Anyone have the PS3/360 version's yet?

[manny2k8]

It's not available at EB until tomorrow so I was wondering how many got it "early"?

[OnlookerDelay]

I got my 360 version this afternoon. I've had about 3 hours to spend with the game so far. Here are some thoughts I have on it:

I'm a little slow out of the gate because I built my player from photoface, and went into the Tournament Challenges trying to build my player. I started out in Tour Pro mode before hitting the first ball. I also tuned the stock clubes to maximum power and minimum sweetspot before playing. I've done enough now to offer a report, so here goes.

I turned the putting meter off before I played the first hole, along with the big hit cameras, pressure moments, and the pre and post shot animations (which are both covered under one option). Meterless putting is a good bit tougher than I thought it was going to be! I think I'll get the hang of it with time, but I had to turn the meter back on while I'm trying to built my player's attributes, otherwise I won't be able to get through enough of them to at least get to 7 on the attributes.

I'm finding the metered putting to be easy, for the most part, but when it goes bad... it can really go bad. I put several 3 foot par putts 15 feet by the hole in my tournament challenge against Se Ri Pak. These two putts cost me the match, as a matter of fact. It was my fault and not a flaw in the game. I don't particularly like watching a meter while I'm putting. It takes me out of game for the time it takes to make the stroke.

I played a 9 hole stroke play round off the white tees at Sawgrass, using live weather. It is overcast there today
and the course really looked dank, compared to the way we're used to seeing it. It didn't look bad, mind you, it just looked less gussied up... I liked the change after I got used to it. I shot a 34, but had a 4-putt green in the process. I went hyper on the putt strength to account for the double bogey, which was from 18 feet, BTW.

One thing I particularly want to congratulate the design team on from playing this round; I had set the greens to hard. I played a lob wedge from 75 yards and hit an 85% full shot. The ball hit the green well below the hole... instead of stopping on a dime, or even backing up, it took a hard bounce and rolled about 25 feet before stopping 5 feet from the hole. What a delight it was to see a shot like that in Tiger Woods console golf!

I'm at the turn in today's Tour Pro Mode Daily. I'm playing as Ian Poulter, because my player is nowhere near being ready to play black tees in Tour Pro mode (still under 5 across the board). I shot a 34 (-1) and have had to play my derrier off to get that! What kind of sick joke did you guys at EA Sports have in mind with today's daily!? The first day that this game has a chance to get into the public's hands, and you sadists set the Daily at Pinehurst, with very fast greens, very fast fairways, and long rough :!: :?: :shock: It is a humbling experience to say the least. Seriously though guys... it's a good show and I relish the challenge 8)

Finally, I'm very pleased with the camerwork in TW 10! It's so nice to watch the shot from my golfer's perspective for the 3 to 5 seconds the virtual producer holds that camera view. It makes the experience so much more intimate. The more useful camera cuts, particularly on putts, is also much appreciated. There's so much more to discover, so I'm off to finish my Daily at Pinehurst. I'm in the lead right now, but there are only two players on the leaderboard. I can't see the sort of play I've had holding up though. The leader is at +2. If I can beat that, I'll be tickled.

EDIT: I just went back to finish my Daily round, and found that I had been disconnected from the server in my 20 minute absence! Oh well, you live and learn!

[Thrash13]

This game is sounding pretty darn good so far. There is no way I'll be able to start on Tour Pro mode after not having a 360 version since Tiger 07. I'll get there eventually, but it won't be during the first week.

Thanks so much for the impressions. It definitely sounds like they can make things challenging for players online. That's going to make for some realistic and fun scoring.

[Authority]

Can you skip the computer's turn? That's seriously all I care about at this point

[OnlookerDelay]

Quote: Originally Posted by Authority

Can you skip the computer's turn? That's seriously all I care about at this point

No, not entirely. The fact that you can turn off the pre and post shot animations of both yourself and the computer player saves a lot of time though... over half of it, in fact. I also fast forward once they've hit their shots, much of the time.

I finished the Daily, but had to start over after my disconnection from EA server. Apparently, it doesn't like for you to sit there idle for too long. I was away tending to business for about 20 minutes when I got disconnected. I wound up shooting a 36-40-76, and was in second place in a field of 4 in Tour Pro mode. The leader was +2, while 3rd place was a stroke in back of me at +7. I looked at the Amateur (known as Balanced last three years) Daily leaderboard for kicks, and saw the leader was -22 there... deja vu!

The real time leaderboards are an absolute blast though... it's going to make the Daily feel so much more "alive"!

[pietasterp]

Thanks for the early impressions, Onlooker. The fact that you are enjoying the game is a positive sign for me, since in the past we seem to have been on the same wavelength re: golf games. I've still got my issues with the game in general, but maybe I'll be willing to give it a shot after I hear more about it. Big minus for me, though, is I don't have a Gold Xbox Live membership (nor do I plan to get one, given the amount of time I would ever spend playing online) which probably takes away a vast bit of the fun from the game...

[OnlookerDelay]

Quote: Originally Posted by pietasterp

Thanks for the early impressions, Onlooker. The fact that you are enjoying the game is a positive sign for me, since in the past we seem to have been on the same wavelength re: golf games. I've still got my issues with the game in general, but maybe I'll be willing to give it a shot after I hear more about it.

It's a better game than the last 4 years, but let me caution everyone who is a serious golfer, it still has the same shortcomings on full shots as it's always had. 1.) They're still not tempo or rhythm dependent, 2.) Trajectories are too flat on everything from the 7 iron on down, and 3.) it's still too easy to hit the ball straight... at least with the 51% sweetspot clubs I'm having to use now with my created player.

Some of the added difficulty this year comes from the touchy nature of the precision putting interface. Seriously, it can make you look like a spazolopolis at times. I almost "Daly'd" a hole because of it (when I 6-putted). I just played a 9 hole practice round at Firestone, with the putting meter turned off. I'm starting to get some confidence without it, and actually feel more confident within 5 feet of the hole without it. It's still a crap-shoot though, at least more often than I'd like. I'll get better without the meter though.

Oh, one thing I would especially like to point out to everyone... the winner of Monday's Amateur Daily (I think his handle is lolo820?), shot a 48 at Pinehurst (VF/VF/L). The same guy won the Tour Pro Daily at Pinehurst (VF/VF/L) with a 72! That speaks volumes to me! Mostly that Classic Ptting can still be used as an alternative to Precision Putting in Amateur, whereas everyone is locked into Precision Putting in Tour Pro.

Quote:

Big minus for me, though, is I don't have a Gold Xbox Live membership (nor do I plan to get one, given the amount of time I would ever spend playing online) which probably takes away a vast bit of the fun from the game...

Do you have to have XBL Gold to play this game online? I thought Silver was adequate? I've got a Silver account also for my European alias, but I've never tried to use it for Tiger Woods.... I'll give it a shot tomorrow and see. This game is really rich online, with no more than I got to see of it today. I'll be playing probably 60% online, 40% offline. I'm anxious to try the PGA Tournament season, which I think will also be light year's better than the spreadsheet dress-rehersals that have gone before. I'm just not ready with my created player to be competitive. I've got to get his power up to 8, or more to make it work.

[CVC0004]

Onlooker, can you play as a real pro on PGA Tournament Season or do you still have to play as your created player?