Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 Hands-On

Earlier today, at Electronic Arts' annual summertime press event, we managed to get hands-on time with the latest playable PS2, Xbox, and PC builds of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005. The GameCube version wasn't present, but it is expected to be similar to the others. At first glance, the game really doesn't look much different from last year's offering. However, underneath those comfortably familiar visuals, we were pleased to discover a game that promises to deliver a much more significant challenge, even once you've maxed out your created golfer's attributes.

David De Martini gives us a quick overview on some of the new features in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005. How is EA Sports making the game challenging even for those of you who destroyed every course in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004? The same way they do it in real life, of course: "Tiger proofing." Tiger proofing is basically a system that allows you to edit holes to make them more difficult, whether it be by moving the pin, narrowing the fairway, or adding undulations to the terrain. The game doesn't offer you (or bog you down with--depending on who you are) the ability to go in to make individual adjustments to every single aspect of a hole or course. Rather, it presents you with a series of sliding bars that are used to influence things like the position of the pin, the size of the green, the width of the fairway, and the undulation of the terrain. As you slide the bars, you're able to see exactly what's happening to your chosen hole on the screen. Alternatively, you can just randomize the Tiger proofing across a whole course.

The option to Tiger-proof courses, like many other advanced features in the game, won't be available to you when you start playing for the first time. You'll need to earn "Legend points" by winning tournaments and suchlike, and these points can then be spent on purchasing courses to customize. Even farther down the line, once you've customized a number of different courses and have started to assemble your own "Dream 18," you'll see that your course has its own prestige ranking based on its features, and--if it's good enough--you might have legendary golfers such as Jack Nicklaus challenging you to a game. As your course's prestige increases, you might find it being used for tournament play. Of course, your ultimate goal is to see it on the PGA Tour.

As far as the actual gameplay itself is concerned, things are much the same as last year, although new Tour difficulty settings will make the game more difficult by removing the caddy tips when putting, which allows you to alter the positioning of your feet in relation to the ball--and suchlike. On the flip side, making the game easier (for three holes per round, at least) will be the new "Tiger Vision" feature. Activating this feature before you attempt a putt will place a small red circle in the exact spot where you need to aim. However, the catch is that it only stays there for 15 seconds. The Tiger Vision function works pretty well, and while we really only saw it being used on relatively short holes, we can imagine that it'll come in pretty handy on lengthy putts. Furthermore, it should add an additional degree of strategy to multiplayer games.

All three versions of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 that we had a chance to try will support online play, although only the console versions will allow you to play with custom courses. Other features exclusive to the console games will include options to design your own swing for your golfers and the ability to add logos and images to your custom courses' fairways and flags. Also, while the PlayStation 2 and Xbox games will feature all-new fantasy courses, alongside the licensed ones, the PC version will actually include last year's console fantasy courses.

Given the quality of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004, it's hardly surprising that Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 is looking so promising. What is perhaps surprising, though, is just how many ways EA Sports has devised to improve upon last year's game. We look forward to bringing you more on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 in the near future.