Amazon.com: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07: Playstation 2: Video Games

29 Reviews

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

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3.4 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)

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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly good changes in '07 , January 30, 2007

By	R. Gorham "RCG2" - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

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).

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Load Time is Excessive, October 29, 2006

By	S. DeGarmo (Olympia, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars

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.

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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not groundbreaking--but solid nonetheless, October 17, 2006

By	Michael M. Grummert (Wheatland, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:4.0 out of 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.