Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

[OnlookerDelay]

The Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 demo is available now. Please post your impressions here.

Quote:

"Share the Demo With Friends and Earn Experience Points May 18, 2010 – The Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 demo is now available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3! The demo invites you to participate in a fully customizable Ryder Cup match that includes three holes on Celtic Manor, the home course of the 2010 Ryder Cup. Share the demo with those on your friends list, via Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network, to earn in-game Experience Points (XP). Using the console messaging system, you can earn in-game XP for each invited friend and additional XP for each invited friend that downloads the demo. The XP can be applied to the full version of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11, when it launches on June 8th (North America) and July 2nd (Worldwide) to help boost your golfer’s skill attributes. In addition to the Ryder Cup feature, the demo will include the ability to play three holes on the all-new Liberty National golf course. As you hit the links, the all-new Shot Focus system allows players to make shot to shot decisions and offers a bit more risk/reward style of play. Shot Focus is used to provide that extra boost to the ball off the tee, increased spin during flight, the accuracy of your shot and most importantly putt previews. Once your Shot Focus has been depleted you will lose the advantage of those shot enhancements until it recharges. The Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 demo will also introduce True Aim – a new feature that brings a more authentic style of play and immersion onto the golf course. Traditional aiming methods have been replaced with yardage markers showing carry distance, and distance to targets. It’s up to you to select the right club and execute your shot. Just like in real life, once the ball leaves the club face it’s on its own. To see additional information regarding Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11, log on to http://www.tigerwoodspgatour.easports.com."

[OnlookerDelay]

Thanks for the segue Steve; here's a quickie (excuse the lack of coherence, I'm coming off a 12 hour night shift!):

Just gave the demo a runthrough of all its play options... first let me say - Congratulations EA Sports; this is the way you put a demo together! You give the gamer the opportunity to play the game in the difficulty level of their choice, which I think is a huge positive! Secondly, you give us camera options, video feature options, audio feature options. Thirdly (and certainly not last in significance) is your packing one of your key new features - True Aim - into the demo.

My thoughts here are based on about 35 minutes of gameplay, but here goes. I started out by opting for Tour Pro, precision putting meter off, big hit cameras and pressure moments off, ball trails and putt trails off (but they were on in game anyway... I know it's a demo, so no panic button pushing yet) and of course, I had True Aim on.

I was a bit disappointed when I got to the camera options only to find Follow and Presentation cameras available, just like last year. I was expecting to find a "True View" camera in that menu, but after playing a round with True Aim on and then with it off, I see what you did with this you sly devils You use what resembles the TWO True View camera with Presentation Camera selected along with True Aim, but if you're not using True Aim, the Presentation camera is similar to like it was in TW 10, although I've got to see more of it to say it hasn't had some tweaking done to it.

After this brief taste of True Aim, I already know I'll be hooked on it henceforth... especially with the more player perspective view of the shots, from tee to green.

One of the key things I was looking for, particularly in Tour Pro difficulty, was the swing tempo requirement. There's something there that feels different. I'm having more difficulty hitting consistent power with the generic 50/50/50/50 golfer, but I did markedly better with Tiger in the Ryder Cup. I did do a fast paced, almost frenetic swing and pulled off a pretty straight 98% drive. However, I did my normal, more relaxed natural looking tempo from TW 10 using Tiger, and pulled off my normal 97% drive. I need more time with this to form an opinion that's worth anything though.

I like the way the randomness felt in Tour Pro. I didn't feel randomly punitive in my play this morning, but I also knew that the shot wasn't going exactly where I had aimed, even with what appeared to be a perfect swingpath.

A major tip of the hat for the ball striking sound effects for both irons and woods... they are so immersively convincing that it adds a new level of realism to the game!

I guess the only aspect I can cite as being a question mark is the putting. Granted, I'm using meterless precision putting, but I have been for all of TW 10. I've gotten pretty good with the touch that way. The precision putting in TW 11's demo is a lot touchier that TW 10. I 7-putted the first hole from 32 feet because I kept running the ball by the hole. I watch the putter stroke animation as a guide, and the putter was barely having to move to produce a 10 foot putt, with slow greens.

I started getting better at regulating putts, particularly with Tiger, but the putting stroke animation just seems to be far less proportional to the power than TW 10. Here again, I've got to spend a lot more time with that to get a better handle on it. I'll be curious to hear other impressions on this.

Finally, the course graphics are clearly a step up, as are the player models. I can't wait to get my hands on the final game now. I'm still curious as to whether True View will be a presentation option in the final game. I know the PS3 version will have to have it by the time the Move is released.

[poster]

Thanks for the impressions OnlookerDelay, sounds like someone finally put out a demo that is worthwhile and not stripped down to the bone. I didn't see this in the PS3 store. I heard it now updates on Tuesday, I assume it must still be in the evening?

This game is on my radar now, just hope career mode is legit and contains none of the BS of past games like rubberband AI (was that fixed last year?) and ridiculous top of the leaderborad scores that reach -35 to -40.

[TreyIM2]

I'm looking forward to this demo. I wish when Sony moved up the PSN update day, they would have moved up the time, as well. Still have to wait til about 9pEST for the update but that's not always a consistent time. Could hit earlier, could hit later.

I think I'ma get this game next month, too. It originally wasn't on my radar til I heard about the Move AND the updated player models. Will be my first TW game, ever.

[OnlookerDelay]

To clarify my thoughts on True Aim's camera effect... you don't get a cut view at all when using True Aim, so it differs from TWO's True View in that regard. I would prefer to have a cut-view using True Aim, once the ball has gone out of my golfer's sight. I prefer being able to see how the shot finished.

Secondly, the ball trails cannot be turned off in True Aim, although they can be turned off in regular play. I'm sure that this is just a glitch in the demo.

[shaunjuan2000]

PS3 users : TW11 demo NOW AVAILIABLE in the Playstation Store. File size: : 1721MB!

[TreyIM2]

Vaaaan DAAMME! Sony has to do something about this narrow bandwidth. For the last few min, the time left for the TW11 download kept hovering around the 100 min mark. It's now at 85 min and only 2% in. Terrible.

[kerosene31]

I played for a bit on 360. Overall, I'm really impressed.

True aim is a very revolutionary way to play the game. I find myself aiming as in real life and not like other Tiger games where you just put the spot out there and hit it if your shot is accurate. You end up aiming for "the tree on the left" which is pretty neat.

Variable wind is a small, but important addition. Now that 9mph gust can drop to 3 on you while the ball is in the air and you need to take that into account. Before it was just a bunch of calculations to get the shot right, now you are "playing" the shot (if that makes sense).

The short game with true aim is very tough so far. The whole thing will be a little difficult in the demo until we can get to the range and get ranges for all our clubs.

I can't seem to figure out what tour focus does on tour pro mode (it seems nothing?).

The sounds are excellent. As was said, the ball coming off the woods is great.

Overall I'm just really impressed.