14 DAY TRIAL // When you are Electronic Arts and you're doing a sports game, you want the best of the best to headline your product, so it's no real surprise that EA have snapped up Tiger Woods as the front man for their golfing game. The real surprise is that the Tiger Woods of 2009 will be more than just a prettier game with new clubs. It will be an organic progression for the series.
The main addition will be the ability to customize much more of the game experience than before. First off, all the characters that you create will match the skill level that you have displayed in the game so far, so there should be no great disparity in the skills of the various golfers in the game. As you play more and more, depending on your style and on several parameters that are simulated under the hood of the game, the skills of the characters will change. You might get better at long range shots but that might cost you skills in approach shots or the other way around.
The golf clubs you carry into competitions will also be customizable. Each aspect of the club can be tweaked by a well versed player and golfer so that maximum shot performance is always in range. It will be interesting to see if the player can save and then share his tweaked clubs with friends over the Internet.
A new addition is that of coach Hank Haney, who will act as an adviser, giving you feedback on each swing and offering tips that help you grow as a player on the green.
The multiplayer aspect has also been improved, reportedly. Up to three other players can join in on your game and the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game allow the player to challenge anyone online to competitions like who has the longest drive or who can get closest to the pin. Each multiplayer game is fully recordable to watch later and improve on mistakes.
We think the best way to experience the game will be by playing it on a Nintendo Wii, where the innovative control scheme lends itself nicely to simulating the swing of a pro golfer. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2009 will be released in August for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii.