Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08

Madden, FIFA, NHL, NBA Live and Tiger Woods – AKA the “Big Five.” Each year these titles compete with each other and competitor sports games for your time, money and support. They’ve helped keep gamers away from movies, TV and Web surfing and have kept them in front of their favorite consoles where they belong.

Madden has already begun its successful run at retail. Next month NHL 08 is expected to do the same, followed by NBA Live and FIFA shortly afterwards. This week, however, gamers can get their hands on the newest next-gen version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour.

Tiger Woods 08 is thriving with new additions, including GamerNet, Shot Confidence, and the ability to adjust your draw and fade using the L1 and R1 buttons. GamerNet is code for “challenge my best moments.” Players can save videos of their favorite moments and upload them for others to challenge all over the world. Certain restrictions, wind conditions and whatnot may be applied, but the primary goal is to meet or beat another player’s performance and vice versa.

Shot Confidence is a great addition that follows you throughout your PGA career. Measuring four areas, the Shot Confidence will increase or decrease your ability to make each shot. The first area measured is hole confidence, which keeps track of the player’s best and worst score, as well as the last three scores on each hole. Shot confidence is the next measure, and it determines whether or not your previous performance has been bad, average, or good. Skill levels, the third measure, are affected by your performance upgrades from other modes and will enhance your shot capabilities. Lastly, each shot is assigned a high or low risk rating based on the other measurements and the difficulty of the shot.

The primary game modes are mostly the same as before but with a few tweaks and/or additions. Tiger Challenge, the excellent mode where you battle against PGA Tour golfers and take on non-match challenges, features a new mode called Bingo Bango Bongo. This mini-game, which is also playable as a standalone game, challenges you to be the first on green (Bingo), closest to the pin (Bango), and achieve the best score (Bongo). Each achievement earns one point, preventing the hole from being halved at the end.

Face On

Homemade players may never be the same now that Tiger Woods 08 has introduced the new Game Face feature. With it, players can use an EyeToy camera (the current EyeToy – no need to wait for the PS3 version) to apply their faces to in-game models. Only a handful of games have successfully implemented this kind of feature, and none of them (past or present) have come anywhere near what has been developed for Tiger Woods.

This feature’s advancement is proven the moment you plug in your EyeToy. Grab the camera and pan it across the room. Everything you see is several times clearer, brighter, and more defined than when using the camera with PlayStation 2. PS3 technology is behind the image display and capture advancement, but it’s the game that takes the next step.

Snap two photos – one for the front and side of your face – and apply markings to your nose, mouth, eyes, ears, and cheeks. This aspect should not be new to most players, as it is the same process used in other games.

Now comes the hard part: a 20-minute wait. The game takes 20 minutes (minimum) to generate your character from two photos, or 10 minutes if you choose to use only a front photo, which will display a less accurate result. My first two attempts were not successful – the game froze both times. After an hour of waiting, I gave up and shut off my PS3. But it worked on my third try and the results were amazing. It wasn’t a perfect replica of myself, but the nuances and overall shape of my face were definitely there.

Note: players who don’t have an EyeToy may upload their digital images to TigerWoods08.com and retrieve them through the PlayStation Network.

In addition to the Game Face feature, players will be stunned by the realism of each pro golfer. Even the fictitious golfers (some of which are used in the challenge mode) look pretty realistic, despite their exaggerated features. The textures, animations, camera positions, and superior course designs push Tiger Woods 08 several years ahead of the last-gen (PS2) offering. But if you compare this next-gen version to last year’s game, don’t expect to be blown away. There are differences as previously noted. But on visuals alone, it wouldn’t be hard to fool someone into believing the PS3 versions of Tiger Woods 08 and 07 are the same game.

First Glance

Obvious graphical differences and feature inclusions excluded, there is one major (and somewhat disappointing) difference between the PS2 and PS3 versions of Tiger Woods 08. Both versions offer a new feature called Putt Preview. On PS2 players can safely attempt to putt in a trial-and-error mode before proceeding with the game. On PS3 this mode only allows you to view your current position, which shows exactly where the ball will land if you take the shot. Unlike the PS2 version, you cannot attempt the shot from Putt Preview, and you can only view the preview once per putt.

Theoretically, this difference serves a great purpose. The last-gen versions of Tiger Woods 08 are intended to be the cartoony, arcade games they’ve become since the next generation arrived, whereas the PS3 and Xbox 360 editions are supposed to be more realistic, requiring the removal of anything that cheapens that realism. After all, it’s not like you get a Putt Preview in real life.

However, as much as I support the agenda to differentiate between the last- and next-gen versions, the PS2 version wins the battle in this area (and this area alone). I’m not a pro golfer, but even if I were, I’d still want my games to have as many advantageous features as possible. That’s one of the things that should separate games from real life – fantasy.

Gameplay: 8.4
If you’ve played Tiger Woods, you generally know what to expect from its annual updates. Tiger Woods 08 is the most unique update since the introduction of the swing stick. Whether you want modern-day next-gen realism or nuances from gaming’s past, Tiger Woods 08 has it covered. Players have a plethora of features to utilize, such as Putt Preview, draw and fade adjustments, and 3-click swinging that allows you to use a charge meter in place of the swing stick.

Graphics: 8.3
Tiger Woods 08 isn’t next-gen perfect, but the new Game Face option is really impressive. PlayStation 3 handles the EyeToy camera – the one released for PS2 – with increased resolution capabilities, which is really amazing. I thought you’d need a new camera, not just new hardware, to pull that off. My photos came out clear, and though I don’t believe my in-game image looked exactly like the real Louis Bedigian, it was closer to reality than any other player creation feature offered in a game.

If homemade players aren’t enough to satisfy your craving for eye candy, the rest of Tiger Woods 08 is also quite impressive. It’s not too far past last year’s edition, so you might not be as blown away this time around. But it still looks great.

Sound: 5.0
Bad commentary returns with repeated lines and lame puns about landing in the bunker. The reference about having a “sandwich” won’t make players laugh, just roll their eyes. Same goes for the music – since when is instrumental dance the official sound of golf?

Difficulty: Medium
Tiger Woods 08 makes putting manageable with the new Putt Preview feature, but that won’t make the AI golfers – who know the courses better than players just starting the game – any more forgiving.

Concept: 7.4
The Game Face, GamerNet, 3-Click Swing, Putt Preview, and other additions help make Tiger Woods 08 a better game than the last. However, as far as innovation is concerned, this update doesn’t have it. The increased realism brought forth by next-gen technology was introduced last year and has not changed much since that time.

Multiplayer: 7.0
GamerNet inclusions aside, Tiger Woods multiplayer hasn’t evolved in the past 12 months.

Overall: 8.2
Excellent next-gen sports gaming, several new features, hours of challenging gameplay – if you don’t have a golf game for PlayStation 3, this is the one to get. And if you have Tiger Woods 07, then at the very least make this your next rental.