Sponsored by
Tiger Woods 11 - Review
Another year and another Tiger Woods game. After a few years of the franchise making only short steps in terms in innovation and change, fans will be thankful that the 2011 edition mixes things up more than ever and pushes the game to feel fresh and new.
In previous games players would almost "go through the motions" by creating their golfer, working on the stats and reaching a point in the game when every swing of the club was perfect. The issue was that the point in the game that this was achieved was relatively early on.
Usually by the third course in the game your stats were improved enough that on easier difficulties you could always finish a round under par and win.
With Tiger 11 the implementation of the stats has changed so much that this is no longer a concern. Tiger 11 has brought an RPG-esque style of stat boosting with it. After a round of golf is played you will be awarded XP for various accomplishments.
Examples of this are 25XP for scoring a birdie, 15XP for a close approach to the cup and 5XP for reaching the fairway in regulation strokes. You'll also be awarded a chunk of XP for your placing in the tournament and any trophy balls unlocked.
Once you've finished your round you can use this XP to boost your stats which are broken down into sections such as Swing, Putting, Accuracy and Control then each of these breaks down again, into subsections.
Want a powerful swing? Then you must upgrade your swing speed and your swing boost. Breaking the upgrading down into more of a micromanagement system is a nice touch that demands more attention from the player. You can't just put everything into putting, you must decide if you want to open your sweet spot more or learn how to read the greens better.
Another big change is the addition of the focus bar. This completely changes the way you play. In older versions of the title players would tap their speed boost every time they swung the club to get further.
Also whenever the ball is in the air players would tap the spin button to change the roll of the ball as it lands. While these actions can still be used, they are no longer infinite. This fantastic addition means that you must balance when you boost your shot, when you spin your ball, or even boost your accuracy.
Interestingly you also use focus when using a putt preview.This ability allows you to see how your ball will travel when putting.
In Tiger 11 you can now use it more than once, so if you're off target you can use it again once you have changed your aim and see if the shot will find the hole.
This is great for players that struggle with putting but you must always keep in mind that you can't use your boost off of the tee if you want to save focus for your putt. It's a great mechanic that will also go a long way to balancing the game and stopping players from stomping all over the competition.
Other tweaks are welcome such as using XP to buy equipment from the pro shop which stops players from over boosting their stats with better clubs as you must think whether you want to spend that precious XP in the shop or on the stats.
Seemingly the weather has also been improved, mainly, the wind. In previous iterations the wind was rather tame a rarely affected the trajectory of your ball that much. In Tiger 11 the wind is ferocious, a gust of 30KPH will push your ball off course by a substantial amount and can cause many problems.
It seems that the developers have gone out of their way to make the game tougher, all these tweaks to the stats mean that your golfer will need at least 10 rounds of golf under their belt before they can trounce anyone and even then your shots may not always find their target, meaning skill comes into play more than having full stats and the best gear.
For those wanting to make the game even tougher, there is true-aim. In basic terms this is a more authentic way to play. Meaning that aiming circles are removed and everything must be done by eye and speed of swing. It's a very tough way to play as any ways of enhancing your experience are limited and you must play just like real life counterparts.
There is also the welcome addition of the Ryder Cup.Finally players can take the side of America or Europe in the prestigious event.
This of course means that 24 player matches can now be seen online and you and your friends can band together to prove just who the best side is.
There are still some negatives to be found Tiger Woods 11. The animation has barely been touched since Tiger 10 and they are repeated far too many times. There is also a vast amount of graphical glitches: clubs clipping through the golfers, mud circling the ball while it's on the tee. It's all rather distracting.
Other distractions include far too many loading screens and the length of them is a frustration.
It's not enough to ruin the experience, however. Fans will be pleased with the improvements and the game, for the majority, is better than ever.
9.5 / 10
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Scarborough
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South west
