Release Date: 14/07/2015
Played On: PS4
Available On: PS4 / XBO
Time Played: 14h 30m (still going)
Progress: Level 65 on MyCareer + Local Multiplayer
Developer: EA Tiburon
Publisher: EA Sports
It always surprises me to hear gamers complain about sports games, as if they have no place in the gaming world. Whenever Madden of FIFA comes up at E3, the commentators groan and joke that it's time for a toilet break or some other derisive remark. It surprises me because not only are sports games some of the highest selling games in the world every year, but they still games and playing games is pretty much the MO of a gamer.
I'll admit, I'm not into any sports IRL, because they are boring and rely on a competitive nature that always seems foreign to me. As a kid I played every sport available to me to see if I enjoyed any, but I hated every moment of it. The last thing I wanted to do on the weekend was get dressed in some silly uniform to go and compete with a bunch of kids who either didn't want to be there, or wanted to be there a bit too much.
So it's not for lack of trying when I say that I'm not into sport. My parents were very encouraging and supportive by pushing me to try everything in my area, which I am always thankful for. On a Saturday morning though, I loved firing up a game and playing for a few hours while the world woke up. Gaming was my sport, and it's stuck with me ever since.
Of course there are many similarities between sports and gaming, as they're both forms of games in the first place. Although, where games can diverge into epic stories and single player experiences, sports are often confined to competitive multiplayer. As someone who isn't super into competitive multiplayer either, sports games have an uphill battle with me.
The thing is though, as a lover of all things video games, sports games are no exception. I love fighting games, even though I'm terrible at them and would never play them online. The same can be said for sports games, which I enjoy playing solo, or against a friend, but I'll never take the game online to be squashed in a hyper competitive arena.
Playing with friends is where sports games have always shone for me, as many of my friends play nothing other than FIFA or NBA2K. It's always been a way to enjoy playing games with my friends, but with a game they enjoy and can relate to. I also think that it doesn't matter what game you're playing, but if you play with friends, you'll have a good time.
I remember when one particular golf-loving friend got their hands on one of the Tiger Woods games. They often brought their Xbox around to someone's house where we'd play four-player rounds, passing a single controller between us. It was a good time, and soon led to a few of us buying our own copy of Tiger Woods for PS3, so we could play online together.
For a while it seemed like every time a few certain friends and I hung out, we'd fire up Tiger Woods and have a quick round of golf. Eventually we even had our own custom golfers leveled up enough that we could play with our silly costumes and top-tier stats. For a couple of years, the Tiger Woods games were a prominent feature in my social landscape, as it seemed to be a game that everyone could pick up and play, but enough of us were good enough to keep it interesting.
Then one day, we simply stopped playing it so much. There wasn't a reason, just life I suppose, but the regular Tiger Woods tournaments became a thing of the past and we all moved onto other ways to hang out and enjoy our lives.
Fast forward to a short while ago when I was hanging out with a friend who suggested firing up the old Tiger Woods game again. We played a round or two and quickly got back in the rhythm of shooting birdie or better on every hole. I went home with a renewed interest in having a nice round of golf from time to time, so went in search of what options were available on PS4.
The only golf game I could find was Rory McIlroy's PGA Tour, which was on special for about twelve dollars. For that price, I made the purchase and a short download later, I was getting into the swing once again.
Although, there have been some major changes to the formula since the days of Tiger Woods, both for the better, and for the worse.
There wasn't really anything wrong with the Tiger Woods games we played back in the day, other than the typical hardware limitations of the time. With a whole new generation to play with, Rory McIlroy's game looks much better and more detailed, but some odd decision have been made about the gameplay systems and features.
Most notably, the entire swinging mechanics have been reworked with pros and cons. There's now a shot-arc indicator that's basically a blue line extending out from your ball. It shows an exact representation of where the ball will go if hit with the current settings. On one hand it's almost a cheat sheet for dealing with wind and elevation, as it accounts for any effects on the ball after you hit it. On the other hand, you can turn it off, and it makes custom shots a bit easier to understand.
