From the swing mechanics to the hushed and reverent tone of the announcers who comment on every shot, this is a “serious” golf simulation and, like real golf, requires a learning curve. Discarding the 3-tap circular swing method, Tiger has once again reconstructed his swing in favor of a down-then-up swipe along a swing path on the right side of the screen. This gives you the ability to draw or fade the ball by curving your swipe to the inside edge or outside edge of the swing path or if you prefer swipe straight down for a straighter shot. The tempo and timing of your swipe also effects the shot. Additionally, if you hold your finger at the top of your backswing the swing meter fills for an added boost. It’s really rather remarkable what you can do with a simple swipe of your finger. If everything comes together perfectly you’re treated to a cool rocket-like sound while the camera switches to some extra special views of your swing and monster drive. Once the ball is airborne you can swipe and control the spin in the ball-cam view.
This total ball control may not appeal to everyone but it gives the hardcore crowd a lot to work with and while it may seem complicated, with a little practice you’ll soon be hitting 380 yard bombs. To top it off, you must also contend with the wind and your lie, where you’re given a % for making a clean strike. In all, it’s the most comprehensive ball-striking mechanics ever seen on a mobile device and works as well as a big-headed 460cc titanium driver.
The graphics do a nice job of capturing the individuality of the 7 real-world courses (Pebble, St.Andrews, TPC Sawgrass, Doral, K Club, Fancourt and TPC Boston) but they are far from stunning due to a slight lack of sharpness and detail in the trees and a certain blurriness around the greens. Yet this lack of detail allows for some ultra-smooth and realistic swing animations. The SFX perfectly captures a quiet round of golf with the sound of nature punctuated by the metallic click of a sweetly struck 5-iron.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour offers tremendous depth and game life. You can choose to play 9, 18, random 3, 5, or custom on all 7 courses against up to 4 players in stroke play, match play, skins, Stableford, modified Stableford or shootout. You can also choose which tees you play from, the difficulty of the pins and the speed of the greens and fairways. You can play as or against Tiger, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Annika Sorenstam or Natalie Gulbis. Additionally, you can play team play best ball, one ball, bloodsome or greensome. It’s a large bucket of golfing choices. If that isn‘t enough, for every fairway drive, green hit in regulation, sand save etc. you are rewarded with cash that you can use to upgrade your equipment and every weekend golfer knows the allure and power of new technology. Even before the round starts you can spend time clothing and coloring your profiled golfer. The only thing you can’t do is go to the clubhouse and have a beer after your round.
Yet all is not fairways and greens in Tiger Woods PGA Tour as this Tiger leaves a number of putts short. First off, after a couple of rounds you’ll start to make so many 30 foot putts you’ll be forced to turn off the caddy advice and putt preview. This occurs even on greens that seem so blurred that it’s hard to see the hole. Second, the aiming adjustment needs some fine tuning as it becomes a test of patience to move your putting line 3 inches left or right. This could be due to the fact that in the close-up hole view you’re forced to drag your line in the OPPOSITE direction you want it to move! This is strangely true in the full shot preview as well. Also, while putting 3-footers you need to take the same full length swipe as you would on a 40-footer or risk leaving it short!
In regards to the realism, which EA is obviously after, the putter that everyone uses is a monstrously big-headed contraption that I’ve never seen before and something I doubt Tiger Woods would ever be caught dead with. Also, whenever Tiger turns to tip his hat to a non-existent crowd, the most recognized face on the planet looks like an older, generic African-American from the Simpsons. These are small annoyances but the one thing that is really bothersome is that fact that once you begin a round, be it instant play or PGA Tour where you compete in a 4 round tournament, there is absolutely no way to quit and return to the main menu. When you restart the game you are thrown directly back into your unfinished round which you must finish. Therefore, choose your round wisely, upgrade your equipment and take a leak because there‘s no going back to the clubhouse. Once, the game crashed on me and upon restart, kept throwing me back to the crash point forcing me to delete and reinstall the game.
With a great reworked swing and the depth to match his insatiable hunger and drive, Tiger is once again stalking every leader board. Though his long lay-off has dropped his game to a strong 4 stars, the miss hits, particularly around the greens, can easily be corrected with updates to tighten up Tiger’s game and put him back on top as the most realistic and dominant player on the Iphone course.
Reviewed by goyami - Iphone