Tiger Woods 12 preview: Caddyshack

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters doesn't just add the titular tournament of masters -- for the first time, caddies will feature in EA Sports' golf sim. The club-toting sidekicks have been introduced in an effort to make the game more accessible to players that don't know much about real golf (let alone the great luxury of a personal sidekick).

At a press event, EA Sports designer Daniel Castorani said the new caddy mechanic is only part of a bigger overhaul to the game's AI, which he admitted has been a bit wonky and unpredictable in the past. He explained that caddy isn't an all-knowing intelligence, but rather this supporting character "learns" over time how to make the best recommendations for each shot, supposedly taking into account the courses that the player's played and the player's performances on those courses. Unfortunately, I was unable to test this out, since I only played a few holes of the Augusta course during a short preview session.

"We saw through play-testing and focus-testing that there were people who were coming into our game -- they were excited to play -- but they just didn't know what to do," Castorani recounted. The issue actually affected two kinds of would-be players, Castorani explained: not only the non-golfing gamers, but the non-gaming golfers. "We're unique because we get a lot of people who don't typically play games, but they want to play golf, and so we get people who don't understand the controls. So we took a step back, looked at our game and said, 'You know, sports games are generally complicated, but our game is really complicated.'"

It's true. Golf games are among the most exclusive of sports sims -- if you're not well-versed in shot placement or "bad lies" (and I'm not talking about knocking a couple strokes off your score), it can be tough to enjoy them. Likewise, if you've been known to tee off at the driving range now and again, the transition to a gamepad (or even a motion controller) can be awkward. With the new caddy system, EA hopes to appease both rookie golfers and newbie gamers.

It works like this: Before you take your first swing, the caddy will offer a few different shot suggestions for getting your ball to the green and into the hole, each color-coded to correspond with a perceived difficulty. If the fairway doglegs left, for example, then the caddy will set up an appropriate shot with the right amount of draw (a shot that gently curves from right-to-left for a right-handed golfer). Of course, players can skip the caddy's advice and choose the custom shot option, setting up their own route to the hole.

Having played plenty of golf games before, I found there was some getting used to the caddy system. Once you select one of the caddy's recommendations, you can't alter that shot plan -- if you want to change anything, you have to back out to the recommendation options. (Protip: Longtime Tiger players will probably want to stick with the custom shot option, which is how you map out your fine-tuned shot path the old-fashioned way). Once I got used to the new shot selection mechanic, however, I couldn't believe it hadn't been a component of the series all along. It's a simple and effective way to remove the barrier for non-golfing gamers, as well as non-gaming golfers -- once you've selected a shot, you've got one button to worry about: just swing!

The only drawback to the caddy system I noticed was in its lack of actually tutoring the player. The system doesn't seem to share with you any insight into how it determines its shot calibrations, so it's not going to necessarily make you a more knowledgeable golfer -- on or off the couch. The character will simply offer a few lines of basic dialog as you set up to take the shot.

For me -- a person who's enjoyed not only the Tiger series, but also the Hot Shots games, and at least once a week says a prayer, asking, "Let there be another Links game, oh powers that be!" -- the new caddy feature is somewhat of a lost function. But its value to both non-golfers and non-gamers is really apparent. The caddy will help anyone overcome golf's steep learning curve and enjoy Tiger 12, for sure -- just don't expect that success to translate to the real world. You won't always have a caddy by your side, after all.

David Hinkle

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D - some of your old friends are back.

Arcade-style undead/zombie/parasite-infested slaying is back for Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, and the game plays as good as it looks. Nintendo and Capcom had Mercenaries 3D available for hands-on at GDC 2011, and playing it proved that next-gen console action can work on the small screen.

The demo build has Chris, Jill, Jack Krauser and Hunk available to play, and two maps: “Public Assembly” (Resident Evil 5) and “Village” (Resident Evil 4). I chose Hunk (a personal favorite) and tossed him into Public Assembly. Hunk comes equipped with a pistol, AK-47, grenade launcher, Flash Grenade, ammo and First Aid Spray, making him a very formidable target for enemies.