There's still the ability to select your shot type, such as Full, Punch, Pitch, Flop, etc; but there's also the ability to create a custom shot on any club. In the past you were able to draw and fade shots to curve them left and right, and you could open and close the club face to hit the ball on a higher arc or a flatter one. None of these adjustments would change the shot type, so if you hit a Punch, it would always fly low and travel further after the first bounce. Now you can shape your shot to ignore any preset shot type and hit the ball any way you want with any club in your bag.
This makes it possible to do things like hit the ball with an iron, but arc it high so that it drops like a flop shot. It might sound a bit foreign if you're not familiar with golf terms, but ultimately the custom shot system means there are fewer limitations and you can hit the ball any way that you want. Thus, the precision available on any shot is much higher and it removes a lot of the guess work out.
The same can't be said for putting, which has also had a bit of an overhaul. In previous games, you could line up your shot with direction and power, then click a button to get a putt preview. This was a one-time hint that draw a line from your ball along the path that it would travel if you hit it with the current settings. It was a good way to learn more about difficult reads and see if you were way off the mark before hitting the ball and losing a stroke.
In Rory McIlroy's PGA Tour, putting doesn't have this preview shot anymore, and you're left with a rather ambiguous read line on the green. The typical grid is still there, showing you which way the green moves both along and away from your position. However, now there's an extra line that shoots from your ball, to the hole. If the green breaks one way or the other, the line will curve to compensate, so it seems to be trying to tell you where to hit the ball for success. However, this is rarely the case, as I have tried to go with the read and against the read, with nonsensical results.
Sometimes my ball will move with the line on the read, but other times it will go the opposite direction. There's no indicator of power, so it's up to you to guess how hard to hit the ball, which will often leave you out in the cold. In fact, this new putting system leaves me wanting to attack the pin on every approach, to avoid any long putts that will make life too difficult. Whenever I'm more than five feet away from the hole, I know I'm in for a two-putt, as the read system does nothing more than confuse me utterly.
Thus, I leave the shot arc indicator on, in order to compensate for the difficult putting system that leaves a lot to be desired. Although, it's a challenge to learn and become familiar with, which I am slowly getting used to, so perhaps time will remedy those barriers.
Aside from changing the actual mechanics of these systems, the game is much the same as previous versions. There's a similar roster of real-world golf courses to play on, as well as the addition of a few fantasy courses, like a Battlefield course and a challenging Grand Canyon course. Additionally, there's a night golf mode that challenges you with hitting targets and using power-ups to get through an arcade like system of holes. It can be a welcomed change when the rest of the game is so stale.
For some reason, Rory McIlroy's game features none of the fictional characters and outfits that the previous games had. Instead, the entire roster of players are real-world pros, while all the cosmetic upgrades like clothing and clubs, are all branded and real.
One of the coolest things about the Tiger Woods games, was making a custom character who would swing at the ball one-handed, and wear a ridiculous outfit on the course. A friend and I used to compete to see who could unlock and equip the stupidest outfit on our avatars, but all of that is missing from Rory McIlroy's PGA Tour.
Instead, all the clothing unlocks are different coloured polo shirts and boring slacks. There are no wacky swing animations to unlock, and not an audacious crown in sight. The entire game feels much more sterile and corporate as a result, which really stifles the mood. Only in the night games are there a few wacky characters to choose from, but even then they only amount to a couple of elderly people. I mean, woohoo… let's really go wild and play golf at night with an old man! What a riot the minds behind this game are.
Despite the lack of fun cosmetics and unlocks, Rory McIlroy's PGA Tour has definitely scratched the itch that Tiger Woods started so long ago. Perhaps it's nostalgia that makes the changes seem less than desirable, but part of me feels like a lot of the changes were made simply for the sake of making a change. It's hard enough to sell a brand new carbon copy of the same game year after year without any changes, so they had to put in a little bit of work I suppose.
The real caveat is that I'm glad I only payed about twelve dollars for Rory McIlroy's PGA Tour, as I think I would have been annoyed and disappointed if I'd paid full price. It's not quite as good as the previous Tiger Woods games, but it has enough about it to be worthwhile as a current generation equivalent.
Just don't go looking for Raczilla, as he's no longer available.