With EA still not realizing how far Tiger Woods has fallen, Tiger Woods 12 hit the shelves this spring. After last year's controversial cover featuring both Tiger and Rory McIlroy (the much heralded 'heir' to the golf throne), EA Sports tried to do something a little less insulting, and instead made Augusta National the focus of this year's game (which means we're still waiting for the Tiger Woods Back Down the Driveway Mode), absolving Tiger of some of the responsibility for the game's poor sales in recent years. While Tiger Woods 12 is largely unchanged from last year's iteration (which was a bit of an overhaul for the series), except it places a lot of emphasis on one course and event (The Masters).

gameplay

The only major change in TW12's game play is the addition of the Caddy feature, which means you have a help when starting off at each hole. It is very helpful for newbies (and those trying to speed through a course), because 90% of the time, your caddy will suggest a number of shots for you to choose from. It speeds the game up at a considerable rate, especially in multi-player games.

The in-game changes otherwise in TW12 are relatively minor, most of the new material dedicated to pre-shot activity. The stick-based swinging system is still in place, and the option to practice your swing integrates a small (albeit welcome) realistic, touch. It is still quite difficult to hit your shot directly on the percentage you wish, which makes it much more difficult to attempt hole-in-ones and chip-ins. Turn on the True Aim option and turn the difficulty up, and you're going to feel like Tiger circa-2011, struggling to figure out how to approach a hole without landing in sand traps. It's hyper-realistic in its difficulty, and makes finishing challenges and winning events feel much more fulfilling then winning by 12 strokes on the default setting.



As always, playing with a created golfer is the way to go. EA has brought back the digital camera face-recognition, so there's no reason to admire your own mug as you walk around the 15 (more can be purchased online). There is a plethora of PGA golfers available, although there seems to be the glaring omission of the goofy EA-created golfers from years past. Tiger Woods' ratings are again way too high, completely ignoring the awful play we've seen from him the last year and a half.

graphics

The graphics in Tiger Woods 12 are a bit of a mixed bag; anything having to do with the Masters looks detailed and beautiful, and its simply obvious the same attention to detail wasn't put into the other courses. Not to say the other courses look terrible, but there is a certain vanilla quality to the courses (most of the included ones are real PGA courses) and their landscapes. WhereAugusta National is colorful, detailed, and beautiful, the rest of the courses are simply green and brown landscapes, with some nice bodies of water surrounding them. Seems nit-picky, but when you spend 95% of Tour Mode playing the other 14 courses, you wish they spent the same amount of time detailing those courses as well.



The golfers - long removed from the last-gen lanky goofiness – have a number of different outfits with all the appropriate sponsors attached. There isn't much flair to most of the outfits, many regarded to single-colored polos and khaki pants. The character models haven't changed much, nor have the animations, so what you saw in TW11 is pretty much what you see here. Plus, how do you have a golf game in 2011 with only three female golfers?

sound

Tiger Woods 12 continues the long-standing trend of weak music in golf games. Menus and in-game scoreboards feature the same bland network PGA piano music in the background, and noticably absent in this year's model is the standard EA soundtrack in the game, opting more for the clubhouse feel with quiet, non-invasive background music. With only two or three tracks, however, the music is quickly forgettable.

The games commentary is equally as weak. I can confidentially say I haven't heard anything new from the EA commentators in years, and this year's crowd reactions, comments, and commentator discussion is among the blandest and cliched of any sports game. The crowd yells and gasps when the ball gets close, and the voice overs add absolutely nothing in the way of narrative (or even coherent reaction most of the time). The one noticeable addition is the voice of the caddy, who actually makes helpful suggestions about how to approach your current shot, but when you're playing the game on mute (as you will feel compelled to an hour into the game), you won't miss anything important.

replay value

Tiger Woods,as always, features a number of different modes and styles of play to choose from. There is the obligatory stroke and skin play options, but also expand into more obscure styles of play, including a personal favorite, Bingo Bango Bongo. These modes are all made to be enjoyed via multi player, with up to 4 people competing at the same time. There isn't anything groundbreaking in these new modes, so if you've played any of the other Tiger Woods titles, there isn't anything that will excite you here. The incentive of course mastery (bronze,silver, and gold) does encourage extended play to meet certain guidelines, and each level improves your caddy significantly, allowing him to select shots with better accuracy.



The meat of the games re playability comes from the Road to the Masters mode, which is essentially Career Mode with a fancy title. The Masters are at the center of this, of course, and within the standard events of the season, is the special Tiger at the Masters challenges, which aren't really that interesting. You take your character, and try to beat some of Tiger's scores from well-known Masters moments, and this (like everything else) helps to improve the attributes and available equipment of your player.

Problem is, once you've played a full season of Road to the Masters, you'll feel oddly unsatisfied. This is partly due to the complete absence of any sort of narrative for your career, but also because you simply move onto the next season, where you can win more events and collect more Masters jackets (which for some reason, have a special menu for you to look at them with, but not wera). There isn't much incentive to mastering the game, save for a set of prototype clubs you can open once you've opened all the equipment of the game. The Road to the Masters mode has a couple extra frills this year thanks to things like pre-event sponsor events and challenges from other golfers, but it's the same Tiger Woods season mode you played last year, Fed Ex Cup leader board in all.

bottom line

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 is what you'd expect from an EA Sports title: a infinitesimal upgrade from last year, focusing more on shallow gimmicks, rather than addressing the weakest parts of the game. Considering the improvement from TW10 to TW11, it's not a surprise this game is a simple update. Newbies will love the Caddy feature (although you can't fire him a bunch of times, another touch unrealistic to the life of its titular athlete), and the addition of Augusta National is long-needed, but Tiger Woods 12 is the same game as last year, save for a couple extra bells and whistles (not to mention, the game only ships with about 50% of the courses prepared by the developers). If you update your sports games every year, you'll probably buy Tiger Woods 12 whether the changes are big or small. As the only golf game left on the market, realistic or otherwise, Tiger Woods 12 is solid, if not ultimately predictable, sports game.

Review by: Randy Dankievitch
Posted: 09/14/2011

Gameplay:	7.5
Graphics:	8.5
Sound:	5.0
Replay Value:	7.0
Bottom Line:	7.5