Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12 Demo Impressions Thread

[cdj]

http://thegamingtailgate.com/images/TW12/tw12sanantonio3.jpg

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 (http://www.ea.com/tiger-woods/blog/demo-announcement)

[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! :D

[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! :smh:

[Paakaa10]

Good lord my download is taking FOREVER! :smh:

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. :D

[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. :D

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. :D

[CLW]

LMAO I just ran a speed test and I got

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1191666984.png

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. :D


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

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.

[CLW]

So far I've racked up over 5,000 XP.

Really enjoying the demo.

Either I SUCK and/or Putting is hard as hell. I've missed no telling how many 10 ft < putts its driving me nuts. I've shot anywhere from -3 to +3 depending on how many tap in approach shots I was able to hit.

Anyone have any putting suggestions?

[Paakaa10]

Either I SUCK and/or Putting is hard as hell. I've missed no telling how many 10 ft < putts its driving me nuts. I've shot anywhere from -3 to +3 depending on how many tap in approach shots I was able to hit.

Anyone have any putting suggestions?

Putting is pretty tough because the ball's path is so prone to alteration based on small tweaks left or right when you use the analog stick. I've really had trouble sinking putts that require significant placement to either side of the hole. The best bet for me, as you said, was lining up good approach shots so that the putts aren't too tough.

Kudos for the -3 score; my best score is -1 so far.

[natcret]

Putting: Your Caddie gives the aiming point, try to place your arrow into the center of the circle your caddie outlined and go from there. I also thought that the pressure moment was interesting. I found myself in a sitation where a ran out of juice which resulted in me having to make the putt blind with no putter meter bar to show. Has anyone else experienced this?

[Paakaa10]

Putting: Your Caddie gives the aiming point, try to place your arrow into the center of the circle your caddie outlined and go from there.

Aiming is fairly straightforward, but if you're even just a little bit off center when moving the analog stick it's real easy for the ball to miss. Not saying it's a bad thing at all, since putting shouldn't be easy.


I also thought that the pressure moment was interesting. I found myself in a sitation where a ran out of juice which resulted in me having to make the putt blind with no putter meter bar to show. Has anyone else experienced this?

I've had this happen a few times as well. Typically what I do is go back to the caddie view and then back to shooting mode, which brings the putter meter back on very briefly. It at least allows a better sense of the power necessary for the putt.

[Paakaa10]

Looks like the "Road to The Masters" bit in the demo is somewhat pre-scripted depending on how well you play the hole as Tiger. In the three times I've played that prologue, I've made the green in two shots each time. On the third shot putt, I swing to putt and the game automatically switches to the cutscene every time. A little predetermined there.

Anybody experiment with not making it to the green in two shots to see what happens then?

[natcret]

Looks like the "Road to The Masters" bit in the demo is somewhat pre-scripted depending on how well you play the hole as Tiger. In the three times I've played that prologue, I've made the green in two shots each time. On the third shot putt, I swing to putt and the game automatically switches to the cutscene every time. A little predetermined there.

Anybody experiment with not making it to the green in two shots to see what happens then?

It is an intial tutorial to introduce the game. You will make the shots not matter what you do.

[Paakaa10]

It is an intial tutorial to introduce the game. You will make the shots not matter what you do.

Wow... I kinda feel like a jackass now haha. Totally thought that you had to play those shots legit. Just tried it again and even if I tried to shorten up swings to throw it off, the shots were still made at 97% or so. That's kind of silly.

Side note: when you initially do Quick Play in the demo and choose the "Tiger 12 Demo Player", he has 10's across the board for Power, Accuracy, Control, and Putting. After playing the demo a whole bunch, now he has 97 Power, 97 Accuracy, 97 Control, and 98 Putting after I put up my first -3 on TPC San Antonio. Anybody else see this yet? I'm at 6050 XP, so I don't think I've maxed out the XP or anything.

[JBHuskers]

I'm out of town until Saturday but not free til Sunday, so I can't wait til I can get some time with the demo.

[SmoothPancakes]

Oh my god, my golfer is going to kill from day one. I am about to top 10,000 XP with 3 weeks still until release day. If you want extremely easy XP from the demo, keep playing Road to the Masters, but skip the Prologue. It throws you right into TPC San Antonio.

I just finished yet another, of many, RTTM mode at TPC SA, had 5 birdies, add in 4 FIR, 5 GIR, and 2 close approaches, to go along with the 750 XP Event Winnings, in a matter of maybe 5 minutes, I've added yet another 1,336 XP to my XP Bank.

Unless there is a limit to how much XP you can earn in the demo, if you did TPC SA through RTTM mode even maybe 3 times a day, every day, you could have easily 50,000-70,000+ XP built up by release day.

[Paakaa10]

Unless there is a limit to how much XP you can earn in the demo, if you did TPC SA through RTTM mode even maybe 3 times a day, every day, you could have easily 50,000-70,000+ XP built up by release day.

It does seem like it'll be fairly easy to build up a lot of XP for Day 1 retail based on demo experience so far. Haven't heard or read anything about there being a limit to how much XP you can earn or how much XP will transfer from the demo to the retail yet, so I'm guessing people who play the demo a bunch will be among the world leaders come March 29th.

Hopefully if somebody does "hit the ceiling" and can't earn more XP, they'll chime in here.

[skipwondah33]

The demo hasn't fully downloaded for me yet. I started it Tuesday, but didn't get on the PS3 at all lastnight. I'll get on to tonight to finish it up.

[ryby6969]

I just shot a -4 and should have been -5 but I hit the putt short.

[gigemaggs99]

I guess it's different for different people. I was able to download it in about 5 mins.

I put it on TOUR PRO and INSANE, makes it HARD. I shot 5 over on my first hole. Then went birde, par, par.

I haven't played it much but I like it so far...would like to know how to zoom in to see my projected landing spot on the fairway/green....

I switched the swing from left to RIGHT analog and that helps me a lot.

I like that on TOUR PRO and INSANE it's difficult. I like golf to be HARD!

So far...GREAT!

[natcret]

I guess it's different for different people. I was able to download it in about 5 mins.

I put it on TOUR PRO and INSANE, makes it HARD. I shot 5 over on my first hole. Then went birde, par, par.

I haven't played it much but I like it so far...would like to know how to zoom in to see my projected landing spot on the fairway/green....

I switched the swing from left to RIGHT analog and that helps me a lot.

I like that on TOUR PRO and INSANE it's difficult. I like golf to be HARD!

So far...GREAT!

For the 360, you zoom in using the left stick. While in zoom mode you can rotate the view 360 degrees. Also, while in zoom mode, pressing X allows you to select the old chip, flop, punch, and regular shots.

[Coachdenz]

does it save my exp each time I play?

[SmoothPancakes]

does it save my exp each time I play?

Yes it does. As long as you play with the demo player and not Tiger Woods (if playing just random rounds and not doing the Road to the Masters portion of the demo) it will save all of the exp you earn every time you play.

[Coachdenz]

Yes it does. As long as you play with the demo player and not Tiger Woods (if playing just random rounds and not doing the Road to the Masters portion of the demo) it will save all of the exp you earn every time you play.

do you see a total of overall exp? it starts over for me each and and I use the demo player.
thank!

[Paakaa10]

do you see a total of overall exp? it starts over for me each and and I use the demo player.

If you go to "Quick Play" in the demo and then go to "Invite Friends & Earn XP", you can see your overall XP earned in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

Just got to 11,558 XP personally. Really starting to wonder if there will be a cap of how much XP you can transfer from the demo, as there will be a lot of high-powered players on Day 1 if every XP point transfers fully.

[Coachdenz]

If you go to "Quick Play" in the demo and then go to "Invite Friends & Earn XP", you can see your overall XP earned in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

Just got to 11,558 XP personally. Really starting to wonder if there will be a cap of how much XP you can transfer from the demo, as there will be a lot of high-powered players on Day 1 if every XP point transfers fully.

theres gotta be a cap.

[SmoothPancakes]

If you go to "Quick Play" in the demo and then go to "Invite Friends & Earn XP", you can see your overall XP earned in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

Just got to 11,558 XP personally. Really starting to wonder if there will be a cap of how much XP you can transfer from the demo, as there will be a lot of high-powered players on Day 1 if every XP point transfers fully.


theres gotta be a cap.

Yeah, like I said earlier in the thread. If you do the RTTM mode 3 times a day, every single day until release, you could potentially have anywhere from 50,000-70,000 XP by release day. There's got to be a cap on there somewhere to keep that from happening.

[JBHuskers]

Hoping to get time on this tonight as I was busy unpacking and setting up some things and had a fantasy baseball draft last night.

[skipwondah33]

I finally got the demo downloaded. I played a few holes. The caddie feature is very annoying, especially when I just want to hit the damn ball. The graphics are absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to get this.

I'll have to play some more when I get the chance.

[Paakaa10]

Saw a fan post on Facebook responding to the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR page saying something to the extent of demo XP being capped at 40,000. I'm not there yet--though probably could get there by the demo--so it looks like some sort of contingency has been built in to prevent Day 1 golfers from being too powerful once the game is in stores.

[SmoothPancakes]

Saw a fan post on Facebook responding to the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR page saying something to the extent of demo XP being capped at 40,000. I'm not there yet--though probably could get there by the demo--so it looks like some sort of contingency has been built in to prevent Day 1 golfers from being too powerful once the game is in stores.

That's still pretty high up there, so those day 1 golfers will still have a good amount of power. I figured they would cap it at 15,000 or something.

[JBHuskers]

I know there was a cap last year, I couldn't remember if it was 20k or what it was.

[CLW]

I'm just over 30K. Putting is still a biatch but lately my driving has also gone to hell.

[skipwondah33]

I'm not even sure how much XP I have gotten. Don't eve know how exactly you acquire it either :D. I've only played the demo twice now

[CLW]

JB = one lucky bastard. According to my PSN he has the actual game now and already has a trophy to show for it. :smh:

[JBHuskers]

JB = one lucky bastard. According to my PSN he has the actual game now and already has a trophy to show for it. :smh:
:up: :nod:

[JeffHCross]

JB = one lucky bastard. According to my PSN he has the actual game now and already has a trophy to show for it. :smh:Last year I believe he had it nearly platinum'd before release day.

[gschwendt]

Last year I believe he had it nearly platinum'd before release day.
Indeed... in fact had a trophy that no one else in the world had in the first couple of months because they were testing the in-menu video player pre-release.

[JBHuskers]

Last year I believe he had it nearly platinum'd before release day.

I think I did have it plat'd before release...and was the first one in the world to do so :nod: not so much this year....it'll take longer than a week I think...

[CLW]

Are you allowed to give impressions? Did you get the Standard or Collectors Edition?

[JBHuskers]

Are you allowed to give impressions? Did you get the Standard or Collectors Edition?

Can't talk about anything yet.

[CLW]

Can't talk about anything yet.

Silly EA and their Gadhafi like embargo. Get some you know what and disrupt that Egypt style.

[Coachdenz]

can't talk about anything yet.

booooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

[Coachdenz]

I'm not even sure how much XP I have gotten. Don't eve know how exactly you acquire it either :D. I've only played the demo twice now

you can check your XP at the bottom right corner in the menu where you invite friends.

[skipwondah33]

Yeah he had it before release. I think it took them two months to actually release a video for it maybe longer

[skipwondah33]

How do you get points. I remember last year but I don't think I've earned any this version. Everyone I could have invited has it already

[Coachdenz]

How do you get points. I remember last year but I don't think I've earned any this version. Everyone I could have invited has it already



invite them anyway

[oweb26]

You don't even have to really invite them, just click there name and the screen comes up then back out of the message screen and your points are still there, it give you the XP once you click there name,

On another note I got -5 on the Masters portion of the demo, which gave me something like 2600 points so I currently have 4300 XP, and I have only played the demo like 2 or 3 times.

[Paakaa10]

Finally hit the demo's XP cap of 40,000 tonight; interestingly enough, at around 20,000 XP I started being able to use the "super" version of the demo golfer (with 97-98-98-98 stats) in the Road to The Masters portion of the demo. Made it significantly easier to earn XP when I was able to earn bonus points for long drives over 300 yards and put myself in position to hit the green in one.

Edit
Note that the first "XP Result" screen when you exceed 40,000 XP will read a number over 40,000; once you go to the "Invite Friends & Earn XP" screen, your available XP will be set back to 40,000.

Edit #2
Too bad JB can't let us know whether or not 40,000 XP actually allows you to do a lot to improve your golfer in the final game. :P Maybe the whole XP system has changed and 40,000 doesn't buy much.

[CLW]

Yeah I cracked the 40,000 barrier this weekend. JB having the game early to roid up his TGT golfer = cheese. :nod:

[JBHuskers]

Yeah I cracked the 40,000 barrier this weekend. JB having the game early to roid up his TGT golfer = cheese. :nod:

wah.

:D