Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Review

Written by: Adam Tewkesbury Posted: 28th July 2009

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Palatable Pocket Putting?

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Details:

	Sports
	PC/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360/Nintendo Wii/PSP/Nintendo DS
	EA Sports
	EA Sports

Out Now

1-4

Unbelievably, we have now reached the twelfth generation of Tiger Woods-endorsed golf games by EA. In the 10 years that Tiger has fronted the PGA series, games have been released on 16 separate systems, going some way towards explaining why Wikipedia refers to Mr. Woods as "the world's most marketable athlete", and making it fair to assume that by now the EA team should know a thing or two about translating golf for a gaming audience.

For the cynics amongst us, it would also be fair to assume that the majority of the effort put into this latest iteration of the franchise would’ve been aimed at big budget PS3/360/Wii releases, with less love and attention given to handheld golfers. So, with Steve handing a highly commendable 7 to Sony and Microsoft, and an impressive 9 to Nintendo, I approached the UMD version with some trepidation.

First impressions are typically ‘EA Sports’ (it’s in the game, apparently). As is the current trend across the gaming spectrum, it is positively encouraged that you spend the first half hour creating your own golfer, carefully crafting their features, stance and skills to individual tastes. Much more entertaining is the randomise option, seemingly set up to generate the most unlikely sporting freaks imaginable (would most golf courses admit a 30 stone giant with facial tattoos and a Mohawk?). Having played a number of the previous home console versions the options available on PSP are comparatively limited, with fairly rough-looking character models and a selection of pre-set options rather than full control of every facial contusion- not a huge surprise given the gulf in processing power, but a disappointment for those looking to create a perfect handheld self-portrait.

Golfer creation leads to the mercifully brief training session, introducing the now-established analogue swing and various considerations which seem broadly unchanged from any number of previous golfing games (lie, spin, wind, slope etc). Overall the system works reasonably well (in fact the PSP analogue nub is quite sensitive and a bit easier to handle than a full size thumb stick, for my ill-coordinated fingers at least, but it doesn’t take too long for problems to emerge, most notably (and irritatingly) when the putter is plucked from the bag.

The first big issue is graphical- yes, the PSP is an older platform and could be excused for lacking grunt, but by all accounts the game still looks ugly in most areas. Obviously looks aren’t everything, but graphical frailties are rather shoved into the limelight when the player is expected to judge the slope of a fairway or the run of a green and is unable to do so because of flat, low resolution textures and flickering polygons (so very PS1). To compensate for the lack of visual feedback, putting is helped by a ‘putt-preview’ type feature which essentially reduces the process to on-screen prompts followed by hitting and hoping- hardly a satisfying mechanic. When the ball finally drops you can be left feeling a bit robbed of praise, and when it doesn’t it is very easy to bemoan shoddy AI.

For the chronically untalented the game includes the option to adopt a 2 or 3-press button swing on and off the green, instead of analogue control (very similar to the original PGA series of the 16-bit era, or the sublimely silly Everybody’s Golf), but this isn’t really in the spirit of the Tiger franchise, and even seems to be frowned upon within the instruction manual. The overall result is control which seems a bit imprecise and unbalanced, and it can begin to feel like good shots are the result of luck rather than skilled play.

PSP Tiger introduces a few features absent from other versions, most notably the concept of player confidence which is periodically boosted by pretty obscure mini-games, intended to ‘tune out’ distractions (fancy cleaning the sole of your shoe by waggling the analogue nub? Didn’t think so). It’s an (almost) interesting idea, but more often than not just acts as a distraction from the golf, and can feel like a bit of a waste of time. The game also includes a huge array of challenges, training exercises and additional content outside of tournament play, although the variety in terms of actual gameplay remains pretty limited.

The key criticism to level at Tiger on the PSP is that EA have tried too hard to squeeze the full home experience into a UMD, evidently a step too far for the poor little handheld. In trying to shoehorn in as many modes, items and courses as possible, the graphics and core gameplay have taken a bit of a battering, diluting the overall experience and comparing weakly to other versions of the same game. The introduction of mini-game elements hint at a less serious, lighter hearted experience, not wholly in line with previous iterations but arguably a better fit for a handheld, whereas in its current form Tiger comes across as a bit serious, slightly disjointed, and not quite enough fun to reward the investment of time. Still, there’s always next year, eh?