What it would look like if Tiger was a doll
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006 on the X360 isn't really a port of the game on the original consoles, but an entire reworking. The developers had about eight months to try and get a next generation game up to scratch and unfortunately a lot of sacrifices have had to be made to get the game onto the Xbox 360 in time for the launch. The rivals mode has been omitted from this game and instead we're left with a pretty shallow career mode. The career mode may be light but it is essential to play it unless you want to be stuck on pebble beach for the entire game.
In comparison to the fourteen courses found on the current generation versions, the game only contains six licensed courses (Riviera Country Club, Pebble Beach, Pinehurst No. 2, TPC at Sawgrass, Turnberry’s Alisa Course and Carnoustie). Whilst the courses do look rather impressive and are quite a challenge, six courses just isn't enough and it doesn't make sense to have less than half of the courses and charge double the price.
The Xbox 360 version also supports online play for up to four players. It’s possible to play the normal game types like skins, match and three hole mini games. The game also contains a detailed list of stats so it’s possible to track the top golfers. Some of the achievements are unlocked online as well. In terms of achievements EA have added 16 of them to unlock and they an actually be quite challenging. We’re pleased that EA didn’t just add in a few achievements for passing through the career. In fact, the highest achievement you can earn is to compete in 1000 online games, we’re wondering just how many people have managed that achievement.
Game play wise if you’re familiar with previous Tiger efforts then you’re likely to pick up the basics of this game quite easily considering the controls are the same. Basically the game still uses the analogue stick for swing and it works well. Even if you’re not familiar with the analogue swing it doesn’t take long to pick up what to do. Using analogue swing is very intuitive though and makes the game feel a lot more realistic. The left analog stick controls your backswing whilst the right analog stick is used to guide the spin or the draw of the ball.
There are players other than Tiger.
One of the advantages of the game being built from the ground up for the Xbox 360 is the fact that it looks quite decent at times. The courses have had a lot of detail added and there are plenty of spectators to cheer you on. However, at times there were some graphical glitches and rather than look "photo realistic" the players actually look more like dolls, which is a little depressing. In contrast though this game does look better than EA's other "next generation" efforts. It really does come down to whether you're after content or looks though because if you're after content then the current generation version is a lot more impressive. Disappointingly we did encounter a few frame rate issues at times, which was certainly quite surprising.
The dialogue has been re-recorded as well, so thankfully if you played the Xbox version to death then you will at least have something new to hear. The commentators sound reasonably average though and they don’t say much. They repeat their lines a bit too often as well which can be a bit annoying. The music is basic but at least it suits the tone of the game well. If you have a surround sound set up then you’re likely to appreciate the audio because it sounds very realistic.
The game does include a few unlockables to keep things going. The six courses really don’t add much variation which means that this game doesn’t give too much value. The online play (or offline multiplayer) is where the value with the game lies. If you’re extremely dedicated you may try and unlock all the achievements, but it won’t be long until the next version is out now…
Here he goes again...
It hardly seems fair that such a average game can be released at such an outlandish price. When EA published this game they would have known that there were significant downgrades and rather than do anything about it they still made the titles retail for a premium price. Tiger Wood's PGA Tour 2006 is the only golf game available at the launch of the Xbox 360 and even though it does offer a small visual upgrade the rest of the game has had to be sacrificed as a result. This game is only recommended to extremely enthusiastic fans of the series because in a few months we’re likely to see what a real next generation golf title is like.
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