Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 review

While real life golf may indeed be likened to a good walk spoiled, there is no doubt that as far as games go, golf is one of the most enjoyable ways I can find to spend time on my console. I’ve never really been a huge Tiger Woods fan (the game, not the man) and I’ve only dabbled lightly with them on occasion, tutting at how easy they are or how unintuitive some of the controls might be.

The last golf game to eat up huge chunks of my time was the superb Links on the Xbox, proving itself to be one of my most played games on Xbox Live. Electronic Arts are now infamous for their annual updates to their franchises where the theme has mostly stayed ‘The Game Remains The Same’. It’s with great pleasure that I’m pleased to report that with Tiger Woods 07 EA have managed to completely buck the trend and deliver something new, fresh, exciting and challenging. Sorry, I think someone has fainted at the back?

Judge, Al, I don't play golf... for money... against people

One accusation that can never be levelled at EA is a failure to produce the goods in the presentation department. Everything about Tiger Woods is a pleasure to look at and to navigate. The menus are user friendly and it’s incredibly easy to find the particular game mode you want to play. You can jump in straight away and play as any of the famous golfers, though I honestly think you will get the most out of the game by creating your own golfer first.

You have pretty much complete control over how they look and I recently had the shock of playing against a friend who had gaudy yellow socks pulled all the way up over his knobbly knees. There is a superb tutorial mode to get you started and even though it’s optional I really do advise that you play it. The game is a lot trickier this year and if you jump in without knowing what you are doing then you may end up frustrated. The tutorial is fun and informative though so you don’t have any excuse for not playing it.

Just be the ball, be the ball, be the ball. You're not being the ball Danny

Once your golfer is fully created and looking suitably stupid you are ready to tackle the main game. Probably the best place to start in Tiger Woods 07 is on the challenges. There are loads of these and they allow you to take on various golfers in one on one situations. It might be that the player closest to the pin gets a point, and the first to seven points wins the challenge or it might simply be a case of the longest drive wins the point.

There is plenty of variety and winning the challenges means that your golfing stats increase a little each time. Yes, you do indeed start off a bit rubbish but that’s the whole point, your player gets better (as does your swing thumb) the more you practice. As you play you earn and this allows you to buy more equipment and even sillier clothes. There is nothing like the sight of a camped up golfer strutting his way around the green.

Do you know what gophers can do to a golf course?

After a short time you really need to be thinking of jumping into the Tiger Challenge mode. This is where you get to go up against the greats of the golfing game including Tiger himself. If you get stuck, you can drop the difficulty to help yourself out a little and if you are finding it easy the game will actually suggest you turn the difficulty up a notch. The difficulty is one of the greatest changes in this year’s version; it really is a tricky beast that demands patience, concentration and skill to do well. Every golf game should be like this.

If you found earlier Tiger’s to be too easy you are going to thoroughly enjoy the double bogies this beast will throw at you until you get the hang of things. Even then, perfection on the course is far from guaranteed. There is also a standard PGA tour mode you can play so there is no shortage of single player options to expand the life of the game considerably. Visually the game is a real leap forward. The players themselves look fantastic and are expertly animated. The courses are gorgeous to look at and present a real challenge. Everything looks especially nice running in High Definition but even on your old favourite TV you are still going to enjoy the visual improvements on offer.

Remember Danny - Two wrongs don't make a right but three rights make a left

The control set up is brilliant using both sticks on the pad. Pull the left stick back to draw your swing then push smoothly forward to play the shot. Sounds easy? In theory it is, but I’m still hitting the odd shot wildly off to the side as my thumb struggles to keep up the precision needed for that perfect shot. The right stick allows you to apply some tilt to your club. Lower it for some loft or raise it for a lower, faster shot.

The usual shot types are available and they cover every situation so you can use pitch to get you out of the bunker, or a loft shot to drop right beside the pin. The shot is placed using quite a large guide circle and you can zoom in and change the club on the fly and see instantly how this will affect your current shot. Putting is the best I’ve seen in any golf game I’ve ever played with a wonderful putting grid showing you exactly what you need to know. Putting is a tricky affair but is oh so satisfying when you get it right.

Former greenskeeper and now about to become the masters champion!

The absolute icing on the cake is the Xbox Live integration. There is a great lobby system where you can meet up with random folk if you so desire but you can also easily set up games for up to 4 players with your friends. Though some people have struggled with the net-code, my experience has been smooth, lag free and highly enjoyable. It’s one of the few games to promote great conversation between friends as you chuckle at the awful shots and congratulate each other on the great shots.

There are plenty of modes to try out including a couple of new ones that will ensure you keep playing for some time to come. There is no doubt that one of the most enjoyable aspects of live will be to see who can come up with the silliest looking golfer but this is all part of the charm and never anything but hilarious when you see what your friends can create. Simply put, EA has genuinely raised the bar in the world of golfing games and Tiger Woods 07 will become the benchmark game that all others will be compared to for some time to come.