Equipped with new online modes, a tournament challenge mode, several courses being introduced, tweaks to the gameplay and real time weather that is coordinated with The Weather Channel, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 is a well-rounded golf title that is serviceable to avid fanatics of the sport. Though, it must be said that in comparison to its Wii counterpart, it’s hard to argue in favor of the Xbox 360 iteration. Players are still able to map their face to their player with the Photo Game Face, so customization is at an all-time high. Via the Xbox Live Vision camera or through EA’s online website, players are able to make virtual representations of their selves in Tiger Woods 10 – but, unlike titles in the past, it took two to three times for my friends and me to get an avatar that was fitting enough in facial similarities. The results aren’t uncanny, but they’ll do for the time being.
The biggest concentration for Tiger Woods 10 is the Live Online Tournaments that essentially allow players to record scores against human opponents or real pros who are currently playing on the course. With this Play the Pros option, the game opens up the world of golf to those closely follow the sport and play along with the professionals – it’s a nice addition, but not the hole in one that the title needed to stand out. Competing in daily and weekly events, along with saving replays of a shot or an entire round for players to challenge via EA Sports GamerNet, the online is robust with challenges to compete in. Even the addition of real-time weather doesn’t exactly add up to a bonafide winner. If it’s raining on the TPC Sawgrass course tomorrow at noon, you can expect that in Tiger Woods 10 will have rain coming down as you play within the game.
The only issue is that the rain doesn’t drastically alter how you need to play outside of how the ball bounces, and the wind altering the arch and distance of a shot. Real-time weather effects shouldn’t wow anyone or impress newcomers enough to buy Tiger Woods 10, but then again, it’s a nice bonus addition for long-time fans. There’s a new putting mechanic called Precision Putting. Having tried it this same mechanic on the Nintendo Wii, I’d have to say that mechanic isn’t as useful on the Xbox 360 as it could’ve been. Instead of having to manage a plethora of putters to sink those nail-biting shots, EA Sports enforces gamers with one all-around putter that can get the job done from any distance with the simple control scheme of pulling back on the left analog stuck for power and pushing forward on the stick to follow through with the shot.
Having a learning curve of 20 minutes or so, Precision Putting isn’t for everyone and they can revert back to the Classic Putting at any moment their heart desires. If you played Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, then you already know what you are getting yourself into with the Tiger Woods 10. It has beefier online modes, a few graphical improvements (most notably in the weather effects), real-time weather, and Precision Putting – but all of this is forgettable if you played Tiger Woods 09. There’s no recommendation to upgrade to Tiger Woods 10, unless you want to play the new courses and are adamant on keeping up with the online community. If you are a newcomer to the yearly franchise, then Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 would be a great introduction to the series.
