The last time EA released a disc-based Tiger Woods game on home PCs, it was in 2008. The message delivered by that long absence, it seemed, was that EA wasn't terribly invested in PC gamers when it came to its flagship golf franchise. Then came the announcement that Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 would be coming to the PC, ending the long absence of the franchise. Suddenly, golf fans were rejuvenated, thrilled to be getting a full-fledged port of the Xbox 360 and/or PlayStation 3 version of the game, especially after having only the microtransaction-focused, free-to-play Tiger Woods Online to satiate their needs for so long.
Then Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 for the PC actually came out, and, well...let's just say, PC players might have some semblance of an idea of how Elin Woods felt.
Between EA's official forums, Reddit, and even our own forums, there seems to be an overwhelming opinion about this version of the game: it stinks.
Specifically, it appears that Tiger 12 on the PC is more or less just a reskinned, mildly upgraded version of Tiger Woods Online. Features advertised on EA's official promo page for the PC version, including the much-vaunted "Caddie Experience," are flat-out missing from this version. Additionally, the look and feel of the game is apparently near-on identical to that of Tiger Woods Online. That means no crowd gallery, stiffer animations, and a scaled back graphical engine compared with that of the console versions. True PC Gaming has a fairly detailed (and savage) evisceration of the PC version, if you're interested in learning more.
To add a bit of insult to injury, Tiger 12 on the PC comes with a free three-month subscription to Tiger Woods Online. In effect, you are getting a free browser-based subscription to the same game that you just paid $40 for. So, that's awesome.
The one piece of good news in this entire debacle is that EA is apparently willingly handing out refunds to anyone who complains. You need only head over to EA's support site, complain accordingly, and you'll get your money back. It's almost as if EA expected some kind of blow back over this situation, as if it knew that people might not be super into the idea of a $40 version of a free-to-play game. And yet, EA went ahead with it anyway, because hey, they already had this free PC game lying around. Why not just shove it out there with a few extra pieces and assume people will be cool with it? Right? Right...?