Tiger Woods 12 Demo (XB360) Available Now

[Jason]

Add it to your queue

[BDSooner72]

Completely missed this, downloading now.

[Jason]

What do you guys think of the demo so far?

[BDSooner72]

Not a fan of how they implemented the caddy. I will just end up having to turn him off every shot and aim myself.  Also the little putting circle is lame.  That said I enjoy everything else.  Can't wait to play the career mode with True-Aim.

[Jason]

Brent, no comments on the full game? Are you happy with it so far?

[BDSooner72]

First before I get into the guts, one small little addition has me doing a happy dance.  The ability to press "Y" and release to move on to the next shot is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It speeds up the game immensly and I do not have to hold "Y" to fast forward each shot. Of course if EA was not so lazy in the camera dept this would not be an issue (more on that later).  Also nice to have in-game saves for career events.

I am extremely happy with it so far, outside of some of the things that can't be turned off.  The caddy is growing on me and I am intrigued to see how the caddy improves his recommendations as you play a course over and over. That said he is a little too helpful for my tastes.  I use precision putting (I like the meter) but the putting circle is something that should be on only the easy mode, along with the putt preview (or the ability to turn the circle off, which shows up in the Tour Mode difficulty). There is a new difficulty called Tournament mode that removes all of the assists and introduces even more difficulty and demand on the perfect analog motion, where you have no idea how big your aiming circle is, club distances, etc. For me it feels more like torture, painfully setting up each shot this way. I side on the realism but over the years it has helped to remind myself it is only a game. 

I am playing on pro (with most of the assists off) until my character gets built up just a bit more, then I will switch to Tour Pro. I have already made it to the PGA Tour and have decided to stick to playing each tourney 4 rounds, to extend the career mode.  Pretty easy so far but the nice thing about this game is that you can tweak it to be as easy or difficult as you wish, from the standard AI to tweaking your clubs and there is also the Road to the Masters AI scoring difficulty option. With the regular tourneys I will leave it at normal and then bump up the difficulty when playing majors. While it may seem a little backwards, forcing better scores in major events (where the scores are usually worse due to the course conditions) I gladly sacrifice realism for the difficulty in winning a major.

Now back to the cameras I was rumbling about earlier... This is the one area that has annoyed me for years.  Broadcast camera is completely useless.  The spin camera is fine for those who use the spins and boosts, etc.  This leaves one useful camera for me and that is True Aim.  The problem is that it is a bit too true and a lot of the time you have no idea where your shot ends up.  If you are hitting out of a deep bunker you might as well hit "y" because you wont be seeing where the ball goes.  How about the option to zoom in on a shot once it reaches the midway point or toss in a snap to landing angle.  I really do miss TW on the PC where you had every camera option under the sun.



Edited: forgot I was still playing on pro.

[BDSooner72]

Don't you have the full game?  What are your thoughts and when are we going to tee it up a play 18?

[Jason]

I do have it, but I'm not a big golf gamer and don't see a big difference between TW 12 and TW 10. I like the caddy, but it does seem to make things a little too easy now because you know longer need to line up your shot.

[BDSooner72]

I have made a change in playing TW 12 and I am deleting my golfer, starting over and playing tournament mode. I will just have to take my lumps as it brings a challenge but after forcing myself to play through the early pain.  After playing a few rounds at this level in "play now" I just cant go back to using the meters and this is the only way to get rid of that putting meter.  To avoid hearing putting suggestions I am muting the caddy and I am hoping with the patch they remove the caddy suggestions in the middle of the screen (they can't be used in tourney mode) but they still show up which is a giveaway as to the distance.  I just got sick of all the visual aids and it just feels better to hit shots based on feel and touch with the stick. 

[Jason]

I played 9 holes tonight and I'm starting to really like the game. Having the caddie is helpful to a newbie like me, but I do find my myself adjusting the suggestion made by my caddie and I've learn about full-grip and half-grip shots. I'm looking forward to playing this online soon.

[webdanzer]

I have this game now, and have been enjoying it so far.  Currently playing on tour pro, but unlike Brent I need all the putting help I can get....

[BDSooner72]

Put a priority on bumping up the putting stats (each of them). This will make a world of difference) Yes, you need some power but avoid using any XP on boost, since you play on Tour Pro and boost is not available anyway.

Playing on a level that forces you to see the putting circle, I would highly recommend ignoring it.  First of all unless you have a bunch of the courses mastered you are going to see a lot of yellow aiming circles.  This means he is not sure is the putt is correct.  Red means he has no clue and green means he is very sure but it is not automatic. 

I aim my putts by moving left and right only.  From there I figure the elevation, green speed and and either hit the ball above or below the yellow line per say (assuming you have precision putting on or in my case it is just on feel).  The quicker you bring the putter back the better as it lowers the chance of push or pulling a putt by half a swing. I think the reason I like removing the Precision Putter is that you play on feel instead of looking at a bar to swing at.  I think that sometimes takes some of the concentration off the swing as you are watching it go .  Once you get used to the feel you can tell when it is hit sold and when a push/pull is coming. Distance is a bit of a challenge still and tourney speed greens are a nightmare without all the visual aids but that is golf for you.

I would at the very least try removing the precision putting meter for a few rounds (you can do this in the options) and try purely based on feel, down the road when you get your stats up. 

If you want to play online sometime, let me know and we can hit the links.

[BDSooner72]

Tiger Woods 12 - 1    Pastapadre - 0


Oops, guess Padre forgot to ask someone at EA about this.

http://www.pastapadre.com/2011/04/11/the-masters-not-having-big-impact-on-reviews-and-sales-of-tiger-12

Largely perceived to be monumental addition to the Tiger Woods franchise, The Masters acted as the primary selling point for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12. Early reports are that sales are up but only marginally, with The Masters likely accounting for why, but still well below where they were prior to Tiger’s indiscretions.



http://news.ea.com/portal/site/ea/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1012492&newsId=20110412007159&newsLang=en

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® Experiences Largest First Week Sales in Franchise History

Growth Seen Across All Platforms Including Console, Digital and Mobile

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced today that Tiger Woods PGA TOUR generated its largest first week at retail in the franchise’s 14-year history (March 29 â€" April 5), primarily driven by Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 12: The Masters. Based on internal estimates, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 12: The Masters sold through approximately 225,000 units and outperformed previous week-one record sales (Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 08 in 2007) by 17 percent in North America. Furthermore, year over year, week one console digital revenue for the franchise is estimated to have increased over 200 percent.

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The last part you have to credit them for having the DLC ready from the get-go.  I love the game and it needs the sales to continue to grow.

[webdanzer]

I know I bought it because of Augusta.  It's the first time I can recall in my video gaming history that I bought something mostly because of that "one, specially hyped and/or licensed item."  (Never bought a racer for a car, a fighting game for a character, a music game for a particular song, etc, etc)

I did buy a golf game for a course, though.

[BDSooner72]

I think it was a terrific idea and perfect timing. If the Masters can't bring in sales then golf games are royally screwed.  Still have not heard anything about an upcoming Hot Shots Golf on the PS3.

One thing that playing at Augusta that pisses me off.  Defaulting to your sponsors generic clothing anytime you play at Augusta.  I was wearing a nice shirt/pants combo and it still forced me to change clothes. They really do have sticks up their bum about how special Augusta is.  I have never played with the boosts and spins but to their credit I have heard they are turned off, at any level when you play there.  That has to piss off the young uns who play just to break 60 each round.

Also Jim Nantz scares me.  He has a line of commentary about kids trick or treating and I forget the whole bit but it was disturbing.