Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 E3 2005 Hands-On

A revamp of the controls in the Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise couldn't come at a better time. After all, the game has been rolling along as a series for a while now and a lot of gamers, ourselves included, recognize that, in the game's approach to appeal to as many golf fans as possible, it probably erred on the side of ease. That may be understating things a bit, especially when eagles and miracle chip-ins are about as commonplace in previous versions of the game as empty vodka bottles in John Daly's hotel room after a tournament win.

Of course, there's another great reason to switch things up at this point in Tiger Woods' virtual career--the game is nearly ready to make a launch on the next generation of gaming consoles. We had a chance to go to EA Sports' secret underground lair at its E3 booth to get a behind-closed-doors look at the Tiger Woods for Xbox 360, and we're happy to report that there's more change in store for Tiger fans than a simple graphics overhaul.

Before we get to the graphical icing of the Xbox 360 Tiger dessert, let's first take a look at the cake--namely the gameplay. The biggest news in the game's development path so far is a revamped swing mechanic. Before you panic, let's make this clear: you'll still be swinging your clubs with the left analog stick, and the accuracy and fluidity of your swing will matter more this year than ever. It seems like the control's sensitivity has been upgraded, meaning you'll need to be sure the line you trace with your left analog stick is as straight as possible in order to make maximum impact with the ball.

Now for what's new: Instead of putting spin on the ball in midair, as you were able to do in previous versions of the game, ball spin on the Xbox 360 version of Tiger will be entirely dependent on where you choose to strike the ball. Here's how it works: As you address the ball and prepare for your shot, a ball icon is shown in the lower-right corner of the screen. In the middle of the ball is a small blue cursor, which you can move around using the right analog stick. Where that cursor is aimed at the moment of club impact will determine the amount and direction of spin you place on the ball. Smack the ball on its left corner, and the ball will draw right to left once in the air. Similarly, you can aim to hit the ball near the top or bottom in order to pull off line drives or lob shots, respectively.

There's actually a good degree of complexity to this new-look shot mechanic already. The farther out from the center of the ball you choose to strike, the more spin you can place on the ball. Placing the cursor all the way on the left side of the ball will engage "extreme" spin. Things get even trickier with extreme spin, because if you hold the cursor at the outer edge of the ball, it will actually begin to move back toward the center automatically, meaning that in order to get a shot with maximum spin, you'll need to time your swing to make impact with the ball at the moment you move the cursor to the extreme spin area. Add one more layer of depth to that with the power control, which adds muscle to your shot when you rapidly press the trigger button. This feature will be making its way to the Xbox 360 Tiger as well. All in all, the fluid swing, when coupled with the new spin mechanic and the power boost controls, means that your fingers and thumbs will be more involved than ever when slapping that little white pill around the links.

This new mechanic also affects your putting swing, though you'll only be able to place the cursor on the ball on a vertical axis. Hit the ball high, for example, and you'll add a bit of juice to your putt (perfect for attacking those slow or damp greens). More big news in the putting department: Tiger Vision--the much-criticized guaranteed putt system--is gone for good, after coming under fire from gamers and reviewers alike. We're not clear yet on what might replace it, if anything, but it should be noted that the caddy feature, which advises you on your putt distance, is still in place.

Though the new shot mechanic may be optional at the lower difficulty levels, it appears that at the toughest challenge level, it's either the new way or the highway, especially when playing online matches where skilled players will likely have the new system under their fingers in no time. Speaking of online gaming, Tiger producers told us that four-player online is a go for the Xbox 360. That's right, you'll be able to take on three of your buddies on Saturday mornings and not even have to worry about bringing your sunblock. A "variety of game modes" will be playable online, but no details have yet been released.

Another big aspect the Xbox Tiger team is looking at is an upgraded physics engine, one that will put more import into things like wind and weather effects than ever before. One Tiger producer told us that they're even toying with the idea of having weather directly affect your player, instead of just affecting the movement of the ball. The example he used was playing a match in a rainstorm without dressing your golfer for the weather, and your play will suffer as a result. It's just a concept right now, so it's unclear how or if this will be implemented, but it's a tantalizing glimpse at what the Tiger team is seeing as possible on the Xbox 360.

From a visual standpoint, Tiger is looking as fine as Mrs. Woods herself, Elin Nordegren. The amount of graphical detail in the one playable hole we saw was astonishing: individual blades of grass (and grass of varying height, by the way), shiny specular reflections on the water surface, some incredible particle sand effects when blasting out of a bunker, little touches such as ducks in the water and birds overhead, and, of course, Tiger himself, who's looking better than ever.

When asked what the power of the Xbox 360 makes possible in this Tiger that couldn't be done before, one of EA Sports' answer was: more bones, as in, more bones to be found in the facial features of Tiger and the other PGA golfers in the game. It may not sound like much, but when you see the emotional range possible in Tiger's face, you begin to see how much flexibility these virtual bones give the Tiger animation team. Tiger will scowl at bad shots (and complain aloud with actual voice-overs) and his trademark fist-pump will be in full effect if he sinks a tourney winner from 60 feet.

This kind of emotion seems to be a central tenant of the next Tiger, as the producers told us one of the themes will be the tension and pressure golfers feel in big tournament events. Though they weren't ready to go into specifics about how this kind of drama will play out on greens, they have been toying with concepts such as a picture-in-picture view of exactly where Tiger is on the course at any moment, always letting you know how the best player in the game is doing. After all, as Ric Flair said, to be the man, you gotta beat the man and, on the PGA Tour, Tiger's the man.

So in the midst of all these exciting developments comes some sobering news: Tiger Woods will only feature nine PGA golfers (Vijay Singh and John Daly among them) and a mere six courses (including the TPC at Sawgrass and Pebble Beach). If there was ever a case to be made for the microtransaction capabilities of the next-gen Xbox Live 2, it would be for downloading new courses to the new Tiger. No word yet on whether this will be possible, but the producers said they are "investigating" such a feature.

So we've seen more about Tiger's gameplay than a lot of other EA Sports Xbox 360 games. Unfortunately we don't know much yet about the game's unlockables and other features, such as a possible return of the brilliant GameFace option or the loads of unlockable content found in previous games. It's safe to assume that, based on its popularity, there will be plenty to unlock in Tiger Woods. The game is currently on target for an Xbox 360 launch time frame release, so expect much more detail on it in the near future.