Quarantine Time Machine: Revisiting Career Modes in Past Golf Games

[lowpaiddonkey10]

Re: Quarantine Time Machine: Revisiting Career Modes in Past Golf Games

Yeah, this is brutal. Lots of old players are back on TW14, that's why there's nearly 300 online at times. Users I don't remember seeing, and they're all setting golf courses like Wolf Creek, Bethpage, Scottsdale, Greek Isles, all golf courses most of us don't have. That's why they have so much difficulty finding users to play with them.

At the end of the day, I'm sure EA figure most would be buying their new console game, Rory. Didn't happen with that content. Maybe they should have just kept the game on Unity instead of restarting from scratch on Frosbite. It's probably why HB doesn't want to switch to a new engine, good chance they wouldn't be able to bring all the courses created by users to the new game.

I don't know whether EA abandoned the game due to the uproar from the fan base or what but the game engine is really nice looking. With a lot more courses and a tweak here and there the game would have been top notch. As it is I still prefer it to what HB has been producing. FFS HB next time around would you please mo cap a decent golfer.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: Quarantine Time Machine: Revisiting Career Modes in Past Golf Games

I don't know whether EA abandoned the game due to the uproar from the fan base or what but the game engine is really nice looking. With a lot more courses and a tweak here and there the game would have been top notch. As it is I still prefer it to what HB has been producing. FFS HB next time around would you please mo cap a decent golfer.

My option and assumption is that the lack of content out of the gate, which in turn resulted in lower than expected reviews and poor word of mouth, led to the downfall of EA's golf franchise. Only having 8 real-life courses out of the box (9 if you count a preorder bonus TPC Scottsdale, which eventually became free to all) was the killer - as was the decision to charge the full $60 for it.

Even though the new engine looked great, asking people to accept less than half the course content TW 14 offered on disc was a tough pill to swallow, especially after two years of hype and development.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: Quarantine Time Machine: Revisiting Career Modes in Past Golf Games

The last golf game I have (that's accessible to me at this point anyway) is Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for Xbox. This is the only Tiger Woods PGA Tour game to be backwards compatible with the Xbox 360. And, amazingly, it's actually pretty great if you're looking for the ultimate dose of nostalgia.

This game offers the old-school Tiger we all remember - a heavy dose of arcade gameplay with just enough sim added in. It's wonderfully fun, somewhat silly, but a great way to pass some time when the '00s are calling you back.

TW 07 has some other interesting modes, like the Team Tour, which is the most prominent back cover feature of the game. Players use their created golfer to build up their team to travel the world playing in different game modes until they reach the final match against Tiger Woods' team. The player is allowed to add more golfers to their team as they win matches. It's fun and different, and worth checking out.

As for "Career Mode", there's a PGA Tour Season mode in the game, which is the equivalent of what we've seen in later TW games. It's mostly a bare-bones effort: there's some stat tracking and a full schedule, but compared to TW 12 or 14, it would appear lacking in features.

If you dig a little deeper, the charm of TW 07's career mode comes in the events available in the schedule. None are licensed, save The Players Championship and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but the variety of events add to the fun.

For example, two events on the calendar are match play (YES, MATCH PLAY): the Australian Challenge and the EA Match Play Championship. You actually play against AI opponents in these events as you go from round to round. It's just mind blowing that it hasn't been done since, that I can recall. There's even an event that is only playable if you've won six major championships. And you get to compete against the likes of other golf legends in it who've accomplished the same feat - Nicklaus, Woods, etc. There are other events that have entry requirements like "Top 20 PGA Tour Ranked Players Only". Since you aren't that as a rookie, these events give you something to work towards. Not to mention the fact that the career mode lasts 30 seasons in TW 07, unlike the 10 in more recent EA golf games.

Compared to later Tiger games, there's not a ton here. Graphics are considerably weaker than Xbox 360 and PS3 counterparts. But the content is there: 21 total courses are on the disc, including he Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, The National, and The K Club, home of the 2006 Ryder Cup. There are a ton of fictional golfers to face off against, as well as 21 real-life golfers on the roster, too. Not bad for a game that's 13 years old.

[bigkev]

Re: Quarantine Time Machine: Revisiting Career Modes in Past Golf Games

I'll have to give TW07 a spin, it's been a very long time but I do remember the world traveling to get to Tiger. When I want to do fun Tiger challenges, I always go back to TW08.