The 15th rendition of Tiger Woods’ golf sim series will play jump-rope with your emotions as a gamer. “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13” somehow makes last year’s career mode look like trash. The new swing system, called Total Swing Control, gives you the ability to pull off shots like a Tour pro. Golfers will find that nearly every shot you can imagine can be performed in the game. This is where the game shines.
Also, the much-maligned caddie that used to block your view is gone — though his suggestions are still around.
The highly marketed Legacy mode is a bit of an oddball. You play through a highlight reel of Tiger’s achievements from when he was a toddler to the present — sans the marital troubles — and into the future. The challenges are somewhat fun, though in the grand scheme of things it comes off as a little bit creepy.
| ‘Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13’ |
| » Systems: Xbox 360, PS3 |
| » Price: $59.99 |
| » Rating: 4 out of 5 stars |
Kinect motion controls also played a big part in the game’s marketing. Sadly, they aren’t up to snuff. They work fine, but it just takes longer to play a round using them and the character movements become choppy with Kinect. It’s common to hit booming drives when you only take the club back to waist-high. Also, facing to the side feels awkward. And if “Kinect Sports Season 2” was able to make good use of the motion controls for golfing, why couldn’t the team at EA?
“Tiger” is know for its course selection. This year’s game allows you to earn downloadable courses rather than having to buy them. The game rewards you with coins (or you can buy them with Microsoft Points) as an in-game currency that can be used to buy rounds at the downloadable courses. The downside is that it takes eight to 12 rounds of good play at regular courses to earn enough coins for one round at a downloadable course. And it takes a minimum of six rounds at a downloadable course to unlock it permanently. So it could take a while.
Coins can also be used to buy pins to boost your character’s skills, though they can only be used a set number of times before needing to buy more. So you’ll have to decide if pins or rounds at the downloadable courses are more important.
EA has doubled down on the online pass model. This means you need a pass to take part in any online play. It would have been nice to see the company go the same way as they did with “SSX” and allow some basic online play for all and maybe just limit competitive play to those with the pass.
As for the online community, EA’s country club idea is fantastic. It brings players together and gives the game a bit of a team feel. Country clubs also make earning coins easier, which, considering the importance of the currency, is a huge boon.
“Tiger 13” is yet again the best golf game available. But depending how you view EA’s move closer toward the freemium play model, it could make you do a Tiger fist pump or seethe with rage.
