Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

[RaychelSnr]

The premier golfing gaming franchise had another good year this year from all accounts. Our very own Jack Hoeffel checks in today on why he thinks Tiger Woods 09 was two steps forward, one step back.

Quote:

"The Tiger Woods series has been well-received for many years, but recent versions have become the only simulation golf title on any console. Each game in the series has managed to improve in one or more areas, and the most recent game in the series, released in late August on almost every platform imaginable, has continued this trend. The game has made many improvements over the last year, both in gameplay and presentation. However, as with all games, for every improvement, there is some other area that can be improved. For Tiger Woods 09, those areas include the graphics and animations, though the biggest detriment to the game is the new commentators. It was the main reason I did not buy this game after playing the demo. After playing three holes in the demo, I could not imagine myself having as much fun with this game as I had with past games, because the level of interaction between the commentators was clearly not the same as it had been in the past. Sometimes, change can be a bad thing."

[asu666]

I'll stick with HSG: OoB for my golf fix. The little touches and gameplay are far more fun than TW's imo.

[josef]

I Totally 100% agree on this one. TW 08 was my first tiger and I was addicted. I never complain about sports games as I don't need a super-real-to-life experience.. just a good dose of fun; however, playing the demo to TW09 made me want to join an insane asylum. The commentary was wonderful in 08 (ok, repetitive, but still great). These dull, bored, and lifeless commentators in 09 simply Ruined the experience for me.. and saved me $60 this year.

[PaulZweber]

Basing a games commentary on a demo is not the best way to judge a game. The commentary ridiculed me plenty last night after I had a few drinks, and it was awesome. One quote kind of irks me...

"When someone mutes the commentators, that person is admitting that the game is not as good as it could have been. If that’s the case, why should he or she purchase the game in the first place, unless the positives greatly outweigh this certain negative aspect of the game?"

The same thing can be said about changing sliders, downloading patches, and playing music while playing. That statement makes it sound like no game is worthy of purchase, especially sports games.

[StormJH1]

While I fully encourage people to play demos before buying games, I'd be VERY careful judging ancillary features of a sports title, such as commentary, based solely on a demo play-thru. Many demos purposefully omit commentary b/c it isn't ready, or to keep the file size low.

[budsticky]

I guess this is a case of "to each their own." I would say commentary is pretty close to the bottom of the list as far as reasons why I would or would not buy a game go. Unless the sound is crucial to a game's atmosphere I usually end up listening to music while I play anyway. I would consider golf to be a game where the sound isn't crucial. Most sports games I play I have the sound up for a while, but once I've heard everything the commentators have to say -which usually doesn't take too many games- I crank up the tunes and the commentary gets muted. So for me, this is not an issue.

[PaulZweber]

I agree with stickybud. I play a lot of games with music playing, the commentary gets old anyways. I am impressed with NBA 2k9 commentary this year, I am hearing new things every game I play.

[coffeeholic]

IMO every sports game's commentary gets old. Take Madden for example, Collinsworth's comments every 10 minutes about throwing a football in the dark is enough to make you want to hurl the disc into filebox #13.
As for TW, I just turn off the commentary, don't really need it in a golf game when I'm setting up a shot anyway. I don't think the commentary is a gamekiller in TW 09.
Best commentary thus far for the year? FIFA 09.