the swing physics have changed. The results no longer tell you if you hit a fade or draw, but will tell you the degree to which your club face is open/closed at impact. Even if you hit a perfectly square shot, your ball can go off line. I have hit maybe 10 square shots so far. It is extremely difficult to do compared to 2010. Hitting out of the rough....forget it. No matter what the game tells you, it will go 50% of that. It is still difficult to stick irons on the green, as they all tend to roll forward. You can't pitch with any club aside from wedges which makes no sense whatsoever. Pitches, chips, and bunker shots seem to come out erratically. very difficult to hit accurately.
Putting is where I've seen the most problems. The precision putting seems the same. The percentage bar is on the left side and is fairly easy to read. However, if your pace is even slightly off, you will not hit the percentage you want to hit. Also, the ball seems to have very odd travel paths on the green. For example, if you are hitting on a slope, instead of the ball going fairly straight at first and then breaking more as it slows down, it seems to have a constant break regardless of speed. Again, totally unrealistic.
So far, I'm not impressed with this game. TW 2010 for Wii was frustrating and difficult at first...but it was a totally new way to play video game golf. The game is fun to play and legitimately challenging. TW 2011 seems to have changed things for change sake. Why mess with things that aren't broken? I would have been perfectly happy with keeping the same skills system and same game physics. The addition of the Ryder Cup and the changing of the skills competition is the only positive change, IMO.
Last nitpicky items. You still can't skip pre and post shot animations. Speed play option is horrible. I want to skip animations but still watch my ball flight. Its still all or nothing. Auto-save is removed and now you have to tell the game whether you want to save after every thing you do. Where are Faherty and McCord?! Bring them back! It would be nice to have a 'restart' option during skills competitions instead of having to back out all the way to the menu. |
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 - Not too shabby I must say :).
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| Review Date: June 9, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Michael Walker, Bellingham, Washington |
We'll begin this review with a bit of a disclaimer. I play a very popular online golf game quite frequently, so while I've never played a Tiger Woods game before this I do know what I like in Golf Games.
Pros:
I love the different camera options. You can choose between True Aim (which seems to be kind of like "hard mode" to me), a follow the ball Camera angle that is more well known to people who play the Golf Games I do, and a mode that I like to call "TV mode" because it kind of looks like a camera panning from player level to follow the ball from the sidelines. I really love options and that is more viewing options than most games give you.
There are, to my knowledge, two different swinging modes. The stick swing mode, which I like to call "%!@#$" because that's what I scream each time I use it, and the much more user friendly and certainly proven system of "3-clicks". You can toggle that on by hitting the R3 key and I did so immediately. My shot accuracy increased dramatically and I found myself much happier. About my only complaint with 3-clicks, is that if I decide I've got the wrong strength I, again to my knowledge, cannot cancel it and have to just go with what I've got or it'll auto slice :(. That's a super small problem and it hasn't stopped me from tying Tiger Woods Score on a course this morning which got me excited :D.
The character creation mode is super in depth, I actually gave up on all the sliders. I may take pictures of my own face so I can feel like I'm a part of the game. That is an option for those that didn't know (I sure didn't).
The courses are gorgeous, I have a nice sized television (to me) coming in at 42 inches (or is it 40?), on the TV this game looks great! I'm rarely so pleased with the graphics of a game, normally this would never be a selling point to me. I rant constantly about how graphics are often the priority over gameplay. But since the gameplay in this is rock solid I'd say that this is a PRO.
I can get the ACTUAL weather for a course I'm playing on via the weather channel! Am I the only one that thought this was super cool? I leave it on all the time. That to me is super neat and a great touch.
My character rage poops just like I do when I miss a putt, it is fun to watch him freak out as I thrash like an upset infant on the couch.
It feels like there is tons of content, 17 holes come with the game, there is 1 new one you can buy, and there is side content and a campaign mode. It's pretty sweet. Plus getting trophies for things like completing a full course is really satisfying. The game makes me feel very successful and it tends to applaud you with all sorts of bonuses along the way.
Cons:
The loading times get me a little bit upset at times. I'll sink a ball in 2 swings and then be back at a loading screen. It would be great if the game preloaded the framework for the next hole as you progressed through your current one. Then just laid out the textures during the middle screen, this would have probably cut down loading times.
I'm still not exactly sure how to officially turn on true aim, I could have sworn it was different from the cinematic view because it actually gave me experience for sinking while in true aim. I'll just read the manual though, but since I have never before had trouble being sure of a menu option this unfortunately is a negative. A small one, but a negative.
Update: I found the options menu, that really should be directly on the main screen. For those curious it is hiding behind "My Tiger 11'" :).
Both on putting and on swinging I'd like a cancel button since I already know I hit too much power don't make me watch it :(. If someone knows how to do this please comment and I'll remove this from cons (or at least put in the fix).
