Tiger Tuesdays: Gameplay Additions (GCN)
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005 gets even better!
By Micah Loucks | Sept. 9, 2004


GameSpy: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005 has come even closer to real PGA TOUR golf this year with the addition of feet stance and ball positioning in order to manipulate ball flight and trajectory. Please expand on this new feature and how it will affect my swing decision.

Micah Loucks: Changing the ball position in your stance has actually proven to be one of the most used new features in the game this year. First of all, you can now hit a low shot to keep the ball out of the wind, and you can also hit a high shot when you want to minimize the amount of roll or wish to clear some trees. The high shot is extremely helpful when you are trying to stick a long iron or fairway wood approach on the green. One other notable advantage is the idea that you now have a little more help with those pesky " tweener" shots. Since the low shot travels a little farther than a normal shot, and the high shot travels a little less than a normal shot, you can now dial in your approaches with a little more accuracy. With the incorporation of " Tiger Proofing," this comes in real handy as the risk vs. reward ratios have been stepped up this year.

GameSpy: I' ve heard that I can create my own swing this year? Is this true? How did Team Tiger come up with this creative addition?

Micah Loucks: Most definitely it' s true. The idea came about when we started to look at ways to further enhance our industry leading character creation feature. We were already making improvements to Game Face, but we wanted something more than just changing a characters physical appearance. Anyone who has either played golf or has watched it on TV can attest that no two people have the same swing. In fact, golf swings can be as unique as one' s own appearance; they can be graceful and beautiful to look at, or they can be quite ugly and something you wouldn' t wish on your worst enemy. It was this line of thinking that lead us down the road of creating a " Create a Swing" feature.

GameSpy: Expand on " TigerVision." What is it and does it possess the ability to spot beautiful blondes 300 yards away?

Micah Loucks: TigerVision may indeed hone your skills at spotting beautiful women from afar, but you will still need " game" to close the deal. Besides, we all know chicks dig the long ball.

In its simplest form, TigerVision is a tool that will allow users to see where the caddy tip is telling them to hit it, in actuality it' s so much more than that though. You get a single TigerVision when you first create your character. If you want more, you' ll have to earn it by building up your putting attribute. Ever have one of those situations where you were faced with a must make situation? Well now you can call up TigerVision and see exactly where you need to hit it. Be careful though, it' s not quite as easy as you would think. You still have to line up your putt and the farther away you are the harder it is to do. It' s in multiplayer, however, where TigerVision truly exceeded our expectations. We' ve had many a match amongst people on the team where the strategy of when and where people used or didn' t use their TigerVision dictated the outcome of the match.

GameSpy: I' ve been known to routinely score in the low 50s. What has the design team implemented to slow me down?

Micah Loucks: Don' t worry; we have quite a number of things to slow you down this year. If you want to get a feel for what we' ve done, play the " Legend Tour" against the upper tier players and you' ll notice the fairways have gotten narrower, the green' s smaller, and the bunkers deeper. If that doesn' t faze you, try playing your matches in Tour Difficulty and feel the pain of hitting from the rough. In Tour Difficulty the extra power boost you put on your shot could get you in big trouble unless you hit it on the screws. Oh, and there is no spinning the ball out of the rough in Tour Difficulty either, so hitting fairways and greens is the only way to score low. If this doesn' t manage to produce little beads of perspiration on your forehead, try creating your own Custom Course and speed up the fairways and greens and watch even the slightest miss-hit roll into some places you really don' t want to be.

GameSpy: How do you make the swings look so darn realistic? Has the team altered the swing mechanic in any way this year?

Micah Loucks: The swings do look pretty darn cool don' t they? Well aside from getting really good golfers and really good animators, it' s a trade secret. Very hush-hush.

The swing mechanic by in large has remained the same. We call it the " Total Precision Swing" and it works quite well if we do say so ourselves. We are constantly trying new things and coming up with new ideas on how to improve upon the previous years product, but when something works so well and is the most integral feature of the game, why fix it if it ain' t broke?

New to this year' s product is the " ball in stance" feature which allows you a little more variability in adjusting the trajectory of your shots. We also took a look at chipping and tweaked it so that it looks and feels more like a real chip shot. Once you get the feel for the new chip shot, you' ll be rolling them in like the pros in no time.

GameSpy: What' s your favorite new addition to this year' s installment? Has it helped or hurt your game? And are you ready to take me on in " Match Play?"

Micah Loucks: If I had to pick one feature I' d say it would have to be Tiger Proofing. We have given people so much variability in what they can do to the courses it' s really quite amazing. In Tiger Proofing you can either spend a couple of minutes, or you can spend hours customizing your course, and then turn around and take it online and challenge some poor unsuspecting soul to play on your own track (that' s golf slang for course).

I' m still in the process of putting the finishing touches on my custom course, and when it' s ready you are more than welcome to challenge me in match play. My course plays like a good movie. It starts out with a bang, then a slow build of tension, a few twists and turns all the way until the finishing hole where dreams are made and fortunes are lost. I' ll see you out on the course.