Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
The links effect.
So what does it all mean for you, the player? Choice, mostly. There's no excuse for not mastering power drives or accurate putts, since the tools to help you are all to hand. Under normal circumstances the presence of so many aids would make the game too easy, but the new skill system balances that out by requiring solid all-round play in order to max out your statistics, regardless of what features you use to help you make the shot. In other words, newcomers get more help than before, while long-term fans have more access to, and input into, the data behind their career than ever. It's not a perfect balance, but it's pretty damn close.
On top of this, there's the ooh-ooh-shiny Web 2.0-inspired jiggery-pokery of Photo Game Face and GamerNet. Game Face is the one most people will enjoy tinkering with at first, allowing you to create your own in-game avatar using photographs of your real life mush. The results are hit and miss, to say the least, especially if you're relying on the Live Vision camera for your imagery. My first effort came out looking like a grey-faced zombie Keanu Reeves, which is ludicrous since everyone knows I'm more of a werewolf Christian Slater. Upload some hi-res shots to www.easportsworld.com and the results are much better - provided you've got the patience to wait for EA's groaning servers to let you in. Creating a reasonable likeness in this manner requires more fiddling than most casual players will want to bother with but, once you've got something you're happy with, the ability to actually see yourself on the fairway is quite uncanny, especially since you're now able to share your games with the world.
Which brings us to GamerNet, clearly being trialled here for inclusion across the EA Sports range. This always-on community hub allows you to save clips from your game - whether it be the full 18 holes or just the last shot played - and upload them to the GamerNet server. More than just a YouTube for virtual golfers, each clip can be enhanced with challenges of your choosing. If you fluked a hole from beyond the green, you can challenge other players to repeat your good fortune. If you beat a tough course at 15-under-par, you can see if anyone can top that score. For each player who attempts and fails your challenges, you'll earn points.
Already the service is well populated and, compared to the woes that have blighted the Game Face system, very stable. Once you get past the novelty of the idea, the long-term benefits become clear. What you have is, essentially, a free library of constantly changing bonus gameplay - a library that you can draw from, and contribute to, at any time. There's a fair amount of chaff to sort through - lots of clips called OMGLOLZPWN4GE!!!!!! are already available - but as a flexible remote multiplayer mode it'll be interesting to see how GamerNet evolves.
So, should you buy? With a boatload of new features, both subtle and sweeping but almost all beneficial, it's got to be a tempting proposition for experienced Tiger Woods fans. It's not all gravy - it's perhaps not as visually sexy as you'd hope, the water and foliage effects are fairly standard, while crowds of identikit spectators move robotically through the same movement cycles like some creepy dance troupe. There's also a naughty freeze bug in Tiger Challenge, although while we await the inevitable fix it's easily avoided by holding A as the game boots. Equally, the upside-down career mode, which starts hard and then gets easy, can make the game frustrating to start, and this injection of carefully regimented realism will annoy as many as it excites. There's also the general shakiness of the Photo Game Face online system, and the inclusion of features that have yet to be implemented - uploading more than three GamerNet clips requires some downloadable content (presumably paid for) that has yet to appear.
It still plays a great game of golf though, and is almost embarrassingly eager to please with its abundance of game modes and options. Don't like an option? Just switch it off. Need some help grasping the basics? The game leaps into action to take your hand. Want some guidance to refine your pro game? Everything you need to analyse your performance is at your fingertips. Almost every area of the game can be customised in line with your tastes to the extent that, if you ask nicely, Tiger will probably even dress up as Sailor Moon and call you Susan. Given the variable quality of the EA Sports brand over the years, the general air of sequel cynicism is more than justified but, if you're willing to invest the time in building a better golfer and not just grumble that it's too hard, this is the best Tiger Woods has been in years.