Customer Reviews

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Tiger Woods still leads the pack in golfing SIMS for PlayStation and XBox. Still a great game, lots of fun, decent graphics, and more importantly - still a challenge. I gave '04 and '05 both 5-star reviews... '06 is close at 4.5 stars... as is this '07 at 4.5 stars. Each year, there's not a game I look more forward to coming out than Tiger Woods' golf game. Here's the breakdown as I see it on Tiger Woods PGA 2007.

GOLF COURSES: 21 total courses (7 new courses). New courses include Aviara (California), The Falls (Las Vegas), The K Club (Ireland), Kiawah Island (Hawaii), The National (Australia), The Riviera CC (California) and The Safari (fictional). Several of the classic courses are back on '07 - including Pebble Beach, TPC at Sawgrass, Harbor Town, Pumpkin Ridge, St Andrews, etc... as well as the Central Park course and The Predator. There are 15 PGA players to unlock. The commentator team of McCord and Feherty are back (though many of their phrases are the same from '05 and '06).

GAME FACE, EQUIPMENT, GAME MODES: I see no noticeable improvement in the graphics department moving from '06 to the '07 game. Perhaps the PS2 has peaked in the graphics area - and the real improvements are reserved for PS3. Gone are the old timers (Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, etc) that the '06 featured. All the things you could do in '05 and '06 with the face and body are here, however you're only given one head to alter (and a lot of the altering is with the analog sticks instead of scrolling up and down, so it's not as precise). Gone is the "Game Breaker Meter" and "Voice" of the player (both from '06). Clothing, club selection and the misc golf gear is extensive and all the top major golfing brands are here (Callaway, Ping, Taylor-Made, etc). Game modes include the standards: PGA Tour/Season, Traditional (8 games including Match/Skins/etc), Battle Golf, Real Time Event Calendar, Skills 18, and new in '07 - Team Tour, One Ball, Team One Ball, Elimination Mode, and several new games under the 'traditional' category including Bloodsome, Greensome, Stableford, Best Ball and Four Ball. For me, the new game of "One Ball" is/was the best addition - a strategic game where multiple gamers playing a single ball, and each shot must land within a circle whose radius is half the distance to the pin and where holing out scores the most points. As in '06, there is a "Save Progress" button allowing you to stop play at any given time.

PUTTING: New in '07 - you get to choose - do you want to put like the '06 game is set up, or like the '05 game (too bad - no caddy tips)? As in '06, you'll need to read the greens and judge the distance to the cup before each putt. You'll need to look at all the info on the screen when putting - grid with sloping beads, camera angles, distance from the cup, and strength of shot. When putting, press the "X" button to show the ideal line/path to the hole. You'll have to judge how far left or right to move the blue arrow. Like the swing control of all your other clubs, you'll need to determine the power of your putts by how far you pull back on your putter. I actually prefer the newer way of putting (from '06) and I've gotten used to it...in my opinion, there's more info on the screen for you to make better putts using this method.

SWING CONTROLS: Same as 2006 - your left analog stick still controls the back swing and downswing, as well as your hook and slice; while the right analog stick determines where the club hits the ball. If you don't use the right analog stick (which will be a majority of your shots), you'll hit in the middle of the ball. I feel the right analog stick is more for those strategic shots when you're close to a tree and you need extra loft to get over it, or you're under a tree and you need to punch a line drive to get out from underneath. It's virtually impossible to hit a strategic shot like this with both thumbs on the analog controls AND power up on the L1 button for a stronger shot. You can still choose how you want to hit the ball (full swing, punch, pitch, flop, chip and putt). One nice thing I've noticed - in previous years the game would decide if and when you could use your putter. In '06 as well as '07, you make the choice where to use your putter... even from several feet off the green.

SKILL TOKENS: Same as 2006 - gone are the days of earning cash from tournaments and buying literally whatever attributes you want. When you hit a good shot, you will earn skill token(s) for that type of shot. There are 6 categories in which to earn tokens for and improve your golfers performance: General, Power, Accuracy, Putting, Spin, and Concentration. Wagering $$$ - while playing against another player, you can increase your paycheck each time you play, you can wager on every round or even every hole.

