Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12 Demo Impressions Thread

[cdj]

The Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters demo is now available for X-Box 360 and will be available later today for Play-Station 3 users. After downloading and playing the demo, come back here and share your thoughts with the community!

Take the journey to golf’s annual springtime tradition at Augusta National Golf Club in the upcoming demo of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters, starting March 8 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Feel the pressure of closing in on becoming a Masters champion and wearing the Green Jacket for the first time as you approach the tee box on the course’s famous closing hole during the final round of the tournament. In the “Play Now” setting, gamers will live that epic moment and have their first opportunity to play Augusta National’s par-4 18th.

See the distinct Masters experience and hear the all-familiar voice of long-time Masters announcer Jim Nantz throughout the demo. Nantz sets the stage as Tiger Woods charges up the leaderboard in chase of his fifth Green Jacket. Take control of Tiger Woods on the final hole and attempt to be crowned Masters champion, while the all-new commentary team of Nantz, and the always entertaining David Feherty, call the action.

In “Road to the Masters” mode, play holes 1-5 at TPC San Antonio Oaks Course - an all-new course to the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR franchise. In addition, once you complete the five holes gamers will be granted the ability in the full retail version to bypass the EA SPORTS Amateur Tour and proceed straight to the Nationwide Tour in your career.

The PlayStation 3 version of the demo will support the PlayStation Move controller to fully replicate an authentic golf swing. Looking for an even more immersive golf interaction? The demo can also be played in True View mode – a first person vantage point. Additional information about the Masters Tournament, the all-new career mode, Caddie/Course Mastery, new golfers and courses, and a host of other new features are detailed in the demo. Share the demo with friends to earn additional XP.

Information courtesy EA SPORTS

[gigemaggs99]

Ps3 demo not out yet....:-(

[gigemaggs99]

hmmm, still not there....come on please! LOL

[CLW]

hmmm, still not there....come on please! LOL

I don't think Sony updates their store until the evening (on the East Coast)

[Paakaa10]

EA SPORTS just posted to the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Twitter and Facebook accounts that the PS3 demo won't be out until tomorrow at 6PM ET. No explanation for the delay though.

EDIT
Nevermind that, apparently; the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters demo is now on the PSN Store and I'm downloading the file as we speak. Guess there was a bit of a communication breakdown.

[gigemaggs99]

EA SPORTS just posted to the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Twitter and Facebook accounts that the PS3 demo won't be out until tomorrow at 6PM ET. No explanation for the delay though.

MAN ALIVE! Well thank you for the update...COME ON TOMORROW!!!!!

[Paakaa10]

MAN ALIVE! Well thank you for the update...COME ON TOMORROW!!!!!

Check my update; the demo is now live! Go get it!

[CLW]

Downloading now.

[gigemaggs99]

SWEET PS3 is powering up NOW thank you sir!

[Coachdenz]

downloading now

[Paakaa10]

My Demo Impressions

Just started playing the game. Will keep all of my impressions to this post as I go through the game modes.

Road to the Masters
When you select this mode in the demo, you play a "prologue" at the 18th hole at The Masters as Tiger Woods trying to birdie the Par 4 to beat out Anthony Kim. There's a great lead-in video with Jim Nantz talking about The Masters in general and then speaking specifically about the action on Saturday and Sunday setting up Tiger at the 18th. Then you take over as Tiger and play.

Game feels great, and was really intuitive. Commentary by Jim Nantz and David Feherty was good, and the caddie actually had some pretty good audio bits talking to Tiger by name when explaining shot selection. Wonder if the caddie voiceover will recognize some of our created golfer names in the final game.

Made the green in two shots and had a decently long but makeable putt for the win. When I hit it, the game went into slo-motion following the ball into the cup and then showed Tiger celebrating. A few replays, and then the game actually showed some footage of Anthony Kim, talking about how he really made a push to win the green jacket. Overall presentation overlays with the leaderboard is really nice throughout.

EA Tiburon Classic -- 5 Holes at TPC San Antonio
First try at TPC San Antonio was a mixed bag. Ended up shooting 21 over the holes, good for +1 but somehow leaving me in a tie for 1st place after simulating the field. Got an Awards and Earnings screen after the holes, with XP awarded for a Birdie, 4 Fairways in Regulation, 5 Greens in Regulation, and Event Winnings. For "winning" the event, I also got an invitation to play the EA SPORTS Amateur Tour when the retail game comes out, allowing me to advance past the local rounds.