For anybody who played ‘The Mercenaries’ mode in Resident Evil 4 or Resident Evil 5, it remains the same: rack up as high a score as possible within the time limit by killing enemies. A simple premise, but incredibly effective. A trailer and gameplay footage were released before, but actually playing the game here at GDC is a whole other matter.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (in 3D) looks appealing and does not feel gimmicky — Hunk and the enemies have more of a depth to them, and the controls are easy to familiarize yourself with. Holding the Right Trigger brings you into the first person view for targeting, and pressing A shoots your weapon. The inventory is available on the bottom screen, which can be tapped to change weapons quickly. At first, the feature felt a bit awkward, but after a few minutes of playing, I got the hang of it and was able to switch my weapons effectively according to the situation.

For anyone who was worried about whether or not the first person controls for a handheld Resident Evil would work, they do. Aiming with the circle pad isn’t cumbersome in any way at all, even for players who are normally accustomed to moving the reticule with their right thumb. I had no problems shooting enemies in the head and rocking them with Hunk’s punch. If that wasn’t enough, I could run to the downed enemy and shoot them three times for a prone-kill. These actions are performed with the X button, which will be the context sensitive/action button. Reloading is done by holding the Right Trigger and pressing B.

A notable gameplay change from previous versions of The Mercenaries is that when your character is grabbed by an enemy, rather than shake/rotate the circle pad, a Quick Time Event-like prompt appears and you press the corresponding button to escape. It can be imagined that this decision was made to avoid causing a lot of stress to the 3DS’s circle pad. It’s a change that works, and it is just as effective as wiggling the joystick to free yourself.

Graphically, The Mercenaries 3D looks surprisingly good, even better in person than shown in the most recent screens and trailer. There’s very little graphical tear and I saw very few, if any, bugs at all. The gameplay is very suitable for a pick-up-and-play medium, as maps can be played and beaten within minutes, and constantly trying to improve your score or get better at zombie killing is always a good motivator to play the game once more.

With good controls, excellent graphics, and incredibly fun gameplay, The Mercenaries 3D is sure to be one of the games that will spend a lot of time in the 3DS.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D will be coming to the Nintendo 3DS on July 6, 2011.

Trung Bui

Tomb Raider Trilogy Dated, Exclusive To PlayStation 3

The PlayStation Blog recently announced the exclusive release of the remastered Tomb Raider Trilogy on PlayStation 3. Get ready to live or relive Lara Croft’s adventures in Anniversary, Legend, and Underworld this March 22.

Nostalgia’s been in the air, with all the talk on Game Rant about Lara’s reboot since Square Enix’s announcement last December, followed by Game Rant‘s covering the game in action. Now gamers will have a chance to play the three most recent retail releases at a price lower than Underworld’s MSRP itself: $39.99. While the going rate for PS2-only revives such as the Sly Collection and God of War Collection retailed at $39.99, the inclusion of current generation games seems to make this a steal even Ms. Croft could be proud of.

Lara’s most recent excursion was actually a digital-only release. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light hit XBLA August 18, 2010 as a timed exclusive, and Game Rant reviewed it with high marks. The game was starkly different than previous Tomb Raider entries, but its co-operative, dungeon crawling play seemed very fitting for Lara’s world. Platforming and puzzle solving elements helped the game retain its familiar brand; trophies, hidden items, time trials, and high scores forced gamers back to leaderboards constantly to race to the top.

Lara herself has often been considered a prize catch. Some gamers may fear that the reboot of Lara Croft will force her to shed some of her appeal (read: bustier proportions). While the dimensions of Lara undoubtedly must change for an earlier story arc, gamers get the full monty that is the adult Croft in this trilogy. For those that need even more Lara in their lives, Tomb Raider Trilogy includes an exclusive static theme pack, Lara Croft and Viking Thrall avatars, and behind the scenes looks at all three titles.

My question to fellow gamers is this: what do you think all these collections from only a few years ago say about games or the market today? While these remakes ride the success of their namesakes, is this a testament of a stale current generation?

