Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 review

Another year sees another incarnation of what’s widely regarded as the definitive golf game featuring Tiger Woods. After his recent behaviour I really wasn’t sure whether this would see the light of day but here it is and I promise not to make any jokes about all the holes Tiger’s aiming for in this review.

So, what’s new? Well, the main game mode is The Ryder Cup - how apt. This simulates the competition which happens every other year against Europe and the US and lets you play in teams against each other You can even play the thing online if you have enough friends to fill the roster.

When it comes to gameplay, thank god they’ve finally got rid of the awful training section between games you had to play to keep your stats up. They’ve now reverted to letting you spend earned points how you like on your attributes in an RPG-style which I’ve always preferred.

When it comes to being king of the swingers (there I go again) things have been mixed up a bit here too. Now you have a focus meter around your ball icon which depletes every time you add power to a shot or spin to your ball. A big chunk is also used when you preview putts and the only way to recharge it is not to use it. It really does change how you play and means you employ some strategy instead of just going through the usual motions.

The new True Aim system also makes things more realistic by turning off all the helpful information that will show you where your ball will land. You have to work it out for yourself and you have no choice but to watch the ball zoom off into the distance from where you stand. Realistic but I’m not sure if this works for me - thankfully you can choose whether you play in this hardcore mode or not.

When it comes to how the game looks, it looks as gorgeous as ever but once again the commentary feels a bit stale and really needs shaking up next time. I’m available if you’re listening EA. It’s also not good news that you have to enter a code found in the game manual to access a lot of the online game modes. Fine when you’ve bought it new but not so good if you pick the game up second-hand - you actually have to buy a new code to gain access!

PGA Tour 11 is much improved over the last couple of games, mainly for me because the training sections have been removed. These were pointless and only made the game more tedious as you felt compelled to play through them nonetheless to keep your stats up. It gets an excellent 8 out of 10.

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