Other Demo Stuff
Along with the Road to The Masters playthrough detailed above, you can also choose "Play Now" and use either Tiger Woods or "Tiger 12 Demo Player" to play the 18th hole at The Masters or the First Five holes at TPC San Antonio. You can also mess with the following settings for each course:

• Weather.
• Wind.
• Tee Select.
• Flagstick Select.
• Tournament Atmosphere.
• Course Conditions.
• Second Cut Length (TPC San Antonio only).
• Mulligans.
• Pro Challenge.

There are also a number of "Game Options" and "Audio Options" which can be changed. These include:
Game Settings

• Difficulty Level.
• Road to the Masters AI Scoring.
• Three Click.
• Rumble Assist.
• Precision Putting Meter.
• Green Grid.
• Power Boost.
• Spin Control.
• Motion Sensor Function.
• Motion Controller Free Roam Tracking.

Presentation Settings

• Player Camera.
• Switch to Spin.
• Ball Trail.
• Putting Trail.
• Ball Flight Trail.
• Pressure Moments.
• Play Animations.
• Show USGA Rules.
• Metric.

Audio Options

• In-Game Sound FX Volume.
• Commentary Volume.
• Music Volume.
• Caddie Audio Volume.

There is the usual "Invite your Friends and Earn XP" feature which allows you to earn 25 XP for every friend you invite to play the demo. The XP will carry over to your created golfer in the full game, which is great since I've built up a total of 1795 XP so far.

Overall Impressions
The demo is great; loving the presentation in the Road to The Masters prologue with Tiger Woods, and the gameplay is really great; admittedly, however, it's been a few years since I've been serious about the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR franchise, so I don't know how much has changed from the recent installments.

The caddie generally gives good shot setups, and I found myself going with his suggestion for basically every shot. Putting is pretty tough, which is a good thing. As can be seen in my TPC San Antonio stats, I made Green in Regulation for all five holes but only managed a Birdie, Three Pars, and a Double Bogey.

Really looking forward to March 29th and the full release!

[CLW]

Good lord my download is taking FOREVER!

[Paakaa10]

Good lord my download is taking FOREVER!

I don't know how I got as lucky as I did, but I managed to download the demo in a short 2 hours. Demos NEVER download that quickly for me.

[JeffHCross]

Granted, I started at 10:40 at night, but I wanted to download Tiger just to get some perspective on our recent discussions about downloads, Paakaa. Lo and behold, it took 20 minutes for Tiger to download for me.

I <3 my FiOS.

This leads me to believe my recent comments in our discussion may have been because I've forgotten what slower Internet is like.

[Paakaa10]

Granted, I started at 10:40 at night, but I wanted to download Tiger just to get some perspective on our recent discussions about downloads, Paakaa. Lo and behold, it took 20 minutes for Tiger to download for me.

I <3 my FiOS.

This leads me to believe my recent comments in our discussion may have been because I've forgotten what slower Internet is like.

The hate you receive will be well-earned haha.

I have a DSL connection here, but it's shared wirelessly between two desktop computers, two laptop computers, a streaming media device, and my PS3. Quick and dirty net speed test just now says I get 1.88MBPS downloading and 0.39MBPS uploads. Pretty bad stuff.

[JeffHCross]

Interestingly, I put Qore onto the same download queue ... it's going as slow as molasses compared to Tiger. Weird.

I have a DSL connection here, but it's shared wirelessly between two desktop computers, two laptop computers, a streaming media device, and my PS3. Quick and dirty net speed test just now says I get 1.88MBPS downloading and 0.39MBPS uploads. Pretty bad stuff.

Well ... yeah, that ain't gonna work too fast. Lol.

[CLW]

LMAO I just ran a speed test and I got



and the damn thing is STILL downloading :SMH:

[Coachdenz]

I'm not much on reviews, but I like it. The caddie helps me alot!

[Paakaa10]

Interestingly, I put Qore onto the same download queue ... it's going as slow as molasses compared to Tiger. Weird.

Not weird. Karma.

Well ... yeah, that ain't gonna work too fast. Lol.

I know, I know. Not everything gets used at the same time, but the internet definitely takes a hit when my wife is watching Netflix on the PS3 and my in-laws are watching Netflix on the TV. Really need to find work that'll let us move into our own place and have our own connection again.

[SmoothPancakes]

There is the usual "Invite your Friends and Earn XP" feature which allows you to earn 25 XP for every friend you invite to play the demo. The XP will carry over to your created golfer in the full game, which is great since I've built up a total of 1795 XP so far.

Yeah, I love this feature. Between the invites that racked up 1150 XP, then my round at TPC San Antonio, I'm already up to 2,440 XP to put towards my golfer when the game comes out.