Aside from making a quick buck, I thought HD remakes served a different purpose. I purchased The Sly Collection and plan on purchasing Beyond Good & Evil HD to make publishers aware that these are awesome games that deserve more love. An HD Trilogy of a game series that has current generation console releases is hardly in the same boat. Will you be purchasing this trilogy?

The Tomb Raider Trilogy releases exclusively for the PlayStation 3 March 22, 2011.

John Polson

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Yakuza 4 Preview

The Yakuza series has always been a cult class in the US. The Yakuza games are very big in Japan, and the 5th entry in the Yakuza franchise is currently on the way. Unfortunately due to some poor advertising by Sega of America the Yakuza games aren't that popular and the US nearly didn't receive Yakuza 3 at all. It wasn't until fans complained and nagged Sega that they finally brought over Yakuza 3 to the US, although it was a year or two after it had released in Japan and Sega actually removed a few features such as a Japanese trivia game and Japanese hostess bars. Thanks to Yakuza 3 being a mild success in North America Sega is bringing Yakuza 4 to the US in March, and the hostess bar will be in tact this time.

Yakuza 4 is a 3rd person beat-em-up RPG set in an open world. Sound different? That's because there's not many other games on the market like it. You go running around the streets of Japan looking for mission objectives, and those mission objectives usually involve you fighting a group of enemies in hand-to-hand or weapon-to-weapon combat. Once you complete the mission you have the ability to level up your character and improve their stats. When you're not selecting missions you are free to run around the city and do a variety of things, including Karaoke, visiting arcades, and playing baseball.

Yakuza 4 has always been a story-heavy series. While Yakuza 1 received a full American voiceover all of the subsequent games have retained their Japanese voice acting and had merely English subtitles. Yakuza 4 follows the same trend as the last two games in only having English subtitles, with no other option than Japanese voice-overs. In this writer's opinion reading the subtitles is something that you become used to, although I can definitely understand those who get frustrated reading all of the text just to understand what's going on. Considering the majority of Americans don't speak Japanese Sega should really consider bringing back voice-over translations for the Yakuza franchise. Maybe give people an option to switch between Japanese and English voice-actors.

One thing different to Yakuza 4 is that you will play 4 different characters in this Yakuza game, as opposed to the standard one. The main protagonist of the series Kaz is still playable, but you'll also get to try out three additional characters including a loan shark, an escaped convict, and a cop. Each character has a slightly different fighting style with different moves and combos to break up some of the repetitiveness of the previous games. All 4 of these characters can pick-up and use weapons, and all 4 characters can be leveled up individually.

One thing that Yakuza has always gotten right is the ability to make player's feel as if they're really beating the crap out of somebody. The game controls like a mixture between a 3-d fighting game and an old beat-em-up like Streets of Rage. Yakuza implements a combo system that is simple enough to pick-up and play yet deep enough for veteran games to sit down and master. The camera will slow down and zoom in on brutal shots making the player feel as if they're really inflicting some serious damage. Yakuza also features special moves which are flashy and fun as well as finishing moves to provide a satisfying conclusion to your fight. Weapons can also be used during fights. Weapons can either be picked up from the environment or if you're already holding the weapons you can select them at any time during the fight by using the d-pads. There's a strong variety of weapons to choose from including nunchucks, spears, and katanas.

One thing that has always bothered me during my playtime in the Yakuza games is the use of random battles. While roaming the streets searching for missions or just strolling the streets seeing what the game has to offer you will be approached by enemies who want to fight. These fighters aren't very hard and don't level up your character as much as you'd like. Considering the game has been out in Japan for almost a year now it's hard to imagine this is something that will be changed for the final US release.

With that said Yakuza 4 is still a very fun and very unique game. The graphics have received a major upgrade since the last title, and the addition of 3 new characters to play as instead of just Kaz is more than welcomed. English voice-overs would have been nice, but if you can get past that detail Yakuza 4 is still an enjoyable game. Look for Yakuza 4 to hit the PlayStation 3 in the US on March 15. The demo currently on the PlayStation Network allows you to test out all 4 characters in arena style fights against multiple opponents.

James Lewis