Guy LeDouche
Banned
Since everyone is distracted with Katamari and all the other games that came out yesterday, I figured I'd post a TW thread.
a little background - I'm a golf nut and TW is one of my annual purchases. It's never overly fancy, just a solid, fun golf game year after year. I played it for only about an hour last night, so I'll give my quick impressions. I plan to put a good 3-4 hours into it tonight.
Starting off, its Tiger. Swing mechanics are still there, lots of courses, the works. Everything that TW vets should be familiar with. The new stuff:
+ The right analog stick now controls where you hit the ball. Put the indicator down on the ball and you'll add some loft, up and you'll keep it low, right side will add hook, left side will add slice. I'm mixed on this. I can't figure out how they want me to be able to add power with L1 (I use my right index finger) while aiming with the right analog stick. Basically I choose which I want more, power or control. Power off the tee and control for approach shots works well.
+ New putting control. You now have to meter your putting shots for distance like you would any other club. Example - in TW05, if your wedge was marked at 60yds but it was 30yds to the pin, you'd meter your backswing to 50%, while putting in 05 was more of a pick your placement, grip it and rip it. Now your putter goes 5ft, 10ft, 20ft, 30ft (switch with R1/R2 like normal clubs) and you have to meter your shots. 3 foot putt? Only go 60% with your 5ft putter. It slows down the putting game alot and I'm not sure if I like the change over last year. Since there isn't much backswing to a putting stroke to begin with, I use the shadow of the shaft/club head to guage where ~50% is, then its more of a guess. I think I will like it as I get used to it because putting really was too damn easy in past TW games. -10 par per 18 was a bad score for me. Hell, -15 was average. Now I think the Tour/Career mode will be alot more challenging.
+ New Tour/Career mode. It's create-a-player (Gameface) just like last year, but now career mode goes 30 FUCKING YEARS. I'm sad I can't import my create-a-player model from last year. I'd understand if my stats had to be cut back to 0 and stuff, but I spent alot of time making my create-a-player look exactly like me. ProTip - make sure you start a new career with your TW05 save file on your memory card. I got a free Ping sponsorship (too bad I don't have any money for any Ping gear yet). Also, I wish they'd let you choose a real-life golfer for your PGA Tour. I really want to tear it up as Veej instead of just with my create-a-player. Maybe you can, actually, I just never saw the option. Something I don't like is the voice thing. During your create-a-player set-up, you have to pick from 1 of 5 different default voices, of which you can then alter the pitch to mimic your own voice, so that your golfer can say stupid shit like "C'mon, c'mon. Get in the hole!" It's annoying, but you can turn it off (without shutting off the David Feherty commentary).
+ Stat building is different from last year. You earn stat coins for good shots and use the coins to build up your stats. Sounds like a different means to the same ends as TW05, but they added a new mode where you can do minigames to concentrate on specific stats. Weak with the putter? Do the putting challenges to get putting stat coins. I'd recommend completing as many different challenges as you can to build up your initially horrible stats. You don't want to enter the PGA Tour with basically zero stats. Unfortunately, its alot like TW05 on PSP where you have basically no control, no impact, no power, nothing. I wish EA would start you off with at least a semi-competent golfer so you don't have to fight your way through the first few hours while you stat build.
+ There's tons of multiplayer games and online looks good, but I haven't had time to get into those, so I'll hold off comments.
Overall I'd say its another solid (incremental) improvement on the TW series and worth your money if you're a fan like me. Last thing - there is a code to unlock something in the PSP version due out later. I was planning on getting TW06 PSP (never got 05 because of the loadtimes), so this is a nice little bonus.
a little background - I'm a golf nut and TW is one of my annual purchases. It's never overly fancy, just a solid, fun golf game year after year. I played it for only about an hour last night, so I'll give my quick impressions. I plan to put a good 3-4 hours into it tonight.
Starting off, its Tiger. Swing mechanics are still there, lots of courses, the works. Everything that TW vets should be familiar with. The new stuff:
+ The right analog stick now controls where you hit the ball. Put the indicator down on the ball and you'll add some loft, up and you'll keep it low, right side will add hook, left side will add slice. I'm mixed on this. I can't figure out how they want me to be able to add power with L1 (I use my right index finger) while aiming with the right analog stick. Basically I choose which I want more, power or control. Power off the tee and control for approach shots works well.
+ New putting control. You now have to meter your putting shots for distance like you would any other club. Example - in TW05, if your wedge was marked at 60yds but it was 30yds to the pin, you'd meter your backswing to 50%, while putting in 05 was more of a pick your placement, grip it and rip it. Now your putter goes 5ft, 10ft, 20ft, 30ft (switch with R1/R2 like normal clubs) and you have to meter your shots. 3 foot putt? Only go 60% with your 5ft putter. It slows down the putting game alot and I'm not sure if I like the change over last year. Since there isn't much backswing to a putting stroke to begin with, I use the shadow of the shaft/club head to guage where ~50% is, then its more of a guess. I think I will like it as I get used to it because putting really was too damn easy in past TW games. -10 par per 18 was a bad score for me. Hell, -15 was average. Now I think the Tour/Career mode will be alot more challenging.
+ New Tour/Career mode. It's create-a-player (Gameface) just like last year, but now career mode goes 30 FUCKING YEARS. I'm sad I can't import my create-a-player model from last year. I'd understand if my stats had to be cut back to 0 and stuff, but I spent alot of time making my create-a-player look exactly like me. ProTip - make sure you start a new career with your TW05 save file on your memory card. I got a free Ping sponsorship (too bad I don't have any money for any Ping gear yet). Also, I wish they'd let you choose a real-life golfer for your PGA Tour. I really want to tear it up as Veej instead of just with my create-a-player. Maybe you can, actually, I just never saw the option. Something I don't like is the voice thing. During your create-a-player set-up, you have to pick from 1 of 5 different default voices, of which you can then alter the pitch to mimic your own voice, so that your golfer can say stupid shit like "C'mon, c'mon. Get in the hole!" It's annoying, but you can turn it off (without shutting off the David Feherty commentary).
+ Stat building is different from last year. You earn stat coins for good shots and use the coins to build up your stats. Sounds like a different means to the same ends as TW05, but they added a new mode where you can do minigames to concentrate on specific stats. Weak with the putter? Do the putting challenges to get putting stat coins. I'd recommend completing as many different challenges as you can to build up your initially horrible stats. You don't want to enter the PGA Tour with basically zero stats. Unfortunately, its alot like TW05 on PSP where you have basically no control, no impact, no power, nothing. I wish EA would start you off with at least a semi-competent golfer so you don't have to fight your way through the first few hours while you stat build.
+ There's tons of multiplayer games and online looks good, but I haven't had time to get into those, so I'll hold off comments.
Overall I'd say its another solid (incremental) improvement on the TW series and worth your money if you're a fan like me. Last thing - there is a code to unlock something in the PSP version due out later. I was planning on getting TW06 PSP (never got 05 because of the loadtimes), so this is a nice little bonus.
