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Four!!!!! Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Review
So golf is it? Well why not! Get out on the green and slap some balls around whilst the weather is so good… oh yeah that’s right, UK weather sucks. So instead why not curl up with a blanket and crank up the PsP. Tiger Woods is here to ease your summertime golfing woes.
Graphically Tiger 10 on the PSP is shooting for the same look and feel of its larger counterparts. The courses are well designed, if a little sparse in places and the hills and sand traps snake away from you nicely. There are a few issues with texture shimmer and the odd issue with texture tearing which highlight that the PSP is being pushed to try and recreate all the features from the larger console in this minimised format.
Sound wise the usual gallery of EA tracks titles are present and add something to the overall presentation. As to the track selections then I will leave that down to your mind if they are the kind of tunes you like to listen too whilst you golf for me I was kind of nah, but music is subjectively person so you may love it either way you can turn it off if needs be. The crowd noise is a little canned and flat, no real spark comes through from the crown chants, but it does set the scene well enough and completes the being there sensation. The in game commentary on the other hand does a good job. This is an area that EA seem to be getting right more often than not now.
Game play is another area where Tiger 10 on the PSP has shifted gears. Gone are the tried and tested old mechanics and thrown in are some new sparkly ones. Giving you the option of hitting the ball using the more traditional 3 clicks system of older golf titles or you can opt to use the analogue stick to emulate the club swing. Tempting as it is to use the old method it pays dividends using the new analogue method. I say new but the analogue option has been in previous versions it is just that EA have done so much work to sort out the issues with it that it feels like a totally new implementation. Admittedly it did take a good 30 to 60 minutes to get used to the new method but now it is 2nd nature.
The new entry here is the Tournament Challenge mode. You undertake varying challenges themed around real world events. The events are split in to Bronze, Silver and Gold challenges available on each of the game’s fifteen courses. You then have a certain parameter to complete a challenge in. So sink a birdie on course X etc. This adds a nice distraction to the full round of golf offered in the career mode.
Finally the last element of Tiger 10 is the newly revamped multiplayer. Many a complaint was made last year about just how broken the 09 multiplayer was on PSP. This year EA have got it right. It is a little cumbersome at times but that is 50% Tiger 50% PSP. Once in a game though it was pretty much plain sailing. You never interact with the other player, you simply see the position of their balls and their progress. There’s a shot clock to make sure you don’t dawdle and you’ll take a one-stroke penalty if you exceed the time limit. A down side is that it is only ever 1-on-1 but this is a small quibble as what is there works very well. I will say that there was only about ten or eleven other people playing online when I tested this portion this maybe due to the fact I tested it soon after release though rather than lack of interest.
All in all Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 on the PSP is a great Golf on the Go solution which is exactly what EA would of wanted to make. The tried and tested mechanics of the larger console versions has miniaturised well on to the platform. A few things are still a little off. The ball bounce seems very generous and can sometimes cause the ball to just run and run on the greens and the frustration of lining up tricky shots is immense at times. The graphical glitches are glaring at times and the load speeds are hit and miss. When it comes down to it TW10 offers great value for money for golfing fans, the offline stuff will keep you amused for a long time to come and the multiplayer is robust enough to add longevity to the product.
Review By: Mitch Parker
© Gamersathome 2008