Tiger Woods 2003 “Hands On”
Disclaimer --
I am by no means a writer so I would not put this on the main site page.
Beta tester stuff………………
I was chosen to beta test Tiger Woods 2003 for th PC a few months ago by EA.
I have beta tested many games before but like many of you, im a sports junkie
so when they chose me I was doing back flips . I signed a document that I would not talk about the game to anyone and that was for the most part lifted today.
They have sent me a build of the game each month and I have participated in some beta testing conference calls with the Tiger Woods crew. I even got to ask them a few questions.
They really valued our feedback and did make adjustments in the game after hearing our feedback in the conference calls and the super secret message board. They were so happy with our feedback that they offered us the opportunity to have our name “in the game’. I jumped at the chance and filled out a legal form. Now you will be playing against an Operation Sports Staff member this year. See you on tour
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The Game-
Tiger Woods 2002 took a beating in the press and by many gamers for lot’s of reasons from online play to some of the game play features. TW 2002 tried to make a big jump and came up short and believe me after listening to the Tiger Woods team talk about it in a conference calls, they got the message!
Tiger Woods 2003 has made great strides since last year and it really shows even in the Beta I have installed right now. First of all they have rebuilt the “True Swing” meter to
make shots a lot more realistic, they have spent a lot of time on it and it shows. Also they have re-tooled the three click meter to stop the cheap shots that could be preformed last year. The graphics have also improved greatly from last year’s game. They have added rain, fog and water that looks like it came straight out of Morrowind, very impressive indeed. The play by play commentary has doubled, it’s still not up to the quality I would like to see but it will do. The camera angles are outstanding and really add to the TV style broadcast that they are shooting for.
I think most of the buzz from this years game will come from the career mode, I felt
last years career mode was lame so I was reluctant to try it. Wow what a difference a year makes. You create your player and go straight to the practice range for a few lessons.
Everything you after that will cost you money so you need to budget money. After the lesson you have an Event Calender you can go to. This shows dates and events each month that you can participate in. Most of the ones I have played so far have been skill challenges where you go head to head with other newbies like yourself in chipping, putting , long drive challenges. If you win you will earn money and you can upgrade your equipment and skill points.You can also sock money away to enter tournaments. This part of the game really sucked me in and I spent hours at a time taking on newbies for pride and money. Another thing you can do is go out to the practice range and hit a few balls. Each time someone will challenge you to match play or skills challenge for money. You can also throw some more money in the pot to make it a little more interesting.
I have not tested the online play yet so I can’t comment on that. I can tell you that although it is pay to play this year that direct ip connection is in the game and is FREE. I and many other gamers hammered the TW boards last year about adding direct IP play. And it looks like EA listened.
These are just some random stuff I cam up with, there are still a few things I can’t discuss but if you have any questions you would like answered, fire away.
Disclaimer --
I am by no means a writer so I would not put this on the main site page.
Beta tester stuff………………
I was chosen to beta test Tiger Woods 2003 for th PC a few months ago by EA.
I have beta tested many games before but like many of you, im a sports junkie
so when they chose me I was doing back flips . I signed a document that I would not talk about the game to anyone and that was for the most part lifted today.
They have sent me a build of the game each month and I have participated in some beta testing conference calls with the Tiger Woods crew. I even got to ask them a few questions.
They really valued our feedback and did make adjustments in the game after hearing our feedback in the conference calls and the super secret message board. They were so happy with our feedback that they offered us the opportunity to have our name “in the game’. I jumped at the chance and filled out a legal form. Now you will be playing against an Operation Sports Staff member this year. See you on tour
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Game-
Tiger Woods 2002 took a beating in the press and by many gamers for lot’s of reasons from online play to some of the game play features. TW 2002 tried to make a big jump and came up short and believe me after listening to the Tiger Woods team talk about it in a conference calls, they got the message!
Tiger Woods 2003 has made great strides since last year and it really shows even in the Beta I have installed right now. First of all they have rebuilt the “True Swing” meter to
make shots a lot more realistic, they have spent a lot of time on it and it shows. Also they have re-tooled the three click meter to stop the cheap shots that could be preformed last year. The graphics have also improved greatly from last year’s game. They have added rain, fog and water that looks like it came straight out of Morrowind, very impressive indeed. The play by play commentary has doubled, it’s still not up to the quality I would like to see but it will do. The camera angles are outstanding and really add to the TV style broadcast that they are shooting for.
I think most of the buzz from this years game will come from the career mode, I felt
last years career mode was lame so I was reluctant to try it. Wow what a difference a year makes. You create your player and go straight to the practice range for a few lessons.
Everything you after that will cost you money so you need to budget money. After the lesson you have an Event Calender you can go to. This shows dates and events each month that you can participate in. Most of the ones I have played so far have been skill challenges where you go head to head with other newbies like yourself in chipping, putting , long drive challenges. If you win you will earn money and you can upgrade your equipment and skill points.You can also sock money away to enter tournaments. This part of the game really sucked me in and I spent hours at a time taking on newbies for pride and money. Another thing you can do is go out to the practice range and hit a few balls. Each time someone will challenge you to match play or skills challenge for money. You can also throw some more money in the pot to make it a little more interesting.
I have not tested the online play yet so I can’t comment on that. I can tell you that although it is pay to play this year that direct ip connection is in the game and is FREE. I and many other gamers hammered the TW boards last year about adding direct IP play. And it looks like EA listened.
These are just some random stuff I cam up with, there are still a few things I can’t discuss but if you have any questions you would like answered, fire away.
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