Available platforms: Playstation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, PC, PSP and Mobile
According to the Chinese Calendar, 2005 is the year of the Rooster. According to golfers, 2005 has been the year of the Tiger.
Tiger Woods has come back to form, raking in two more major championships this year, placing second and fourth in the two others. There is no questioning his greatness, and the video game that bears Tiger’s name comes back this year just as improved and revamped as the real Tiger.
The first immediate difference from 2005 was the soundtrack. The game opens up with “Stand Up,” the title track off the latest Dave Matthews Band record, which seems to fit a golf game more than the bass thumping rap tracks found on last year’s versions. Gangstas and golf just don’t seem to mesh; not to say that Snoop doesn’t have a fly backswing during those Oldsmobile commercials, fo’ shizzle.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 boasts an impressive line up of 21 PGA Tour golfers, including young hotshots Adam Scott and Ricky Barnes, everyone’s favorite drinking buddy John Daly, and fashion mogul Ian Poultier. There are also a slew of fictitious golfers that range from a 17th century man named Montague to a young Indian boy named Kumar. You can test your game on eleven real courses. Many are perennial Tiger Woods courses such as Pebble Beach, Sawgrass and St. Andrews. But there are also new courses to hack across such as Pumpkin Ridge, Doral, Cog Hill and Reflection Bay.
EA presents you with gobs of game modes as usual; however, this years there are some cool new additions. Rivals mode sends you back in time to play against golfing legends and other very old people to prove that you are the best golfer that ever lived. Before you embark on your lofty quest, you first must create your own custom golfer. While this feature is nothing new, the detail in which you can shape your golfer has grown by leaps and bounds. You can mold your face like silly putty and make yourself look White, Black, Asian, undead or like a circus freak. The fun doesn’t stop with the face because you can choose between hundreds of different shirts, pants, hats, socks, shoes, watches, sunglasses and pretty much anything else you can think of to customize your golfer.
The gameplay feels very similar to previous years, but a few slight changes make a world of difference. Taking a swing now involves both analog sticks (on PS2 and Xbox), and while that might not seem like a lot, it makes directing your shot much more difficult. The rest of the controls are basically the same, so fans of the franchise won’t suffer too much of a learning curve.
Another drastic change, is the putting system. The caddy tips have gone away, so you are pretty much on your own judging the line of your putt. Putting is one of the most difficult aspects of the game to master in reality, so it only makes sense that putting would be the most challenging part of Tiger Woods 06.
Other new gameplay elements are the Gamebreaker Meter and wagering on a shot. The Gamebreaker Meter fills up or drains depending on your performance on the course. Once the meter is full, you can trigger a Gamebreaker moment during your swing. This will let you hit the ball significantly farther and more accurately than normal.
Another cool feature is wagering on shots. You can bet with money made during various game modes that you can outdrive your opponent, sink a 50 foot putt or bounce a shot off a pine tree and roll it up on to the green. If you can think of it, you can bet on it.
Once you become incredibly skilled, which will happen fairly quickly because the game isn’t all that challenging, you can choose to Tiger Proof a course. This will make the fairways longer and narrower and the greens look like a topographic map. You can also choose to turn on Reactive Tiger Proofing. If you are demolishing a course, the course will change during the game to adjust to your play. If you suck, the course will become easier.
Tiger Woods 06 is very much the same at its core, but has some very significant changes, just like the real Tiger Woods. It has a new swing system, just as Tiger Woods changed his swing. You can Tiger proof a course, just like real courses extend their courses to make the game harder for Tiger Woods. You can sleep with a Norwegian super model, just like the real Tiger Woods. OK, the last one is a bit much to ask for, but lets keep our fingers crossed for that to show up in Tiger Woods 07.
Contact reporter Eric Richardson at richardsondbk@gmail.com.
