Review: "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14" (2013) "Tiger’s Back With Less Than A Roar, But Far More Than A Whimper"

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By: Adam Zimmerman

Tiger returns with another solid effort in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14. The first thing I should say is that you do not need to be a golf aficionado to enjoy this game. It helps to know a bit about the game, but my wife and I have enjoyed playing this game together for years and she knows next to nothing about the actual sport.
On the course, Tiger remains largely unchanged. Almost all the gameplay mechanics remain unchanged.

 There are only a few differences. Hitting out of the rough in more challenging now. There used to be a percentage telling you how much your ball was buried in the sand or rough which helped you determine how much further you needed to hit the ball to get it where you wanted it to go. That percentage meter appears to be gone unless the option in now hidden away in some secret menu that I’m not finding, which is a bit disappointing because that was very helpful.

Also changing is how you swing for draw and fade shots. For those that don’t know a draw or fade shot is when you pull or push the ball in a left or right curve, depending on whether you shoot lefty or righty. In previous games you just altered your stance and swung away like normal. In this years game you have to actually change the angle of your short left or right depending on how you’re trying to curve your shot. The strike meter has also changed a bit, you now need to see how your ball is lying and adjust where you strike the ball accordingly, such as hitting lower on the ball if you are in the rough to get it out.


Almost all of the game modes are unchanged. Career mode is still the same, starting you out as an amateur who needs to earn their PGA Tour card, though this year you don’t have to play in as many amateur events before you can do so. All the exhibition modes of previous games return, including versus, four ball, etc.

 There is one notable exception though.


In last years game you got to experience Tiger’s journey from tiny child prodigy to arguably the greatest golfer that’s ever lived. In Tiger 14, they are focusing not on the history of one player, but the history of the entire sport. Replacing Tiger Legacy mode is the new Legends of the Majors mode. This mode goes all the way to the 1800’s.

You play as and against the legends of the sports, trying to match their feats. You don’t just play as those golfers; you also wear the same clothes and use the same equipment that they used back in their respective days. That may not seem like a big deal, but it will seem bigger when instead of hitting it 300 yards down the fairway with your driver you are now barely cracking 200 yards. Theirs a big difference between wood and titanium alloys.

Online gets a bit of a boost. All the same modes are still in place, but now when playing on online tournament you can seem the flight trajectory of 24 of your opponents shots so you can compare yourself to the competition. There are also new weekly challenges such as beat player X when tied entering the back 9 of the final round of the tournament. The Country Clubs, which were introduced last year, has now increased in size from 25 players to 100. On a side note, if there are any Tiger players out there for PS3 reading this, I’m looking for a good country club (in game) to join.


The weather also gets a boost in this year’s game. In last year’s game you could get live weather updates if you were connected to the Internet and play in the exact same conditions the course was experiencing in real life, except that it was always daytime. This year’s version goes a step further and lets you play in the dark, and rain now has more of an effect. The only real difference rain used to make is it would shorten how far balls would roll. Now the rain effects you like you think it would. The ball doesn’t fly as far or roll as far.


Women finally get in on the action this year. You have always had the ability to make a female golfer, but she could only play in challenges and exhibitions. This year they can finally play in the career mode with the addition of the LPGA.


Character customization takes a few steps forward and a few steps backwards in this year’s game. On one hand, there are less clothing options, and less options as far as body type go. All the created golfers in this year’s game are either lean, or have a big beer belly. Unlike in previous years versions, you pretty much can’t make a heavy-set person. I guess they didn’t want thousands of John Daly clones running around.

There also seems to be fewer choices for what you can have your golfer wear and they no longer boost your stats. On the other hand, to make up for the lesser options in other areas, you can now change your golfers swing style in meaningful ways and the style of golfer you are. For swing style you can choose whether your shots have a low, medium, or high arc. That may not sound like much but it makes a big difference when there’s wind and it also affects distance and your ability to stop the ball where you want.

You can also now choose whether you are a power player or a control player. Power golfers can obviously hit it farther, but their shots are much more sensitive to over/under swings and off-line shots. Control golfers are what they sound like; they sacrifice power for accuracy. They may not hit it as far, but their shots are much more likely to end up exactly where they want.


There is one thing that I need to take EA to task for. I am a big fan of adding courses through DLC. I will also defend companies for having day 1 DLC if they made the DLC after they finished working on the main game. Tiger 14 however, has 18 courses available for download on day 1. If they were brand new courses that would be one thing.

 However, they are essentially the same courses that were downloadable last year. Adding to my frustration is that some of them are my absolute favorite courses to play, including Wolf Creek and Emerald Dragon. To make matters worse, except for the 4 fantasy courses, they are built into career mode so if you don’t get them then you are forced to skip have the tournaments which hurts your ranking and is just generally annoying.

 Last year they did something cool and made it so that you could unlock every single DLC course through regular off line play, but that feature was taken out of this years version so it is pay to play. So basically, if you want the full experience in career mode, you need to shell out a minimum of $110. That is made up of as 60 for the game, 40 for one of the downloadable course packs, and 10 for the other. It’s an incredibly crappy move by EA in my opinion.


Our Honest View gives Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 and 8 out of 10. Overall, as I said at the beginning of this, this is a solid game. There were a few steps forward and a few steps back. If you are a fan of golf this your only option for realistic golf, but even if you aren’t a big fan of the sport it is still a very fun game to play, especially with friends.

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Replay Value: Moderately High (Campaign) Infinite (Multiplayer)  

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