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Published
by EA Sports
Developed by EA Sports
Release Date: Out Now
Price: £29.99
Tiger Woods PGA Tour, an introduction.
Golf
games that have appeared on handheld consoles have always
been hit and miss affairs. Whilst the mainstream console
golf games have been moving away from the tried and tested
golf swing method of multiple button presses and taking
advantage of analogue sticks to implement a true 'golf-swing',
handheld consoles have had no such option. That is until
now. With the DS having a stylus and a touch screen anything
is possible and sure enough on the UK's release day EA Sports
had a Tiger Woods game available that takes advantage of
this new control system.
What's
the game about?
Of
course the game is all about golf and it carries all the
usual trimmings. You have a choice of stroke, skins and
match play. The courses on offer include Pebble Beach, St.
Andrews, Kapalua, Sawgrass and Coeur d'Alene. AI golfers
include Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Justin
Rose and Vijay Singh. Game modes include Quick Play, Multiplayer
and Legend Tour. The Legend Tour contains a rookie, pro
and legend tour. Initially only the rookie tour is available.
What's
good about the game?
Perhaps
the most promising aspect of the game is that the developers
tried to implement an analogue swing and although it isn't
perfect, it does work to a certain degree. Essentially you
have a gauge (kind of like a 'J') that you have to draw
over with your stylus. You'll begin at the top of the 'J'
and draw to the tail then you have to take the stylus back
up. Drawing over the 'J' completes the back swing whilst
deviating from the straight line going up will result in
a hook and slice. There is also a boost gauge that you can
rub before taking the shot to add extra power. Finally whilst
the ball is in the air you can apply spin to the ball by
using the stylus. The golfers and the courses that have
been included will probably be the ones that gamers wanted
included. Who doesn’t want a virtual St. Andrews in
the game? There are also some great golfers that have been
included. My personal favourite, Jack Nicklaus, has been
included so that has to be a plus point. The game also makes
good use of the touch screen and as well as using it to
carry out your swings you can also use it to position your
shots.
What's
not so good about the game?
The
game is rather short on content and the small number of
courses, golfers and game modes is disappointing. The multiplayer
game requires each gamer to have a copy of the game which
doesn't take advantage of the game download feature of the
DS and it also means the chances of most gamers having a
multiplayer game are virtually zero. Whilst the swing meter
isn't exactly perfect at least it allows you to interact,
which is more than can be said for the putting. Putting
simply involves setting up the shot by moving the aiming
marker and then pressing the putter icon. The putt is then
automatically carried out leaving you feeling that you have
little control over the shot. For really close shots you
have no control at all as an auto-gimme shot kicks in.
How
does it look?
The
graphics in Tiger Woods PGA Tour on the DS look pretty much
like they came from a PSone version of the game. The top
screen displays your golfer and course in 3D but it's a
rather crude appearance (to be fair though the DS doesn't
seem capable of producing anything better in terms of 3D
graphics). The textures in particular look very bland and
disappointing. The game has been presented quite nicely
though with hole flyby's looking particularly impressive.
The frame rate remains solid throughout which is something
you couldn't always say of the PSone golf games.
How
deaf gamer friendly is the game?
There
are no problems at all for deaf gamers with Tiger Woods
PGA Tour. There are a few ambient noises and gallery applause
that you'll be unaware of but these hardly add anything
to the game and their absence is no cause for concern. All
information is presented in text and you can call up text
caddie tips (by pressing the X button) whenever you want
to. The game manual is fairly short but it covers all the
details you need to learn on how to use the new swing gauge.
Other game essentials are also well covered by the manual.
Final
thoughts.
Golf
fans will be pleased to see a game released for their DS
on release day and all things considered it's not a bad
game. That said though it's not anything special either
and the lack of courses, golfers, and game modes will comes
as a disappointment as will the need for multiplayer games
to have every gamer owning a copy of the game. The swing
method used here needs some work but as a starting point
it's not too bad. Overall though it's the lack of features
that hurt the game more than anything else.
Overall
Game Rating: 6.8/10
Deaf
Gamers Classification:
(Click
the letter or here
for details)
A decent first golf game on the
Nintendo DS. Tiger Woods PGA Tour needs more features, a
more refined golf swing and a better putting system. Multiplayer
should be playable with one game and should not require
each person to own a copy of the game.
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