Tiger 06 is too easy because it has a few arcade-y elements. I fail to see the usefulness of the Gamebreaker. This works wonderfully in NBA Street, although that is because that is purely an arcade-style game. It makes no sense to me at all to put a Gamebreaker in Tiger. Compounding this problem is the fact that when you use a Gamebreaker you don’t get good results most of the time. If you can get better results without it, why is it in the game?
I also do not see the value of attaching Equipment Modifiers to your clothing, clubs, etc. This is not Hot Shots Golf, this is Tiger Woods PGA Tour. Give experience points to the player, but do away with the Equipment Modifiers. As a matter of fact, Equipment Modifiers do not exist (finally) in the current generation of Tiger 06 games. Yet they are back from the dead on the 360 for no apparent reason. Please EA, Equipment Modifiers make no sense at all in Tiger.
Then there is the handy Ideal Putt Camera. Please, enough with the arcade game play! At least the camera is elevated a bit higher then the current generation Tiger 06. This makes it less easy to align your shot to an element in the background.
You can turn off the Gamebreaker and Ideal Putt Camera, and forgo with the Equipment Modifiers but doing so would only hinder your chances, as others will not turn these options off. Tiger 06 has the same identity crisis on the 360 as it does on the current generation consoles.
It seems to me that EA desperately wants to make an arcade golf game. They need to separate the arcade out of the simulation from Tiger 06 to bring the series back into focus before starting to develop Tiger 07.
Lastly, the left and right sides of the game get cut off on a Standard Definition TV. This is more of a problem with some of the Xbox 360 titles, and manifests itself here in Tiger 06. The experience points icons get cut off, as do other screen overlay graphics. EA could have done a better job fitting the game to the “safe zone” of 4:3 aspect ration TV sets. Not everyone has a HDTV, y’know.
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.