THE GOOD: Navigating through the screen menus is much easier in '07. The cumbersome and often times frustrating "Clubhouse" from '06 is gone. There are fewer clothing items to choose from (do we really need 150 different shirts?). "Speed Play" quickens the time and you can skip all the post celebrations if you want (with a click of the R1 button). The new games (Team Tour, One Ball, etc) offered are great and I find the game play here is amazingly deep. The new courses are cool - although I must admit I was hoping "The National" course was the one on eastern Long Island (NY), not the one from Australia. '07 includes tutorials - a description and example of each shot and type of game (i.e. flop, punch, pitch, spin control, "Bloodsome", Skills 18, etc)... great for novices of the sport. The EA Sports Trax (music) has changed for the better... it's all fairly low key instrumentals by obscure bands/people (Fort Knox Five, Way Out West, Hexstatic, etc)... gone is the annoying rap and hip-hop from previous years.

THE BAD: The announcers' dialogue was often wrong - "Finishes at even par today" when I'm on the 6th hole? "That's just a bad shot" when I leave a shot 4 feet from the pin from 150 yards out? I found the announcers chatter extremely repetitive and frequently turn them off. No big changes in the graphics from '06. All the characters still have a stiff neck. On the '07 game, when you change clothes or clubs, you need to change and adjust the attributes that go with it (this was new on the '06 game) - you need to do this in order to get the best performance from your player. I (still) found this to be a huge waste of time. Many of the trophy balls you earn are a meager $50 or $100... and they simply don't buy much (a hat maybe?). Between screens prepare to wait 20+ seconds every time while the system "checks for memory card" and then "saves data". Once or twice during an 18-hole match, my ball would be on the fringe of the green - and it gave me a weird angle from across the green (and I could not change it) - making for a very difficult shot. Perhaps the game is getting too easy when my young player at a rating of 70 can beat Vijay Singh (rating of 83) by eight strokes. I really miss the old time golfers (Palmer, Nicklaus, etc) from '06. The booklet that comes with the game is thin at only 10-pages and in black & white only... it only touches on the features... I learned more about the new features while actually IN the game and trying stuff out.

OVERALL: There are several changes from '06. Some good, some bad... but, mostly for the better. The few new features and the new golf courses make this a must have for those that like the Tiger Woods PGA series... still the best golf game on the market (4.5 stars).

It should be no surprise to the owners of EA games that there is nothing revolutionary about this year's release of Tiger Woods golf. That being said, the 2007 installment of this game has taken what's good about the past couple of seasons and put it together right. I have owned every Tiger Woods game for the ps2. 2004 stands as the game that improved the most upon the series' previous endeavors. 2005 made some minor tweaks that ended up working quite well as the result was an addictive, smooth flowing game. I thought 2006 was a minor step back as the graphics were somewhat cloudy and there wasn't much new as far as courses and options went. This year the graphics are better, there are 21 courses, and some fun new modes (ie one ball and team one ball). There is unfortunately not anything that resembles the Ryder or President's Cup format(s). The AI in the pro tournaments has improved from 2004 and 2005 making the computer scores much more competitive. All in all, for what the ps2 can do, you couldn't ask for a better golf game. Hot Shots and some others might be "fun," but no other game combines fun and realism as well as this game does. Definately worth your while if you are at all a fan of golf or this series.

I've been playing this game since 1998. I bought 2006 the day it was released, and then sold it on Ebay because it was no fun and slow. I've been playing my 2005 version ever since. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend forty bucks on another disappointing game. 2007 is worth buying. It's basically 2005 with different courses. The playing conditions are more realistic, as in you get more roll in the fairways, and I think the putting is an improvement. I'm choosing to use the standard swing option which is just like 2005. What I don't understand is why the graphics are still not very good. There is some improvement on the newer courses, but it's still pretty much the same look. I would rather have a few less choices for pants and shirts, and a little better looking game where I'm spending less time waiting for the damn thing to load.

I have played this and at first was disappointed. Then I found you could change how you putt so it is like 03 - 05 that was a make it or break it for me. EA Sports TW06 was absolutely worthless and felt they should pay me to play it. The game play and graphics are not to different from previous years. Putting is a little buggy but works pretty well. I would agree rent before you buy. I will be buying this game because it all and all is pretty sweet. I wish they would bring back tigers dream 18 that was a cool course but preditor is back. Creating characters is a lot more indepth unlike 06.

To keep it simple do not make the same mistake i did...if you have the 2005 version of this game for PS2, keep it and save your money. in the 2007 version, there are several problems:

1. no caddy tip for putting.
2. graphics are not as good. not as crisp or clean as 2005.
3. instruction manual does not explain what the different icons are on the screen.