Yes...I know EA Sports was behind this. Could you guys calm down with your name being on every sign, shirt, shoe, sock, face tattoo, cloud in the sky, and announcement in game? Please! Jeeze guys...don't advertise to me anymore once I own your game.
There might be others, but I can't think of them so they must not be that big of a deal.
Final Verdict:
I got this game for free with gift cards and a 20 dollar off promotional thing from Amazon. But had I actually spent money on it I'd be very pleased with my purchase. I have no hard feelings towards Tiger for certain recent issues, and as a sport I find golf to be amazingly complex and mind boggling at times. This game really captures a lot of that emotion. I think if EA could cut back on their constant back patting when it comes to putting their name all over these games it would be a fully authentic experience worth the time.
I would like to see TWPGA12 have the ability to transfer all my purchases over from one game to the next. I doubt that'll be the case, but if it is I just might buy the next one too. If not I'll stick with this one :). But that's a while from now! For now I'll enjoy what is all around a fairly solid title with very little in the way of negatives.
Thank you for reading :). |
Real-life golf in your living room!
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| Review Date: June 11, 2010 |
| Reviewer: The Thinker, CAMBRIDGE, MA, US |
| I had been waiting for TW11 for quite some time and it was absolutely worth the wait. The game takes golf to a whole new level with the introduction of True View- a view where you 'look down' on the ball as you would on a real life golf course. You look at the play with your own eyes and not through a camera mode- though this might be a downer for some of you who are used to playing like that. However the good news is that you can change the view to suit what you like. This game on the Wii makes full use of the motion plus (I play with that) and it just makes the experience extremely realistic with every movement of wrist mirrored exactly the same way. A perfect 1:1 mirroring. TW11 on the Wii is far superior than its HD counterparts on Xbox and PS3. The 2 new introductions of Advanced Plus and Tour Pro take full advantage of the Motion Plus-enhanced controls and enable all the subtle twists and turns in the backswing and the drive that apply the draw or fade. The tour pro is super difficult but is an amazing challenge to crack. Another amazing feature is that the game mirrors real-life weather conditions- so if it's raining in Pebble Beach, the game will pick it up through the weather forecast channel on the Wii and it will rain in your game too! That's simply way too cool! There has been an addition of the Ryder Cup where its US vs Europe. However I am still breaking in the game as I just got it last night. The commentary is really good and so is the music which you can choose to turn off if you don't like. The popular disc golf is back and can now be played online and that is also a great feature. Plus they have added mini golf- all 36 holes of traditional putt-putt. One annoying thing though is that EA really pushes marketing in your face in the game. I am not sure if you would like to see EA everywhere within the game when you have already bought their game. All in all though, I am still getting through this game but till now it's a solid 5 stars for me! A game that comes as close to the real life golf without the feedback of an actual ball hitting a real club! |
Great gameplay, Ryder Cup scores an ace, graphics get a bogey.
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| Review Date: June 10, 2010 |
| Reviewer: mojo22, Pittsburgh, PA |
Having been a loyal TW PGA Tour player since it's earliest inception on the original PS, I can say I absolutely love the fact that the Ryder Cup has been added to this year's edition. I used to just create my own "Ryder Cup" teams, but to have the scoring and format already in place, I think elevates this edition above previous ones. I can't wait to create my American team to pummel my Euro brethren!
More on that later. For now, let's get to the nuts and bolts: gameplay.
The True Aim style of gameplay is a great addition, as it allows the player to go around the course as if you are actually playing it. I always thought the "zoom" feature made the game way too easy, and I would just turn it off anyway. With True Aim, you have to really navigate the courses and figure out strategically where the best place to place the ball will be, much like actual golf. Fantastic! But fear not, if you like to just "grip and rip" then you can turn the True Aim off and go old school to zoom into your target area and let loose.
I also enjoy the Precision putting method, which really makes you take the putter head back and through on a straight line, again just like actual golf. Any other weekend hackers like myself know that getting the putter head even slightly off-line on a downhill four footer can easily turn into a "three-jack" (3 putt for those not up with the golf lingo), which I found out the hard way on my first go around Pebble Beach.
Which brings me to the courses. There are 17 different courses, plus the always popular "Random 18", which is plenty if you ask me. The now standards of Pebble Beach, St Andrews, and TPC Sawgrass are always there, but for a real challenge go ahead and take on Oakmont or Bethpage Black from the tips, and get ready to have your hat handed to you on Pro Level. At least I did!
Now for the not so good, which is the graphics. Seriously, this is it? I am relatively new to the world of PS3, but games like NHL 10, Backbreaker Football, and MLB 10 The Show have MUCH better graphics than what is on display here. Definitely dissapointed. Chris DiMarco still looks like a fat, frumpy weekend hacker as he did in the TW PGA Tour 07 edition on PS2! Huh? Even the courses themselves leave something to be desired as standing in the fairway really looks and feels not much differently from the rough.
