Some of the great questions of the world will likely remain unanswered. Who really built the Great Pyramids? How did Stonehenge come to be? What the hell happened to Tiger Woods 09 on the PSP?
It’s as if the game was shipped in some form of beta phase, without all of the modes programmed in. Tiger Challenge? Gone. Mini-Games? Gone. Online play? Gone.
Tiger 09 is astonishing in that it misses so many features. It’s not as if previous versions didn’t have these. Tiger has been online on the PSP since ’06. This version inexplicably leaves it out. The Tiger Challenge, a series of increasingly difficult exercises leading up to “boss” battles per-se of PGA pros, used to be the meat of the game. All that’s left is the PGA Tour and EA Cup, the latter which acts more like a traditional sports league set up, with wins and losses.
Maybe that could all be forgiven if the gameplay held up. It doesn’t. In fact, things end up even worse on the links. The analog swing system, the key to this franchise since 2002, is back on game not tuned to the hardware. Putting is a nightmare. Trying to find specific power, obviously critical to something as touchy as putting, is almost impossible. The putt line, which gives you a preview of the path, doesn’t respond to your current aiming position as it does in other versions of the game. Instead, it gives you the location, but not the power.
The redone courses look great, but must take a toll on the PSP. Load times are awful, and not just before each hole. Every animation, every time you switch clubs, between every shot, and after each hole the game stops and stutters. There’s no smoothness or flow to the game. It’s hard to get it into it.
A new experience system adds true RPG-style leveling to the game. However, this is inconsistent. Each shot will earn points towards leveling up, yet there’s no base as to how many you need to improve your stats. The constantly updating home console version bases this on how you play, and while the awful controls wouldn’t make that feasible on the PSP, this new system doesn’t worth either.
Something is amiss with portable Tiger. The DS didn’t even get a version this year after a fine ’08 outing. It feels like EA is cutting back budgets or sales weren’t enough to justify spending the money. If that is the case, why release such a butchered version like this?
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