Now, you can access all courses (including DLC courses) for free with the promise that you can "buy rounds" on them using in-game currency. You get this in-game currency by playing the game a lot...or using your credit card. From GameRevolution's review (emphasis on the stupid mine):
Quote:
This year's system revolves around the acquisition of coins, which you can use to purchase packs of pins that give temporary bonus stats. The XP multiplier for created golfers, at 5 or more times the standard rate, is extremely desirable. The problem is that the lowest pack is worth 4,000 coins and a full 18-hole course that takes around a half an hour earns about 600 coins. Doing a little math, that means you need to spend an average of 3.5 hours just for one pack. Compared to the unlockable system in Hot Shots Golf, this feels stingy and yawn-inducingly monotonous.
Certainly, the boost packs borders on being optional, and you can get value out of completing the usual career mode and the new Tiger Legacy mode, where you must accomplish goals set through Tiger's life from his television appearance at age 2 through to his dream future of beating Jack Nicklaus' 18 career majors. (Playing as Tiny Tiger is a little unsettling, actually.) But a large part of the new design centers around getting coins, not just for packs, but for earning the privilege of playing on downloadable courses.
Unlike last year's title, you don't have to skip an event in career mode just because you don't have the DLC course; you can either change the course entirely or purchase rounds for the DLC course, with the carrot being that you can earn unlimited rounds on it by achieving Gold Mastery. The objectives for getting Gold Mastery isn't so much difficult—in fact, they are much more doable than before—as they are exorbitantly laborious. Earning Gold Mastery requires that you play through a course at least six times because one objective asks you to get 100 pars or better. So how many coins do you need to purchase six rounds of a DLC course? 24,000 coins. That's about 20 hours of work, and that's just 1 of 16 DLC courses. I'm winded just talking about.
That's where the microtransaction model comes into play. The game makes it very clear that there's an option for you to spend additional money on coins. There's even a $75 transaction at a 25% discount for 280,000 coins. (You wanna buy the game over?) Perhaps it's too bold to accuse the developers for deliberately making the coin acquisition slow so that these microtransactions look that much more instantly gratifying. But it wouldn't be so troubling if these coins where used only to purchase clothing or something aesthetic, as they can be used toward boosts that can be applied to online tournaments. It just feels like there's a junkie selling "steroid" coins around every corner.
This year's system revolves around the acquisition of coins, which you can use to purchase packs of pins that give temporary bonus stats. The XP multiplier for created golfers, at 5 or more times the standard rate, is extremely desirable. The problem is that the lowest pack is worth 4,000 coins and a full 18-hole course that takes around a half an hour earns about 600 coins. Doing a little math, that means you need to spend an average of 3.5 hours just for one pack. Compared to the unlockable system in Hot Shots Golf, this feels stingy and yawn-inducingly monotonous.
Certainly, the boost packs borders on being optional, and you can get value out of completing the usual career mode and the new Tiger Legacy mode, where you must accomplish goals set through Tiger's life from his television appearance at age 2 through to his dream future of beating Jack Nicklaus' 18 career majors. (Playing as Tiny Tiger is a little unsettling, actually.) But a large part of the new design centers around getting coins, not just for packs, but for earning the privilege of playing on downloadable courses.
Unlike last year's title, you don't have to skip an event in career mode just because you don't have the DLC course; you can either change the course entirely or purchase rounds for the DLC course, with the carrot being that you can earn unlimited rounds on it by achieving Gold Mastery. The objectives for getting Gold Mastery isn't so much difficult—in fact, they are much more doable than before—as they are exorbitantly laborious. Earning Gold Mastery requires that you play through a course at least six times because one objective asks you to get 100 pars or better. So how many coins do you need to purchase six rounds of a DLC course? 24,000 coins. That's about 20 hours of work, and that's just 1 of 16 DLC courses. I'm winded just talking about.
That's where the microtransaction model comes into play. The game makes it very clear that there's an option for you to spend additional money on coins. There's even a $75 transaction at a 25% discount for 280,000 coins. (You wanna buy the game over?) Perhaps it's too bold to accuse the developers for deliberately making the coin acquisition slow so that these microtransactions look that much more instantly gratifying. But it wouldn't be so troubling if these coins where used only to purchase clothing or something aesthetic, as they can be used toward boosts that can be applied to online tournaments. It just feels like there's a junkie selling "steroid" coins around every corner.
IGN's review:
Quote:
Coins earn players access to new courses, so playing Tiger Woods 13 as normal rewards players with extra content without having to spend real-world money. Even better, completing challenges unlocks courses permanently.
This is the pitch, anyway. The reality is that EA's new system is a disgusting, well-disguised sham that makes past DLC traps look like charity.
...
Rather than selling the audience iconic places like Banff Springs, it's made it more expensive than ever – and it's temporary.
Completing "Gold Mastery" tasks is the only way to open a course forever. The challenges are not only extremely difficult and time consuming -- sinking five Eagles, hitting the green in regulation 80 times, etc. -- but must be completed on each course players hope to own. Tiger 13 golfers need to spend dozens of their hours and/or dollars to spend additional time to possibly access a course indefinitely.
Coins earn players access to new courses, so playing Tiger Woods 13 as normal rewards players with extra content without having to spend real-world money. Even better, completing challenges unlocks courses permanently.
This is the pitch, anyway. The reality is that EA's new system is a disgusting, well-disguised sham that makes past DLC traps look like charity.
...
Rather than selling the audience iconic places like Banff Springs, it's made it more expensive than ever – and it's temporary.
Completing "Gold Mastery" tasks is the only way to open a course forever. The challenges are not only extremely difficult and time consuming -- sinking five Eagles, hitting the green in regulation 80 times, etc. -- but must be completed on each course players hope to own. Tiger 13 golfers need to spend dozens of their hours and/or dollars to spend additional time to possibly access a course indefinitely.
So what does everyone think of this system?
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I had a dream. It was an incredible dream. When I awoke, I had a huge mess to clean up.
