Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (PS3)

[aruljothi]

Release Date: 06/08/2009
ESRB Rating: Rating Pending
Genre: Sports
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Tiburon

I have not played a round of golf for close to three years now. My clubs are all rusted, my knickers don't fit anymore, not to mention that I don't live in Hawai'i anymore, where I did all of my golfing. At least the Tiger Woods franchise has been doing a fantastic job in whetting my appetite until the next time I take in a round of golf (and doesn't look at me funny when I can't fit into my golf attire). After I skipped last year's iteration (I only previewed it), Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 is a giant leap over what was available in '08, and only a couple of steps more than '09's offering (for a recap, check out Joe Rybicki's review of 09).

The strength in this year's version is found in its online features for player-created golfers. It may not sound like a lot, but get this: EA Sports Live Tournaments provide daily and weekly tournaments for users to participate in and are put on a time limit between "days" of golf, usually 12 to 24 hours between online matches. Players pick the tourney they want to play in, check out the players who have participated, and what stroke total they must top to start playing. At the time of me writing this review, the only daily amateur tourney available asks players to beat a -22 under par over 18 holes of golf... and that's just to tie the current leaderboard holder. Knowing I can't best that, I'm not going to even bother -- I'll wait for the next daily tournament. That's something that needs to be ironed out over the coming days, and lowering the Max Skill Ranking (Woods' version of match-making) and offering more than one or two amateur tournaments a day could solve this. As it stands right now, the competition is fierce, and this mode is rather uninviting even if the idea is sound. Of course, the options are there for me to increase my created player's stats, today.

The game does offer the chance to enhance the created player with skill enhanced clothing options that are available to purchase from the game's online store, with real-world money, of course. Equip these clothes and the created player will be tearing up the fairways in no time at all. This is ideal for the impatient players out there who do not want to work at unlocking this equipment. Personally, I like to earn my keep.

As for other online options, the Live Tournaments tabulate real-life tournament scores with a "Play the Pros" feature that allows gamers to try and best recent professional scores. For example, Tiger's -12 under par this past weekend, followed up with Furyk's -11 under at the Memorial Tournament. It's fun to play under the same conditions as the professionals, and it's definitely a nice little feature, but it would have been nicer to offer a varying level of difficulty for this mode outside of "Tour Pro" skill level.

Other new features are the inclusion of the Weather Channel's real-time forecasts, so that if I'm playing at one of the included courses, the weather will be an actual representation of what it is like at that very moment. Also, the putting mechanic has been overhauled by having analog-based control (that works the same as the swing mechanic on the left analog stick) known as Precision Putting. It works very well, and is a huge step up from the now-classic putting scheme. Rounding out the list of additions are the six new courses: Bethpage Black, Torrey Pines, Turnberry, Pinehurst, Hazeltine, and Oakmont along with the chance to (finally) play in the U.S. Open in career mode. Lastly, there is the Tournament Challenge mode that lets fans replay scenarios from past PGA Tour seasons.