Overall, I am happy with my purchase of TW PGA Tour 11 and give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars. The Ryder Cup feature is worth the price of admission in of itself, and I think if EA can improve the graphics, and add some more depth to the field of players in the future, then they can keep this game elevated as a must buy year in and year out. Highly recommended. |
The Pinnacle...
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| Review Date: August 11, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Cap'n Howdy, Burbank, CA USA |
Judging from the lack of comments, I have to assume that this game is an innocent casualty from the Tiger Wood debacle. That's a shame, considering that the Wii version of Tiger Woods 11 is definitely the best golf video game I have ever played: as multi-layered, challenging and, yes, frustrating as the game itself. I understand that the graphics may be better on other platforms (and believe me, the graphics here are just fine), but once you've swung the M+ wii remote you will forgive all: there is simply no other way to experience a virtual golf game.
I have been through many golf video games up to this point, but with TW11 I was looking for a real golf experience. The manual is surprisingly light on info and you'll have to dig within the game to get some of your questions answered, but with eleven versions of the game under their belt EA probably skipped a lot of the basics. Mostly on my own, my experience went along these lines: my first couple of tournament games I scored dead last, then I read the manual. After this I came in first place. Too easy, I thought: turns out I had been playing AdvancedPlus swing at the Normal level. So I moved up to a TrueView swing and turned off things like manual Draw/Fade and PuttPreview, nothing but yardage markers to guide me, just like the real game. Now I hover around 10th place and that's a perfect enough impetus for me to keep going.
This game is the culmination of what started 50+ years ago when someone invented that little metal golf hole so you could practice your putts in your living room. If you love golf, and own a Wii, buy this game. Period.
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Awesome game - You will enjoy it
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| Review Date: July 29, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Idz21, NJ, USA |
| Game Play is great. I haven't played a golf game since about 1995 when I played Links on the PC. My friend recommended I buy this game so we could play it online together and I'm glad he did. The only gripe I have with the game is the online GUI. It's hard to get group games going together. If you want to just get a quick 1 on 1 game going, it's a snap. But anything more than that and you're scratching your head. |
An incrementally small improvement over 2010
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| Review Date: June 25, 2010 |
| Reviewer: T. A. ENGLE, Los Angeles, CA USA |
If you've played Tiger Woods video games in previous years, there isn't much of a change. Its a decent game of golf, but suffers from EA Sports not willing to go the extra mile and put more realism and depth in the game.
Pros/Cons
+ Focus meter adds some strategy
+ True aim is a nice camera feature that is more challenging and more realistic
+ More crisp looking graphics
+ Putting isn't as overly simple as last year
- The above changes really shouldn't have required too much effort from the design team to change...i.e. they couldn't easily added an online update to last year's game for FREE.
+ EA offers downloadable courses on XBOX Live
- However, downloaded courses were in previous years versions of the game
- EA only offers ONE course at a time for download??? what a complete insulting rip-off...I'm not apposed to download content, but 1 course for 800 Microsoft points is robbery....how about 3 or 4 NEW courses (...not retreads!)
- Online lobbies and matchmaking are cumbersome and settings are limiting...in short it's far too hard to find a fun match
- Still no out of bounds markers and no ability to determine your drop location
- Finding fairways in regulation is FAR FAR too easy.
- That said, if you do happen to hit the wrong fairway or get too far off the beaten path, you just get the generic "out of bounds" notification
+/- New XP system is better than the performance based system, still being able to max out a golfer is kinda lame
? At this rate, they'll have the missing features of real golf added in maybe 10 years!
Who will save us from the EA monopoly of golf video games? Maybe upcoming Pro Stroke golf? |
Nice Changes
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| Review Date: June 11, 2010 |
| Reviewer: James R. Gustafson, |
I am very happy with the changes EA has made from last year. I only play on Tour Pro and like the game to be challenging meaning no spin after the shot and all the power boost stuff. The addition of the true aim makes shooting under par a challenge. No more aim circle for perfect shots.
The graphics don't look much better than last year to me. Having a moving sky and variable winds is a nice touch though.
I actually really like the XP system. I can now have some control over how skilled my created golfer is. The game stopped being fun in the past once my guy was hitting 350 yard drives all the time right down the middle. I can now keep the game realistic where my scores are not -18 every round.
The only negative I can find is the price of the DLC which is stupid because you can't use it in your season and is no good next year. I would also like to see a patch for true aim that shows how far you hit your drive. |
Many problems but I'm addicted to it
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| Review Date: August 24, 2010 |
| Reviewer: J. Carver, Colorado, USA |
TW11 has many aggravating problems and issues, most of which have been listed in the reviews on this site. Some actually bring me to the point of anger. Despite all of these problems I love to play it but these problems with the game keep me from rating it higher than three stars. I think the game is much harder than TW10 which I like. Controls are more sensitive. Tournaments are much more realistic in terms of scoring. In their attempt to achieve this EA has done many things that are really unrealistic or unfair or just buggy. Still, I love the tournament competition and the quest to become better.
