Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07

"The end of a proud era"

I have loved the Tiger Woods franchise since I bought the 2001 edition. I have purchased the newest edition every year since, except 06. I finally got around to picking up the 07 edition, and I have never been so completely disappointed in a PlayStation game purchase.

Game Play: 1/10
This is the heart and soul of any sports game, and it's in this category that Tiger Woods 07 falls flat on it's face. Although many of the basic control functions remain intact, the attempts to add and improve the controls only make things more confusing. There are now two different swing and putting setups: Standard and Alternative. The Standard swing is just like the previous versions of TW. The addition for 07 is ball placement, meaning you can move the ball forward in your stance (to produce a lower shot with more roll) or back (to produce a higher shot with less roll). The Alternative swing requires using both analog sticks at the same time to produce draws and fades, as well as controlling shot trajectory. While all these things sound good in theory, in practice they leave much to be desired. When you first start the game, your character's abilities are amazingly low. Even when you execute all the physical components of the swing correctly (regardless of which style you choose), the results can range from a shot that goes roughly it's expected distance to one that goes slightly more than half that.

Now we get to putting, which is the part of this game that absolutely fails to deliver. Alternative putting is the style to which most TW players have become accustomed. Big problem with this system is the read your caddy gives you on the putt. Sometimes they are right on, sometimes they are off by 25 feet or more. (I'm really not kidding about this.) It would stand to reason that if putting this way is unreliable, one would want to use the other style: Standard putting. This method involves reading a color-coded grid that attempts to illustrate the break and slope of the green. It also requires you to control the length of your putting stroke to accommodate distance. This is the closest thing to real putting I've seen in a golf game. The main problem with this is that most of us aren't good enough to stand on the same green as a professional golfer, let alone putt with them. While the grid can provide you with useful information, and allow you to consistently get your putts close to the hole, it requires absurd amounts of practice and luck to sink putts on a regular basis. Putting in the previous versions of this game was almost an afterthought. You put the aiming arrow where your caddy told you to, and you made a whole lot of putts. While the new system makes putting significantly more realistic, it also makes it significantly less fun. What gets to be really frustrating is watching the computer opponents making just about every putt inside of 10 feet. If they were going for realism, the programmers should have kept both sides equal.

Game Modes: 3/10
There are several new game modes in this edition. The standard Tiger Challenge/Legends Tour has been replaced by the Team Tour. This mode is where you should start the game to improve your character and get him/her ready for the PGA Tour Season mode. Team Tour is an interesting twist, but several of the games played detract from the experience. The most unusual of these is called One-Ball, where teams alternate shots on the same ball. You must hit a shot at least 1/2 the distance remaining to the hole to keep from being penalized. Other than that, the idea is to leave your opponent with as bad a shot as possible while attempting to be the team who actually holes on the last shot. What this has to do with real golf, I will never know. It seems strange to try to hit as good of a bad shot as you can. (That doesn't even look right when it's written down.) Team Tour also requires you to control other characters as members of your team. If I wanted to play with the characters already in the game, I wouldn't have designed my own.

PGA Tour Season is much more realistic that it has been in years past. The players shoot what most would consider "normal" scores. In years past, I can remember seeing the other players shooting four rounds of 62 or better in a tournament. Playing this mode is as close to real golf as I've seen in a video game.

The game also comes with the standard smattering of skills challenges, much like the scenario medals in years past. However, since all modes are dependant on the new swing and putting systems, everything is more difficult.

Graphics & Sound: 6/10
The graphics are almost identical to the last two years, which leads me to believe that either the folks at EA are slacking off, or the graphics engine had already pushed the limits of the PS2 system. (The latter is more likely.) However, the graphics during play seem a little more jumpy and glitchy than the 05 incarnation. Sound effects are good overall, especially the oversize drivers. They sound exactly like the bloated titanium pumpkins-on-a-stick that most drivers have become these days. McCord and Feherty provide the standard banter, which can range from amusing to redundant. The soundtrack is better in the off position, since it adds little to the game itself.

Replayability: 4/10
This grade is brought down by the fact that the game, while challenging to the point of absurdity, just isn't fun. It is certain to provide hours of entertainment to those who have far more patience than I do, and who can view the process of improving your skill with the controller as fun.

Overall: 2/10
The huge issues in game play bring this rating pretty close to the bottom. The sheer lack of entertainment value also hurts, as does the flawed concept of the Team Tour. I used to love the TW series because it was always fun to play, but that has come crashing down. I can hit bad shots and miss putts by ten feet on my own in the real world; I don't need a video game to remind me how difficult the game of golf is. I need a video to deliver fun, entertainment, and challenge in a decent mix, and this game fails to do so.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 01/16/07