Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 – Review

I’ve always really loved golf games, ever since Leaderboard way back on the Commodore 64. So when I discovered that Tiger—and not Links—was coming to the 360, I was perhaps a little disappointed, but not all that surprised. EA were bound to have a slew of games prepared for the 360’s launch; and the fact that Microsoft has sold the Links brand didn’t help either. I was disappointed because, personally, I think Links 2004 (Xbox) is probably the best golf game I’ve played, and a 360 version would have been pretty neat.

But, as of late, there have been changes made to the new Tiger Woods game, mainly in the control system department. But will these changes elevate it to Links’ standard and beyond? Well, sadly, no. While Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 is undoubtedly a good golf game, it could have been so much more. The new swing system, which is also utilised on the Xbox and PS2 versions, uses both analogue sticks for control. The left stick is, as per usual, for the swing and power of the shot, while the right stick is now used to ‘shape’ the shot—stick allocation can be reversed if you so wish. So, remaining on the default layout, if you push forward on the right stick it applies forward spin on the ball, while also issuing a lower trajectory, which is useful to keep the ball down out of the wind, or for a low shot beneath the trees if you’re shooting out of the rough.

The latter situation initially arises quite frequently in Tiger Woods 06 due to it being one of the most unforgiving golf games I’ve ever encountered; it’s relentlessly tough on errors, even if your shot execution is off by just a tiny amount. This punishing margin of error is, at first, EXTREMELY frustrating; and, when combined with the equally difficult putting dynamic, you’ll be screaming, crying, and pulling your hair out in clumps while trying to get the hang of things. Furthermore, even once you’ve grasped the control subtleties, there will still be times when you’ll simply slice the heck out of a tee shot and end up out of bounds, or behind a tree! Not too much fun, I’m sure you’ll agree. But practice makes perfect, right? So I’m thinking that one day I’ll play a perfect round…

Of course, if you opt to use any of the game’s pro players, such as Mr. Woods, then you’ll naturally find shots firing closer to the target and spinning nicely towards the hole—much more frequently than if you use a standard player-created character. However, easier success aside, creating your own character in Career mode and progressively building their stats is where the true appeal of Tiger Woods 06 lies. This consists of a number of challenges on each of the game’s courses. For example, there’s a ‘closest to the pin’ challenge against a computer-controlled player, and beating your opponent sees you unlock a fresh challenge or perhaps a new pro player, or, after a few challenges have been completed, even a new course. The final challenge on most courses is a full round against one of the game’s pros. Once all the course challenges have been completed you’re able to participate in Season mode against the field of players you have previously unlocked.

There is also a Rival mode in the Xbox and PS2 version of Tiger Woods, which is sadly missing from the 360’s iteration. I’m not sure if the Rival mode is in any way similar to the PSP’s Legend mode where, after completing a certain amount of the game, you’re able to challenge some of the all-time golfing greats like Jack Nicklaus, but, either way, it’s a shame that this feature has been stripped from the 360’s version. That said, unfortunately it’s not the only aspect that has. During the game you can only unlock six professionals, which is equal to the pro roll call on the PS2’s 2001 Tiger Woods release. On the GameCube’s 2003 version there were a total of twenty-eight players to unlock, twelve of whom were pros. Also, there are only six golf courses to unlock—five really because one is already open from the outset. Again, the 2003 GC release offered nine courses, and even the PSP’s version—which is seriously underpowered when compared to the 360 in terms of possible gameplay content—has twelve courses! Plus there are other established unlockable aspects—like upgraded equipment—that are also sorely missed. It’s really slack of EA to drop all these features for Tiger’s first ‘next-gen’ outing. While I’m sure the 2007 release will likely be new and improved—and these lost goodies will find their way home—it’s still a little shameful that EA couldn’t spend the time to get it right on this one, especially as it’s in the much-scrutinised launch period.

Graphically the game is certainly impressive, particularly the player models; the detail levels are so high that you can see individual veins on players’ arms, their shirts look like real material, their eyes clearly follow the ball’s trajectory, and environments and spectators all look very nice indeed. Truly, golfing videogames have never looked this good before. It’s just a shame that on flybys of the hole, or when the game camera spins around your player before taking a shot, the frame rate starts to jerk about somewhat. Not very ‘next-gen’, eh? This is probably due to poor optimization rather than the 360 not being up to the task but, again, another case of naughty EA rushing Q&A for launch. Luckily, though, the jerky frame rate does not affect your swing, which is reassuring. Another notable feature of the visual presentation is the real-time lighting. Trees cast shadows across the course, and sunlight even breaks through the branches, making you squint—even though you’re not there and the light isn’t real!

Game sound is absolutely great. From the crowd cheering and shouting encouragement, to
the simple ambient effects created by birds or distant planes flying overhead, it’s all top notch atmospherically. The commentary from David Feherty and Bill Macatee is satisfactory—initially—but after a while they do tend to get a bit annoying. Luckily you can always turn them off when they start to grate. Perhaps another missed opportunity for EA in not securing Peter Aliss for the commentary? Aliss is, without a doubt, the best golf commentator ever, and much better than the 360’s pairing of Feherty and Macatee—but that’s only a minor complaint.

From a Live point of view, I’ve only played Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 online a handful of times, but that was still enough to evaluate the performance as yet another EA failure. Lag is especially awful while trying to line your shots up correctly, although it doesn’t affect the game when you actually take the shot. But when an opponent takes their shot things get even worse. Oh, EA! Why do you have your own servers for games? Let Microsoft do it, they are SO much better at it than you. I’m not sure if the game will run online any smoother for those people playing in mainland Europe or the UK, but it probably won’t make that much difference. Hopefully EA will sort this out, because the game does offer a respectable selection of online options, and playing against real people is always more fun than the (cheating) computer opponents.

Tiger Woods 06 holds a pretty good girl-gamer aspect, though. The character-creation tool lets you select either a male or a female player. Yay! Plus, building a female character’s stats will, as with a male character, eventually bring them up to the same standards as the established pros. So, no short-changing the ladies here.

Conversely, deaf gamers are perhaps not so well taken care of as there are no subtitles available. Though not a great loss when missing out on Feherty and Macatee prattling on, specific verbally delivered hole information before teeing off can be helpful, and a subtitled substitute would have been a handy addition.

Overall, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 gets a 6 from me. Double-bogey on a par four that is…not too good really. The low score is mainly due to the fact that the Xbox and PS2 versions offer much more content, and subsequently much better value for money. Plus the Live aspect needs some serious work. However, if you’ve got Xbox Live and can find a reliable game that doesn’t lag badly, you should duly add another point to that 6. But, if not…

Review by Roy