Here is my list of things I hate about the game: Note that these are all based on tournament play and not casual play.
# - You can't move the tee ball position left or right for your golfer. This is totally unrealistic compared to the real game. There are a few par 3 holes that have overhanging branches or trees in the way that you have to aim or draw or fade around to avoid hitting due to your tee position. EA will also usually have the wind blowing in the wrong direction to make this more difficult. Many players have suggested this fix in prior year's games but EA refuses to change it.
# - Wind. Playing in the wind is difficult as it should be but changing the wind speed dramatically in your backswing, during your swing or after you leave target zoom where you have aimed to allow for the wind? When you switch back and forth to target zoom to recorrect it will change it again! C'mon! This is my primary problem with this game.
# - There is no provision to select where you drop your ball after it enters a hazard. The game does it for you. This was not the case in TW10 and you sometimes are not given the best drop within the rules. Why did they leave this out this time?
# - Some pin placements are totally unfair. This is especially true in major tournaments where the greens are always set to very fast. Some placements are truly impossible.
# - The ability to spin your ball AFTER you hit it is ridiculous. While this allows you to play better and correct for offline shots it is unrealistic. (the ball spins after it hits the ground.) Ground fades and draws happen in real golf but they are not normally under the control of the golfer.
# - EA's manual is very small and practically useless for important things you really want to know but this is the case for all of their games. You're left on your own to figure out where selections are hidden in the menus. The manual does not tell you how the complicated XP system works so you know how to maximize your swing though points earned versus points purchased.
# - The load time between holes is very long. It seems EA would figure out a way to fix this but it seems they don't care.
# - Graphics are good but not great. I think the look of holes is more true to life in TW11 than in TW10.
# - You are limited to only wedges on pitch shots. If a 9 iron would give you the proper distance you're out of luck unless you guess at how much to deloft your wedge. You are also limited to wedges through 5 iron on chip shots. You should have a choice if you want to try a 3 iron chip with a lot of green to the hole. Also, if you want to try a driver off the deck you should be given that option.
# - The game sounds become aggravating after awhile. Also, turn off the sound for the annoying commentators immediately.
# - The sand wedge you start with and can't change until you unlock it seems to be supercharged with it going much farther than the yardage stated. I have yet to figure out how to unlock it.
# - Live weather. I recommend using this rather than random weather (lots of wind and rain) but if you think this is truly live then guess again. How can it change from sunny and calm to high winds with rain in 5 minutes? The changes are done by the game to make the later rounds more difficult. Also, if you check the actual weather for the city where you are playing it may not be the same.
# - The Playstation Move screens at the beginning of the game are annoying. I found that if you tap the X button they will advance more quickly.
# - Trajectory for long clubs seems too low and trying to carry bunkers or water is impossible even if you have the distance to make it. On long shots you have to aim away from the bunker or water even if you are close to max distance with your clubs. You should be able to shoot for the pin on long par 3's after you achieve a high level of proficiency. Maybe I just haven't figured out how to change the loft correctly yet and still have the correct distance. You also may be able to change your club loft in performance tuning or elsewhere but I haven't researched this.
# - The swing length required for putting on wet greens is totally exaggerated and disproportionate.
# - The penalty for medium rough and light rough for long clubs is unrealistic. Sometimes 5 more clubs is required from medium rough.
# - You can quit a tournament round before you finish it and start the round over. While this is nice if you really have to leave and turn off your machine it allows you to quit and restart until you get the round you like.
# - Tournament scoring. If you are close to the top of the leaderboard the other competitors scoring will keep pace with yours no matter how well you are playing. You can be playing exceptionally well in tough conditions and the other leaders will too.
# - Less than a full swing on chips doesn't work like other partial swings. Seems like you can't adjust your backswing to hit a 75% shot. You can hit 50-70%, but a slightly longer swing gets you 90% or higher.
Why do I still enjoy this game (actually an addiction) with all it's problems and inequities? Maybe I'm stubborn and enjoy the challenge of trying to overcome it all and become as good as I can. Maybe it's because it is golf and golf is unfair and is therefore, true to life. I don't know except I simply can't stop playing it. Possibly EA will stop being happy with just taking our money and actually produce a truly superior game but that doesn't seem likely. Who knows if there will even be future versions featuring Tiger?
I also really like the addition of the Ryder Cup although I have not played that yet as I can't figure out how to set up the teams. The manual, of course, is of no help.
Best of luck in your decision to buy or not buy TW11. |
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