With a new emphasis on online tournaments and real-time tracking, the biggest name in golf returns for another season of virtual chipping, putting, and driving in
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. Players can hit the links on 16 different real-world courses, including the newly added Turnberry (site of the 2009 British Open), Bethpage Black (site of the 2009 U.S. Open), Oakmont, Hazeltine, and Torrey Pines. The inclusion of Bethpage Black marks the first time in franchise history that gamers get to tackle the notoriously difficult U.S. Open tournament, and dynamic crowds, scoreboards, and weather effects are designed to provide the game with a realistic sense of dramatic intensity. A new putting system forces players to sharpen their short game by allowing them to carry only a single, fixed-length putter in their bag, but the new "Practice" mode helps virtual golfers refine every aspect of their swing.
Online tournaments come in three different varieties, with two of the modes challenging players to post the best possible score to online leaderboards. The "Daily" tournaments find gamers competing in single-round competitions with a 24-hour window, while the "Weekly" tournaments challenge players to post the best four-round score they can over a seven-day span. The "Play the Pros" option lets gamers golf against professionals who are competing in real-life tournaments, so players can go shot for shot with
Tiger Woods in real-time. The "Daily" and "Weekly" modes offer four separate difficulty levels to prevent experts from ruining a tournament full of novices, and
EA Tiburon has included a number of potential tiebreakers, such as fairway hits and greens in regulation, to help sort out the inevitable stalemates.
~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide
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