Manage updates with the Download App
Unfortunately, all of these unique mechanics fall by the wayside once you get to the short game. The game doesn't give you any means to determine the contours of the green, and you'll have to rely entirely on your caddy tips for figuring out where you should aim your shot. Once it's lined up, you just hit the putt icon, and the rest happens automatically. While the game on the fairway is good fun, the putting just feels really halfhearted.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour looks about as good as it plays--which is to say that it's generally pretty proficient, but there are portions that are a little awkward and feel somewhat unfinished. While the bottom screen is all meters and overhead maps, the top screen shows the action in full 3D, and it does a pretty good job. The course textures aren't amazing, but it looks good enough that the real-life courses in the game are still recognizable. For example, the first time the game does a flyover of the first hole at Pebble Beach, you'll know exactly where you are. The polygonal player models are just a little bit on the chunky side, but their swing animations are smooth and natural enough to keep this from being too much of a distraction. Oddly, though, all of the incidental animation--reacting to a shot or walking away from a hole--looks really choppy and stuttery.
The touch-screen controls are good off the tee, but the short game is disappointing.
The sound in Tiger Woods PGA Tour is pretty spare by comparison. There are a few environmental sounds, such as the waves breaking and gulls cawing at Pebble Beach, but they all sound really mechanical and tinny. The same can be said for the swing and crowd noises, which don't have enough variety and just end up sounding canned. There's a little bit of music at the menu screens, but it's all just bad MIDI tunes, and on the whole, you can kill the sound in Tiger Woods PGA Tour and not miss out on much.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour isn't going to convert anyone who has avoided golf games up till now, but the game does take good advantage of the capabilities of the DS. It has its rough edges, but still manages to come out as a pretty solid game of golf.