Trust me, i threw the 2007 game to the side and kept playing the 2005 version b/c it is much better!

What a let down this game was. after having played 2004 and 2005, I was really looking forward to this one, even after reading the other reviews. But in my humble opinion, the only redeeming feature of this game is you have more control over what your character looks like which has nothing to do with the game of golf. You no longer have any control over the view, you can't look behind you or from above or any other view and the program itself is very buggy, you don't even have a driving range you can go to. there is no longer the option of using a power and swing meter, and the list goes on. After buying 100's of items from Amazon, this is my first review, just to give you an idea about how imphatic I am about this game being so bad, there are however over 3000 items that you may purchase for your golfer to wear. I have a hard time understanding how EA keeps making this game worse and worse. I could keep going on for many pages about how bad this game is, so I am just going to stop now.

I had given TW2006 a pass... well, more accurately, I didn't even have my own PS2 until my roommate moved out and took his with him. By that time, I had already been playing--and loving--TW2005 for the better part of a year. By the time I was ready to move on to the next level, TW2007 was out and I upgraded.

And promptly downgraded again.

There are a lot of good ideas in TW2007; unfortunately, the gameplay and game physics are what kills this game.

I do not expect to play this game like I do TW2005; I have worked my way up in the earlier game, and I know I have to start all over again. I do not expect to be hitting 350-yard drives. I do not expect to be able to stick a ball on the back of the green and draw it halfway back to the front. I don't expect to be able to spin it out of the sand or rough. I expect to play poorly again as I work my way through the new game.

However, when a putting meter tells me to aim four inches left and level with the hole, I aim five inches left and miss, and it goes fifteen feet past the hole, that is not a simple misread but a serious flaw in game physics.

I've been playing real golf for twenty-some years, and even when I was a beginner, I never had yips like that. If they are trying to simulate a learning curve, they are doing it in a way that discourages trying again. I can understand sliding one, two, three feet by, maybe even four--I've done that enough times on any number of golf courses under all kinds of weather conditions.

When it rolls twenty feet past and there is no indication of the green being anywhere near that steeply graded, this is nothing I as player could have predicted and prepared for. And it sucks all the fun out of what should have been a fantastic game, and it makes it unplayable. I set my copy aside months ago. I doubt much I will pick it up again. And it does not make me optimistic about TW2008.

TW2007 gets 2/5 for having a lot of really good ideas that, were the game playable, would make this a terrific sim. I love the new courses... unfortunately, we're still saddled with the abysmal Emerald Dragon, Paradise Cove and Greek Isles--at least Greek Isles has the decency to have a couple windmills. Add a clown face into whose mouth you have to put the ball, and it wouldn't be inappropriate. For what a tricky but playable target course should look like, I might suggest Pine Valley--either as a course to include if the rights can be had, or as a course to emulate so Emerald Dragon, Paradise Cove and Greek Isles can be retired back to the minigolf course that doubtless inspired them.

And for a good round of golf, get a copy of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 and give this version a total miss, unless you happen to like being lied to by your caddy.

The gameplay elements in Tiger Woods 07 are solid, and even go back to some of the roots that made 04 such a great game. No more Gamebreakers from last year for that auto hole-in-one, no Tiger Vision to automatically knock down 80 foot putts with 20 feet of break. So the challenge is there.

But it's the game modes that have gotten old. The new Team Tiger mode is too short and less rewarding as so much of your success is dependant on the building of your teammates. PGA Tour is solid as always, although still too easy (winning tournaments with -60 scores and such).

Graphically, the game is top notch as always. And the course selection is beautiful. But at the same time, it has not improved noticably since 04. Nice to see Highlands back in the game, though.

Get this game if you are a die hard Tiger fan, but if you are new to the series, probably better to stick with 04 or even 05.

This is the SECOND disk we have purchased and NEITHER one has worked on the PC. Apparantly this game was NOT designed for the computer. We do have one for the Playstation 2 which does work pretty well except for the multiple programming ERRORS within the game itself. This game needs more work to be a finished product.........

I bought Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 back when it first came out. For the purpose of this review lets pretend Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2008 - 2010 do not exist. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 is a huge letdown after playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006. Many of the features that made Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006 so enjoyable were taken out. The new features added for 2007 were absolute garbage. Chasing Tiger back in time in Tiger Woods PGA tour 2006 is much more enjoyable. I would stay away from this version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour, even if Amazon has it on sale for one dollar don't buy it - unless you need a coaster-.