Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14
Reviewed By Tristan Tancredi
Another year, another installment to the Tiger Woods series. This year it's Tiger 14, a game which educates (as well as entertains) golfing fans on the rich history of the great sport. But, as is the case with most annual sporting games, this question lingers; Does Tiger Woods 14 offer enough of a change from last years release to warrant another purchase? Let's find out..
A host of new features are teed up from the folks at EA Tiburon to deliver a fresk outlook on the Woods franchise. A number of new courses are added to the 2014 edition resulting in a total of 20 courses, A Tiger Woods franchise record! Never before have so many courses been available in a single game. In total, 5 new courses debut for this years edition including; Muirfield Village and the Oak Hill Country Club. In addition a number of new playable characters are included on the players roster, including; 2011 PGA Champion Keegan Bradley and Bud Cauley.
All the old heads are also still available as playable characters. Bubba Watson, Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy just to name a few of the more "well known" golfers. But if you are anything like us here at WW, Tiger Woods is the main man and priority pick number 1. His massive drive alone is reason enough.
Perhaps the one feature that seperates this years release from last years is "The Legends of the Majors" mode. This mode, available for the first time in the Tiger Woods series, allows gamers to relive some of the greatest golfing moments throughout the sports long, illustrious history.
A timeline, indicating golfing highlights throughout the ages, lists key moments that have shaped the sport of Golf. Beginning at the year 1873, gamers are taken on an educational, inspiring and challenge riddled journey. Playing through the following eras; The Dawn of Tournament Golf (1873 - 1934), The Golden Age (1935 -1957), The Big Three (1958 - 1976), European Invasion (1977 - 1989), The Modern Age of Golf (1990 - 2006) and Legends in the Making (2006 - 2013), gamers complete challenges to replicate the enormous feats achieved by past (and present) legends of the sport.
Along the way a host of legends are encountered. These include; Seve Ballesteros, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Sam Snead and Lee Trevino. Pretty big names!
Transported back to golfings hey-day (From the 1800's to mid 1900s), gamers will compete a set of challenges on a black and white screen. Combining this with the golfers traditional attire, dated commentary and traditional course design creates an authentic experience. The Legends of the Majors is a remarkable addition to the series.
All four majors are also available for the first time in the series franchise. Gamers have the opportunity to compete in historical events from the Masters Tournament, the US Open, the Open Championship and the PGA Championship.
How about online I hear you ask? A new feature called 'Connected Tournaments' allows up to 24 gamers from around the globe to compete simaltaneously against one another. As you play you can see the arcs of fellow competitors stream live. An exceptional idea, but one that is still a little rough around the edges.Nonetheless you can play tournaments at any time of the day. You can even play at night.
Night Golf is another new feature of Tiger 14. Utilising illuminated balls, Night Golf enables gamers to compete at courses around the world at the actual time of day of said course. It's a pretty glorious sight watching the sun set as you are teeing off into the distance.
Country Clubs are back once again, this time membership per club has increased from 25 to 100 members. We have only dabbled in the Country Club side of Tiger Woods 14, but it didn't take us long to notice how serious some of these so called "members" treat their clubs. With the new addition of the Club Member Chat Feature, Country Club is recommended for the hardcore online golfers only.
Aswell as the standard PGA Career mode, for the first time in the history of the franchise, Tiger Wooods 14 enables gamers to play a complete LPGA career mode. Ladies rejoice! Create your own female character and make a run for the titles at a range of female-only tournaments. Compete against LPGA pros such as; Natalie Gulbis, Stacy Lewis, Paula Creamer, Suzann Pettersen and Lexi Thompson for ultimate glory. (If you didn't recoginise any of those names, you aren't alone. Regardless, it is a great addition to the Tiger Woods series).
That, in a nutshell, is what this game has to offer. There is plenty to like about the added features and the journey through golfing history. Let's now take a look at how the game actually looks and plays.
Very little has changed in terms of gameplay. If you have played any Tiger Woods game over the past few years, 14 is much the same. The one difference is perhaps that each golfer has a unique swing style that matches their real life strengths. However, the way you play a shot utilising the right analogue stick is the same as it has been for a quite a while now.
As you would expect, the course layout and design is accurate and highly detailed. The playable characters look and feel authentic and life-like. Simply put, the graphics are flawless.
We only had a couple of complaints with Tiger Woods 14, the most obvious of which was loading times. Between holes, at the menu, or even loading at the start of the game, we experienced drawn out loading times. Sometimes in excess of 1 minute.
Another issue we encountered was with camera angles. Sometimes the camera angles were a little dubious. For example, after hitting a long putt, the camera will switch to an angle way off in the distance where we had trouble seeing not only the hole, but the ball aswell.
All in all, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 is a worthy addition to the franchise. It brings something notably different to the table from last years release and offers golfing buffs a chance to revisit the rich history of golf.
Game: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14
System: PS3
Developer/Co-Developer: EA Tiburon
Publisher: Electronic Arts Inc.
