It is really sad to see all the EA Sports titles for the Xbox 360 come up short this season. And Tiger 06 is no exception. For basketball fans there is another game to consider, but not so for football and golf.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 on the Xbox 360 looks amazing. The game is truly breathtaking, especially in HD. The player models have never looked better. Tiger truly looks like Tiger. The modeling and textures for cloth are stunning for sure, but it is the vast courses that really are impressive. The only glitches are slight pop in of shadows, and some stuttering during the introductory flybys. This is barely noticeable, but the pop in is surprising when you think about what the hardware is capable of.
There is one major flaw in Tiger 06 on the 360 however. You can only play on six courses - down from 15 on current generation hardware - with only a limited selection of game play modes.
There are seven game modes including three for four players. You can at least play all of these modes over Xbox Live. Rivals mode, however, got left on the fringe.
The only reason I would recommend Tiger 06 for the 360 is if you do not own it on any other platform, and need your Tiger fix right now. The only reason I am enjoying this game is because it is the same great Tiger game play, just on a new console. EA would have to destroy even more of this game to make Tiger dull.
You could say that Tiger 06 is more challenging, and thus, makes up for the shortcomings. However, the only reason Tiger 06 is more challenging is because of the Xbox 360 controller’s button configuration. Once I learned how to use the Power button, the game got too easy too fast. The Black button on the Xbox controller seemed perfect, if not a little too easy, for Power. Now on the Left Bumper, getting Power is a challenge. It takes a while to get used to this change, and I am still not comfortable with it. Over time it will become second nature I am sure.
Article comments
1 - Aaman
EA is terrible with control design
I think Links is the best console golf game
The reduced courses makes one think they rushed the game out to meet the release date.
Well, EA roolz:(
2 - Matt Paprocki
Links was fantastic on the Xbox 1. I believe 2K has the rights to the series. It's a shame they haven't done anything with it. Tiger needs competiton.
3 - Ken Edwards
I know Microsoft Game Studios developed Links 2004, and I did not play it at all. I knew someone in college that worked on the PC version of that game for years. It is still a Microsoft IP, so I am not sure about 2K.
Most people (myself included) probably did not see Links 2004 on the radar because EA pushes Tiger so hard. Even though it is a well know franchise on the PC, I don't think it got the respect on the console. But I have played many versions of Links on the PC, great game indeed!
Oh and I had to add my beef about the instruction manual :)
4 - Ken Edwards
EA, rush a game? No way! Six courses seems too slim, considering what we have been used to for years.
On the other hand, the 360 version does have four new ones: Riviera Country Club, Pinehurst No. 2, Carnoustie, and Turnberry, Ailsa Course.
But do you think it would have taken too long to add St. Andrews or any of the other real courses to the 360 Tiger?
I think not. I think it is just EA cutting corners again because it knows it can.
As you say, it needs competition. But it has an exclusive license.
5 - Ken Edwards
This is utterly ridiculous. All the Achievement Points are online based! I have well over 100 birdies offline, but not achievement for that has been unlocked.
I just found out that all the games Achievement Points are earned online only. That is just plain dumb.
6 - Aaman
In Links 2004, you could match your offline play against online players, I think,
But, do you mean you get no kudos for offline play at all? That's dumb and rare to the point of singularity!
We must not let stupidity infect the Singularity!
7 - Ken Edwards
No No Aaman. Achievement Points are something every 360 title has. It is how you get your Gamerscore up. This just makes the Achievements in Tiger harder *shocked*
In your offline game, you still have trophy balls, and trophies for winning majors - all the standard kudos from Tiger games. But those do not get you any Achievement Points. Which is lame. Not everyone is playing Tiger online.
8 - Ken Edwards
Also you take your offline player online. So the better you do offline, the better your player will be online. This also is a problem as all the stupid Equipment Modifiers can artificially jack up your ability past what a player can actually achieve.
The other thing bad about online play is that players can play as Tiger Woods. Even if the player is bad, they can kill the ball and so end up winning because they are using Tiger and not their own created player.