Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09 – PS3 – Review

Another year, another swing, another hole in one?
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, AKA the “Madden of golf games,” is back for another
update that spans nearly every console available. Some players wait all year
for the latest iteration, and it’s those players who the series caters to
most skillfully. But while you won’t find a new level of perfection in the
09 edition, there are some additional gameplay elements that will make any
golf fan want to take a second look.

A Helping Hand

Hank Haney, Tiger Woods’ famous coach, is now
a part of the pro golfer’s game franchise. Haney chimes in with advice on
how to improve your skills, most notably with specific ratings for power,
accuracy, short game and putting, and provides various challenges to improve
those elements. Skills are also enhanced or reduced to match your
performance from each event.

It seems that putting comes naturally to me.
In this game, of course – even miniature golf gets the better of me in the
real world. But in Tiger Woods 09, par was saved many times by a successful
putt from several yards away. Thus, after losing an event with a score of 3+
and a ranking of 75, my homemade golfer – created in the same way as in last
year’s game – received a skill increase for putting.

GamerNet, the EA-branded feature that links
players to the online world, has been tweaked with new challenges that are
offered while you’re going through the single-player campaign. Better still,
online play is now simultaneous, allowing you and three friends to compete
without taking turns. Colored ball trails highlight your competitors’
locations, allowing you to see where they are on the course and how well
they’re performing.

See You At The Club

Entertainment aside, you have to wonder: are
the new modes developed for annual sports games really that important? Most
just feel like they were tacked on at the last minute to fill a void. Many
qualify as being “more of the same,” and a handful are so obscure – or
worse, not even fun – that their inclusion leaves the player as clueless as
a cartoon character that’s been hit on the head and has little stars
floating in front of his face.

Tiger Woods 09 defies the industry standard
(or lack thereof) by introducing a mode that is not only unique but is also
useful to players of all skill levels: Club Tuner. This mode transports you
to a special night course where your only goal is to hit the ball as hard as
possible. Successful swings are met with a green ball, average swings turn
the ball yellow, and lousy swings are colored red. These clear symbols make
it easy to track your progress as each ball soars down the course.

After taking a few swings, tap the R1 button
to get Hank Haney’s take on the situation. He’ll rate your success and, if
you fail to get an A or A+ rating, will offer a pointer or two. If he thinks
you should increase the power and workability of your swing, his recommended
settings will be marked on the tuning screen. This feature allows you to
look at the current maximum potential of your club settings and receive
real-time visual feedback (in the form of a line that travels from your
golfer to the ball’s final destination) as you make each adjustment. Power,
workability, loft, spin and draw may be adjusted to suit your style, and
each can be tested immediately following the change.

The Club Tuner is a fantastic way to track
and enhance your clubs, but there is one thing I wish could be changed: when
switching clubs or features within the tuner, the balls disappear. Though
you don’t necessarily need them if you pay attention to the yard rating,
keeping the balls on screen would have allowed players to view their
adjustments over a period of time. This wouldn’t have been possible on PSone,
and maybe not even PS2 due to the lack of RAM needed to keep these images on
screen. But surely it couldn’t pose a threat to PS3.

Keep Your Comments to Yourself

In the area of sound, particularly non-Hank
Haney commentary, Tiger Woods 09 could use some work. Swing-by-swing
analysis is provided, pointing out every great moment and every failure. But
while their comments may seem fresh and interesting on the first hole, it’s
a whole other story by the time you reach the 18th.

The commentary is by no means the most
accurate you’ll hear in a sports game. They’ll get it right more than 50% of
the time – not a great achievement yet still more impressive than the
majority what we’ve heard on PS3 and Xbox 360 in the last couple of years.
But you’ll be annoyed when there’s praise for a landing when the ball didn’t
go as far as you had anticipated. Part of the problem is that as a player
you’re able to adapt to each situation. You can look at the course, predict
any pitfalls, check the wind’s direction and decide the best move. If
there’s a risk of sand or water, you may not want to swing as hard as
possible.

As gamers know all too well, video game AI is
unable to react in those kinds of situations. For now you’ll get bashed
lightly because it appears that you messed up or chose the wrong club, but
will be praised later if you make par or better. Disappointingly, there is
rarely a moment where the commentators come to life by saying something
like, “He came from behind!” or “I never thought he’d pull that off!” The
commentary is a strict by-the-script layout of sentences that are too few in
their variety to prevent repetition from taking over.

Tiger Woods 09 doesn’t break new ground or
redefine this long-running series. But the additions are noteworthy, useful,
and should be a permanent part of the game and any sequels that follow.
Worth playing for certain – but at $60, only diehard fans and newcomers may
find it to be worth every penny.

Review Scoring Details for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2009