Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Tiburon
Genre: Golf
Release date: Available now

I feel as though one of the most grueling jobs in the world is that of a franchise sports game developer. Essentially as soon you finishing up the latest and greatest title in the series, you’re instantly back at work with the knowledge that you need to think up something entirely new for the nth installment due out like clockwork 365 days in your future. And so it is that every year we get entirely “new” sports games which attempt to justify why we should pay full price to play the improvement over last year’s entry. With that, let’s talk golfing games and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.

In the latest outing of Tiger’s series of golf games, the Ryder Cup is front and center. For the uninitiated, the Ryder Cup is a prestigious competition which pits American golfers against European golfers in a series of matched sessions in teams of 12. Winning matches scores points for your overall team; get fourteen points and you’ve claimed the cup for your side.

PGA Tour 11 offers a surprisingly large amount of additions over its predecessor. Players now have the ability to use “Focus” in order to help them add precision to their game. Golfers will have a limited amount of Focus power which they can use to increase the accuracy of their shots, enhance the power of their swings, give their ball air rotation and even foresee putts before they happen. Also new to the game are experience points, which can be gained through winning matches and accomplishing tricky shots. This XP can then be traded in to enhance the character’s performance on the course.

The amount of new options and features added to Tiger Woods 11 make it worthwhile and definitely add a heightened sense of realism to the game. I especially enjoyed the Focus aspects, as they provide a good balance to an otherwise very challenging game. Other little additions I particularly enjoyed were the realistic weather environments and variables, new camera angles and vantage points, and overall the improvements to graphics and sound. Also, the multiplayer is very solid and will probably be the source of most of the title’s replay value.

The biggest downside to PGA Tour 11 depends on your familiarity with previous golfing games. For me, I found there was a bit of a steep learning curve in trying to learn how to play the game well. The tutorials are a bit confusing at first, but if you can be patient with them, and allow for some possible built-in frustration when you aren’t slamming the ball like Tiger off the first tee, there are really only minor flaws with the game as a whole.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 is probably your best bet for a golf game on the market right now. It’s got the realism, the excitement and the replay value to make a pretty solid title to add to your collection if you’re a golf nut. Try it out and see what you think!

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