In Tiger Woods 09 Hank Haney is on hand to offer helpEA certainly isn't resting on its laurels this year with regard to its line-up of sports titles. It seems that all its major titles are receiving pretty big enhancements. The problem the Tiger Woods team has is that last year's game already included a pretty massive new feature in the shape of GamerNet. This user generated challenge system will of course be improved upon in this year's 09 edition, but having already made quite a leap on this generation of consoles is there anything else left to wow gamers with? We got some hands-on time with the PS3 version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 to see if some new behind the scenes features revolutionise golf video games.
EA's focusing on the inclusion of Tiger's coach Hank Haney, who appears in the game to offer advice and help you improve your abilities. New players are greeted by Hank straight away. Key to this year's game are your ever changing attributes. After hitting a couple of drives and approach shots he tests your short game from around the green and finally your putting. This then gives you a rating in four key areas: driving, accuracy, short game and putting. From this point on every ball you hit goes towards your ability ratings.
AdvertisementPrevious Tiger Woods titles have seen you improving your stats as you played, but in 09 the dev team has tried to create something much more like what happens during a real golfer's career. If you continue to hit good drives your driving stat will increase. If you consistently hit your approach shots on the green you'll improve your approach play stat. As you'd expect, performing well will see your stats improving across your entire game, but your current form isn't only used to increase your stats.
In real life, if you hit a bad patch and find yourself pulling your drives and missing your putts during a round, you wouldn't just play on the day after as if nothing bad had happened. Chances are that it would affect you for quite a while and the same is true in the game. If you consistently under-perform during a round then your stats drop before the next round. It's a system that will need many more hours of play to test than the couple I spent with the preview build, but if it works as it seems it will make playing through tournaments exciting even when your golfer is at the peak of his game.
In a nice touch, and in order to bring the coaching aspect into the game again, your worst shots during tournaments are saved, allowing you to replay them outside of tough tournament play conditions. Say you're on the 17th at Sawgrass, two shots ahead during the final round. The pressure is on and you jab at your follow through, pulling the ball way to the left and into the water. Then you do exactly the same thing on your second attempt. You've thrown away the championship in 30 seconds. If Hank picks it as a shot you need to work on then you'll be able to replay it till your heart's content from the custom drills menu. Nothing can compare to the real situation (even when we're talking about championship golf in a video game) but being able to practice a shot that ruined your round is a very nice addition to this year's game.
There's still no other golf game on the market that approaches Tiger's production valuesAlso new to the game this year is club shaping. With the help of Hank you can customise numerous aspects of each club, from loft to power. All the changes you make have an effect on the sweet spot, which in turn determines how easy it is to hit the ball cleanly - without any hook or slice. For example, if you want a large sweet spot with your driver, you're going to have to sacrifice length. You'll end up being able to hit the fairways with ease, but reaching a par 5 in two shots will be pretty impossible. You can customise each of your woods and irons, in theory tailoring them to your game and even specific courses.
As ever with a sports game, there's an awful lot here that can't be seen in just a few hours. So far so good though. With the same analogue stick swing mechanic that revolutionised the game many years ago, anyone familiar with a previous game will feel right at home. It's also nice to see that EA has made an effort to improve the visuals. Overall it's not a huge improvement over last year's game, but some courses do look significantly better. We doubt many people buy golf games for their visuals, but Tiger Woods is still by far the best looking and most well presented golf game on the market.
With Tiger set to hit all major consoles in late August we're confident fans and newcomers will be pleased with EA's effort this year. If the promise of the coaching and player attribute building fulfils its potential over the course of a multi-year career then we could well have one of the sports titles of the year.
golffan wrote at 12:47 on 29 July 2008
I think the golf coach is a silly intrusion into the game. They should concentrate on making it play a more realistic game of golf, improve the visuals and the commentary.
golfisgreat wrote at 13:50 on 29 July 2008
Somebody needs to make a real golf game and compete with ea. Tiger Woods has been
horrible for years now........... 06, 06.1, 06.2, 06.3.........etc
xboxlive wrote at 13:56 on 29 July 2008
i cant play the games well i can hit the ball but i can never get it in the hole(putting)
ROWLEX wrote at 14:27 on 29 July 2008
This golf series is bad, somebody has to take notice of the stupid golf EA comes up with and give these guys a run for their money.
Anonymous wrote at 18:56 on 30 July 2008
tiger needs to be able to take a poop on the green and then flick it with a club. that would make this a great game
you all suck wrote at 23:25 on 30 July 2008
The 08 version rocked and the new on will rock. I play online and this is one of the few games for PS3 that always have someone to play. The golf game does not matter it all comes down to the math on the green. They are all porgrams with numbers and formulas. Anyone can play it if they take the time to learn the math and not just hit the crap out of it.
No you suck wrote at 00:06 on 31 July 2008
08 version was garbage just take alook at some of the reviews like lets say Gamespot, Ha you suck hot shots golf for the ps3 is where it's at with outstanding graphics and ball physics and TONS OF GAMERS ONLINE. The games in TW are stupid and that coach stuff is really stupid a waste of money.
xboxlive wrote at 09:05 on 31 July 2008
i what to know whats going on in your head coming out with crap like that lol
mofacko wrote at 22:13 on 17 August 2008
hot shots golf is better than the tiger woods games. The hot shots guys are gonna release a new golf game soon ... i think
Westy wrote at 02:14 on 22 August 2008
What will it take for EA to lift its game? I think perhaps they withhold certain innovations from year to year to ensure their income is streched out over time. Its sad really. Why not have all the professional players signed up? Why not have 100 courses in the game? Why not? $$$ thats why, its not hard is it? This goes for all new sports games. Take a look at the content GTA 4 fits in compared to some of these games... links golf on xnox was the best golf game I have played other than woods and they stopped. Why? Imagine how good it could be with the new consoles, on the flipside, westy.
you all suck wrote at 17:55 on 23 August 2008
hot shots is running the server to 09 tiger.