Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters was a golfing simulation video game
in the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series developed by EA Tiburon and
published by Electronic Arts. It was released in North America on March
29, 2011 until June 6, 2013 and was released in Europe on April 1, 2011
for the PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, and iOS until June 6, 2013. It was
released on September 6, 2011 for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X until
June 6, 2013, but didn't receive a port from the consoles. The PC
version of the game instead closely resembles that of the free online
version Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online until it was discontinued on June 6,
2013.
When the biggest headlines about your game are trumpeting the offer of a
refund by the publisher, chances are pretty good that you've got some
problems. The subject of these recent news reports is Tiger Woods PGA
Tour 12: The Masters, a PC game that has little in common with the
console games of the same name that were released earlier this year. The
PC version lacks a number of features found in the Xbox 360 and the
PlayStation 3 versions, some of which are advertised as included. The
game also seems like a backdoor way for EA to promote Tiger Woods PGA
Tour Online, in that the games share an engine along with many features
like online multiplayer. So you would be best advised to stick with the
console games or to go straight to Tiger Woods Online and play it in
your Web browser to get a PC golf fix.
Tiger Woods 12 is essentially a differently packaged version of Tiger
Woods Online. All this game does is add the core modes of Masters play
where you strive to take a shot at the coveted green jacket at The
Masters and play through historic moments with or without Tiger at the
legendary Augusta tourney. In some ways, it's more of an expansion pack
for the Net version of Tiger than it is any kind of stand-alone game.
Some vital gameplay options from the console release are not included
here. The Caddy Experience feature where you access assistance from an
onscreen caddy is not available, even though it was advertised as being
part of the PC version of the game. Creating a pro for the Masters
career mode has been knocked back so that you can only select from a
handful of faces that cannot be edited. Multiplayer has been scaled
back; instead of the usual suite of online matches, tournaments, and the
like, you get three free months of online support before you have to
pay a monthly subscription fee for Tiger Woods Online. Otherwise, you're
stuck with a solo-only game after you hit the 90-day mark.
Gameplay is also not what you would expect. Control options have been
dialled back to a simple--if effective and easy-to-use--three-click
meter. There's also the TrueSwing option where you take cuts by sliding
the mouse, but there is no gamepad support. Both options are easy to
handle, especially the three-click meter because the needle moves so
slowly that you can hammer balls dead straight down the fairway with
pretty much every single swing that you take. Much of the game is also
inextricably tied to online play. You have to be online and logged in
earn the cash and experience needed to level up your golfer. Everything
here is geared to getting you online and keeping you online. Of course,
then you're constantly exposed to the lure of buying new accoutrements
like clubs, balls, and other gear through micropayments in the online
store (points needed to buy this stuff are accumulated slowly through
regular gameplay). And, of course, you have to pay a monthly fee for the
simple privilege of being online in the game after three months.
Online performance is far from perfect, too. Connections are dropped at
times; you can be right in the middle of a match and get the message
that the game has lost its connection to the servers. At that point,
you're given the choice of continuing with lost access to all of the
features noted above or bailing out to the menu and logging an error
with EA. Neither option is particularly attractive.
Get used to paying real money for clubs and goodies here, as the cash and points roll in awfully slowly.
Get used to paying real money for clubs and goodies here, as the cash and points roll in awfully slowly.
As with its online-only cousin, this game has stripped-down visuals with
dated player models, along with nearly nonexistent sound. Gallery
crowds have been excised, player faces look like something from five or
six years ago, and there is no commentary in the game at all. Only the
gallery crowd deletion might be seen by some as a positive because the
zombielike clap-in-unison spectators from the console Tiger Woods 12
were creepy. But the total absence of people by greens in pro
tournaments, as well as the lack of Jim Nantz and David Fetherly cutting
up your putts, screams that this is a low-end production. With all that
said, it isn't an ugly game. It supports some higher resolutions,
background muzak is relaxing, and course graphics aren't hard on the
eyes with the bells and whistles cranked to the "super" setting,
although even then, the game's frame rate tends to chug when confronted
with heavily treed areas. But when you pay $40 for a game like this
bearing a well-regarded name, you expect more from the presentation.
In short, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters for the PC has been marketed under dubious pretenses as something that it clearly is not. This is more of a Masters-oriented expansion to Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online than any sort of independent golf game. Although it is not an awful golf sim, it is a very limited one when compared to the console games sold under the same name. It has also been crippled to the extent that it all but forces buyers to subscribe to Tiger Woods Online. It's a nice gesture that EA is offering refunds to dissatisfied customers, but it's hard to believe that anyone gave the OK for the release of this game in the first place.
In short, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters for the PC has been marketed under dubious pretenses as something that it clearly is not. This is more of a Masters-oriented expansion to Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online than any sort of independent golf game. Although it is not an awful golf sim, it is a very limited one when compared to the console games sold under the same name. It has also been crippled to the extent that it all but forces buyers to subscribe to Tiger Woods Online. It's a nice gesture that EA is offering refunds to dissatisfied customers, but it's hard to believe that anyone gave the OK for the release of this game in the first place.
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