Here you literally follow Tiger through four stages of golf history. Yet another minor tweak comes in Rivals mode, which replaces last year’s relatively anemic Legends mode. I blazed through my first PGA tour match with a nine-under par opening round. A vet of the series (and by vet, I mean anyone who has played a Tiger Woods game since 2003) will likely dominate right off the first tee, Shape Stick notwithstanding. Though they might seem drastic on paper, the changes to swinging and putting do little to affect the overall gameplay of Tiger Woods 06. At that point, it’s merely a matter of determining swing strength and hello, one putt. It’s almost impossible not to exploit this by picking out an object in the background that happens to line up with the beginning of the line. ![]() This drops the view down to ball level and follows a little line from the ball into the cup. Of course, that means it’s probably too hard for newbies, so the game includes an ‘ideal line’ view that basically tells you exactly how the ball will break. You still aim with a marker, but now your backswing actually determines distance, putting the feel back in putting. Taking a cue from the Hot Shots series, the slope of greens in Tiger Woods 06 is depicted by a combination of color coding and little dots sliding at various speeds along grid lines. It turned what is very much a feel-driven part of golf into an exact, calculable science, and then made it even easier with last year’s ridiculous Tiger Vision gimme option.īut like the swing changes, the tweaks here merely make it different, not better. One-putting was routine for vets as it was merely a matter of determining distance and accuracy with a marker, then freely swinging away without any sort of repercussions for not swinging smoothly. Putting has received a makeover as well, a welcomed change since the old system was a little soft. The swing changes aren’t just for use on roughs and fairways, though. Kinetic feel has essentially been replaced by a modicum of increased accuracy. The Shape Stick just seems a little extraneous between the ability to add power during a backswing or adding spin while the ball is in mid-flight, you already have pretty decent control. You now have much tighter control over lofts and punches, making it easier to get out of sticky situations, while the old system was a bit more intuitive for hooks and fades. In the past I’ve complained about the inability to choose where to hit the ball itself (a key facet of the pro game), and that’s been adequately addressed here. Optimum use of the Shape Stick – that is, the way to get the most dramatic results – occurs when you shape a shot during your backswing rather than before. Hit the ball low or high for more or less loft, or shank it left or right for fades and draws. Using a little dot on a superimposed golf ball, you can now pinpoint exactly what kind of spin to give your shot. Getting that kind of movement requires deft use of the new Shape Stick. If you pull it back to the left and push it up diagonally, you’ll smack it in a straight line to the right rather than cut across the ball and hook it. One stick still controls your backswing, but now merely determines shot direction instead of spin. Prepare for blasphemy, because they decided to fix what wasn’t broken. For years now, the simple act of pulling the stick back and pushing it forward in different shapes to control draw and fade has functioned so well, it’s become golf game gospel. The story behind the success of the Tiger Woods series is told through its intuitive analog-stick swing mechanic. ![]() Not planning to suffer that stomach ache twice, Tiger Woods 06 doesn’t add so much as tweak, and the bulk of this beast remains unchanged. Though still a terrific golf sim, last year’s Tiger Woods simply gorged itself at the buffet table of features and modes without changing much at all about the gameplay. So like any aging, well-paid athlete, the series has become a little complacent in its dominance. While the ESPN games took Madden to the brink, Tiger Woods PGA Tour has enjoyed what amounts to a 20-stroke lead over its meager competition. That title is reserved for another larger than life sports figure, Tiger Woods, who has seen his golf game go almost entirely unrivaled for the past three years. ![]() The reality, though, is that the fat man takes a back seat to a man-child when it comes to being EA’s true sports ringer. For good reason, too – the series has been on top of the sports genre for over a decade, and thanks to dubious backroom shenanigans, it’s the only NFL licensed video game you’ll play for the next three thousand years. When gamers think of EA Sports, they invariably think of Madden. It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
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