Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters Initial Impressions

[pietasterp]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters Initial Impressions

I recall going into an electronics store and watching one of the store's salespeople playing a golf game that was being shown on their wall of televisions. At first I thought it was a TV broadcast of a live PGA tournament. It was photo-realistic, and the commentary and applause sounded like a live broadcast crew and gallery. (Never did find out what that game was BTW.)

Was that a Babbages or Electronics Boutique, by any chance? I seem to remember walking into one of the old gamestores (before evil empire Gamestop took them all over...) and having a similar experience, but I also never figured out what game it was they were showing...maybe something for the 3DO.

That's the gaming era we're in now. Basically, if young people aren't interested, then developers have little or no motivation to add it to the game. And young people would not think twice about the fact that when they hit a ball 40 yards left of the fairway, that the ball is magically respawned back on the fairway with a stroke penalty. If anything, that's what they want in a game because it speeds things up and keeps it simple.

It's also why past features like course creation tools were removed, why the ability to edit and add PGA pros was removed, why the ability to create your own custom season was removed, etc. and so forth. I also be believe it's why photo-realism has never been introduced into this series. The look of the game, and the bright color palettes they use, have been kept cartoon-like for the same reasons -- it all appeals to young people.

It all goes back to the hegemony of EA being the dominant sports game publisher...there used to be an option between Links, PGA Championship Golf, Jack Nickaluas golf, PGA Tour Golf (Tiger Woods' predecessor, that was actually a decent sim golf game), and others - but when EA became the sole player, the writing was on the wall. I said back in '99 when the first PGA-exclusive license newly-branded EA Tiger Woods game came out (I may be off by a year or so on the date) and it had lightning strikes on drives and all this other nonsense, that it was going to spell the beginning of the end for golf games. Not sure I was wrong about that one...

While one PC Golf game could be considered "photo-realistic", it was hampered by a 2D non-dynamic nor 3D environment which is certainly easier to render than what is rendered in TW12...by a LARGE MARGIN. Playing Links 2003 was like playing in a vacuum postcard environment, IMO. Zero animation of anything on the course other than the golfer, ball, and flag. EVERYTHING in TW12 is animated and the environments are dynamic with changing weather and lighting that changes as the day progresses. Huge difference from Links 2003....

No doubt it's harder with polys...but is it really not possible to approach that level of detail, now almost a decade out from the last generation of PC golf games? I'm not disagreeing with you per se, but I'm wondering if it really is the case that it's not possible or that it just hasn't been attempted.

Consoles have NEVER had a true course architect for various reasons, but the biggest reasons are:

1) Lack of harddrive for ALL consoles (360 is not standard, Wii has none)

2) No real way for most users to use a mouse and keyboard to design courses. No way could you design a course with a gamepad with any sort of quality.

3) The software tools to create courses (3D programs and tools) are extremely expensive and cumbersome for most users to use effectively.

There are various other reasons, but those are the biggest.

All good points...particularly the interface issues. But course creators used to be a traditional part of a good number of PC golf games...didn't Sierra's PGA Championship game from early 2000's have a course-creator that used polys (3d) and was actually really robust? I thought a late-edition Jack Nicklaus had a similar tool as well (also 3d). And honestly, I'm not sure Tiger looks that much better than some of those later PC poly-based games. So I'm not totally convinced the lack of a course creator (at least for PC-versions) is based on the lack of tech or ease of use (people can do amazing things with any semi-intelligently designed creation system...just surf the 'net for user-created PGA Championship or Jack Nicklaus courses).

[peigone]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters Initial Impressions

PGA Tour Golf (Tiger Woods' predecessor, that was actually a decent sim golf game)

Yeah, that's the game I was trying to think of. Still to this day, it remains the only sports game I ever beat to become the overall champion at the end of the season!

[pietasterp]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters Initial Impressions

Yeah, that's the game I was trying to think of. Still to this day, it remains the only sports game I ever beat to become the overall champion at the end of the season!

You never beat Tyson in "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!"???

[WeimaBrewer]

EA's graphics department/player models have always been lacking to me. This game is a prime example of this. Sony is the best IMO.

[ven0m43]

I like how it costs $60 for the game and about $52 for the rest of the courses through DLC. They need to release all of the courses and then add more through DLC and not the other way around.

[supermanemblem]

While one PC Golf game could be considered "photo-realistic", it was hampered by a 2D non-dynamic nor 3D environment which is certainly easier to render than what is rendered in TW12...by a LARGE MARGIN. Playing Links 2003 was like playing in a vacuum postcard environment, IMO. Zero animation of anything on the course other than the golfer, ball, and flag. EVERYTHING in TW12 is animated and the environments are dynamic with changing weather and lighting that changes as the day progresses. Huge difference from Links 2003....

Consoles have NEVER had a true course architect for various reasons, but the biggest reasons are:

1) Lack of harddrive for ALL consoles (360 is not standard, Wii has none)

2) No real way for most users to use a mouse and keyboard to design courses. No way could you design a course with a gamepad with any sort of quality.

3) The software tools to create courses (3D programs and tools) are extremely expensive and cumbersome for most users to use effectively.

There are various other reasons, but those are the biggest.

Sony's play, create and share movement is proof positive that a course editor could be successfully employed. EA does not want to bring these to life because it may hurt DLC sales. A course editor with the option to share would bring the innovation most people clamor for. Not a caddy features that takes away from the experience. I don't think the lack of harddrives is the reason. EA is scared if cannibalizing their cash cow in DLC.

[T3B0W]

Got it. Another solid title in this series. I missed 11, though this is a good game for the golf enthusisast. I am loving the Masters mode.

[kerosene31]

No offense, but your lack of experience with TW11 is a big problem. TW11 was a massive step forward in realism, and to many TW12 is a big step back. True aim on the hardest difficulty was a major step forward which was removed completely from this year's game.

[DivotMaker]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters Initial Impressions

Sony's play, create and share movement is proof positive that a course editor could be successfully employed. EA does not want to bring these to life because it may hurt DLC sales. A course editor with the option to share would bring the innovation most people clamor for. Not a caddy features that takes away from the experience. I don't think the lack of harddrives is the reason. EA is scared if cannibalizing their cash cow in DLC.

If you knew anything at all about what it takes to create a Golf course for a Golf game, you would realize that Sony's feature is not a factor in this ever coming to the TW series. And show me ANY major franchise that is not selling DLC.....

[Uncle Stumpy]

I've been pretty unimpressed. I was playing the presidents cup mode and half the time the commentator says the wrong name of the player. I much preferred TW 10 over this mess. Huge waste of 70 bucks. Should have gotten Top Spin 4 or The SHow...

[rangerrick012]

Re: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters Initial Impressions

If you knew anything at all about what it takes to create a Golf course for a Golf game, you would realize that Sony's feature is not a factor in this ever coming to the TW series. And show me ANY major franchise that is not selling DLC.....

ANY? NBA 2K. In fact they added a feature that was DLC in 2K10 (draft combine) to the full game for 2K11.

Though I do get your general point. In most instances companies try to make money whenever they can. It's up to the consumer to make the informed decision as to whether or not to buy the game.