|
|
|
Platform
Playstation
2, Xbox
Genre
Sports
Publisher
Electronic
Arts
Developer
EA
Redwood Shores
ESRB
E
(Everyone)
Released
October
10, 2006
|
|
|
-
Double the amount of courses of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06
- Excellent use of sound effects, announcing and ESPN
integration to bring an overwhelming sense of realism to the
course
- Mini-games are perfect change of pace from the game’s
simulation-style golf
|
|
|
-
Courses still aren’t overly impressive visually (where’s
Caddyshack’s assistant greenskeeper Carl when you need him?)
- Rivals Mode from Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 was much more
interesting than the mode which replaced it in Tiger Woods PGA
Tour 07, Team Tour Mode
|
|
|
Review:
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 (360)
Review:
Tiger Woods PGA Tour (DS)
Review:
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 (360)
|
|
Newsletter
|
|
Be
notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out
twice weekly.
Enter
E-Mail Address Below:
|
|
Tiger
Woods PGA Tour 07
Score:
9.0 / 10
In
the PGA this year, Tiger Woods has been absolutely dominating, winning
event after event. He’s clearly proving to everybody around that
there’s no question as to who the best golfer on the planet is while
the rest of the PGA field vainly chases his tail. Electronic Arts’
Tiger Wood PGA Tour franchise also has proved to be a dominant force,
without a doubt the best golf game around, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
on the Xbox and PS2 once again reinforces that.
Surprisingly, while most other EA Sports franchises in the 07 lineup
haven’t done much new from last year, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 has an
impressive list of newer offerings and gameplay enhancements. There
are new courses and updated ones, too. New additions of courses from
all over the globe include the Firestone Country Club in
Ohio
, Glen Abbey in
Canada
and St. Andrews in
Scotland
. EA Redwood Shores updated the Rivera Country Club, TPC at Sawgrass
and the Alisa Course at Turnberry in
Scotland
, among others. Gameplay has been enhanced, with a better dual-analog
swing mechanic and True Aiming that improves as your golfing does.
Brand-new modes are highlighted by few new 2-on-2 modes and fresh
mini-games. And online play had been upgraded with new arcade-style
options. With upgrades and advancements throughout, Tiger Woods PGA
Tour 07 has established a similar dominance as Tiger Woods himself.
I always have been impressed with the little environmental sound
effects such as the birds chirping (and ducks quacking) in the
background, as well as the roars and cheering from the golf gallery.
The tandem of David Feherty and Gary McCord
|
|
|
Along with an incredible course selection, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
has a large roster of PGA stars (that usually are looking up in the
standings at Tiger), including Vijay Singh, Justin Leonard, Reteif
Goosen, Chris DiMarco, Jim Furyk, Justin Leonard and Mike Weir (and
last but not least, LPGA superstar Annika Sorenstam, too). There’s
even 31 fantasy golfers.
If you don’t like using any of those golfers, you can create your
own with the improved Game Face, with a big selection of facial and
body features, along with a vast selection of licensed clothing and
equipment to choose from.
Once again, the gameplay in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is the game’s
most stellar facet, as this is a seriously challenging level of golf
gaming. More simulation-style than arcade-oriented (like in Links
2004, although a few of the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07’s modes are
definitely arcade-style), you need to practice your game on the
courses to score below par and go for the green jackets (of which
Mr. Woods already has an impressive collection).
As before, you’ll need to master different types of shots to get
good, knowing when to hit the cover off the ball from the tee and
when to use a flop or chip shot to get the ball closer to the hole.
Another aspect of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 that you’ll need to
learn and will eventually improve your game is the True Aiming,
which brings a new level of realism to the gameplay. True Aiming
assists you when deciding on angles of shots especially for putts,
and the better you get using it, the better your aim improves, thus
boosting your golfing prowess. And yet again, gamers will need to
use both analog sticks in tandem to set up better and more accurate
shots. If you don’t use all of the above-mentioned methods, expect
to be stroking double and triple bogeys aplenty.
There are modes to suit any type of golf that you may want to play:
from the simulation-style PGA Tour Season and Traditional Games
modes to team-oriented modes such as Battle Golf, Greensome and
Bloodsome, to the fantasy arcade-type Mini Game mode, although last
year’s very interesting Rivals mode, where Tiger would go back in
time and play in different eras against different legends of the
game, has been replaced with a less-interesting Team Tour. In Team
Tour, you must assemble a team of golfers to square off against
Tiger Woods and his team of champions. Not an entirely disappointing
mode, but still not better than Rivals.
While the courses are given a true-to-life look, visually the Xbox
and PS2 suffer in comparison to their Xbox 360 counterpart, as
anybody would expect. Although the courses in-game capture the aura
of the real-life greens, they don’t seem to be as graphically
“wowing” (where’s Caddyshack’s crazy assistant greenskeeper
Carl when you need him? He could spruce up these courses!).
No matter how you tee it up, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is simply the
best golfing game available today. Adding new modes and more courses
will give owners of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 plenty of reason to buy
the newest version of the franchise. The gameplay was already solid,
but new enhancements such as the evolved dual-analog swing mechanic
and True Aiming elevate this rendition of the Tiger Woods franchise
to an unbeatable higher plane of golfing gaming.
- Lee Cieniawa
lcieniawa@armchairempire.com
(
November 16, 2006)
|
