Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (PlayStation 3)

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Tiger 07's gameplay isn't vastly different than other games in the series, but there are a few changes that make the experience more challenging and enjoyable. Swinging your club uses the tried-and-true method of pulling down and then pushing up on the left analog stick. You can add a draw or a fade by moving the left analog stick down and then up at an angle during your swing. The right stick is used to change where you address the ball. You can hit under the ball to add loft and backspin to a shot, while striking the ball above the center gives your shot a lower trajectory with lots of topspin. A little extra oomph can be put on your shot by pressing L1 or the X button during your swing, and spin is added by pressing the same buttons and a directional while the ball is in flight. The Sixaxis' motion-sensing capabilities aren't put to the test here. You can add spin to the ball by holding L1 or X and rotating the controller in the direction you want the ball to spin. This method works just fine, but the game's not really any better for its inclusion. A new system called "true aiming" makes shot selection a less by-the-books affair by replacing the cursor that essentially pinpointed where your shot would land with a large circle that covers a much wider area. If you hit your shot just right, the ball should land somewhere in that circle. Should you miss, however, you're likely to end up in serious trouble. When using golfers with higher levels of skill, the circle doesn't come into play too often, but anyone playing with a new golfer will frequently find themselves questioning if the extra 10 yards of distance on a club is worth the increased size of the landing zone. You can still take huge risks--you're just more likely to pay for them now.

The standard control scheme for putting works much in the same way it did in previous years, with a few noticeable changes. You still use the left stick to putt, but you can now add a little extra speed by using the right stick to hit the top of the ball, adding topspin. Conversely, you can take some speed off of a putt by hitting it lower and adding some backspin. Both of these options come in handy for putts that are on either side of the putter's power level. An overlay is placed on the green, and you'll need to read the slope by how fast the white dots move along the grid. This is more important than ever because the ideal putt-cam that shows you the ideal putting line is gone--at least on the default difficulty level. It's still available on the easy setting, and you can turn it on in the game options. Veterans of the series shouldn't have much of a problem adjusting to life without the putt-cam. The basic system is very familiar and it's forgiving enough that you'll still be able to make long putts, except now you won't be making them on every hole.

There's no question that Tiger Woods 07 is an impressive-looking game. The created golfers look wonderful and have a host of unique animations to bring them to life. Each golfer has a unique swing, which makes them not only look different but also play different. The professional players generally look good, but there are a few that look pretty rough, and many of their animations are canned and repetitive. Tiger, of course, looks great, as do Annika and Vijay. John Daly doesn't look a whole lot like the real John Daly (perhaps this is a good thing), and Colin Montgomerie is downright scary. A picture-in-picture window shows player reactions in real time as the ball is in the air. This is entertaining for a bit, but most of the golfers don't react in any way that's worth watching more than a few times.

Courses also look better than ever, though like in the rest of the game, there's room for improvement. Vibrant colors, crisp visuals, and little touches, such as flocks of birds flying over the green or waves breaking along the shore, make each course beautiful. On the negative side, some shadows appear and disappear for no reason, green and fairway textures don't look so hot upon close inspection, and the rocks on the cliffs at Pebble Beach are last-gen quality at best. Though it never affects gameplay, the frame rate is a little unstable during some of the fly-bys that take place before each hole. Crowds line each hole and will track the ball as it's hit. You can even watch them run up and down the side of the fairway as they scramble for a better view. Unfortunately they don't make much of an effort to get out of the way of your ball. This is a big problem after a drive, where any chance you may have had of your ball rolling onto the fairway is routinely killed by a fan who's anchored to the ground. Occasionally this works in your favor, particularly around the greens when fans sacrifice their bodies and keep errant shots over the green from going too far away.

Most of the audio in Tiger Woods 07 sounds good--or as good as can be expected from a golf game. The crowds are lively and react with enthusiasm to a great shot. David Feherty and Gary McCord are back and seemingly have nothing new to say. The commentary plays it too straight in a game that's otherwise full of personality. Their negative comments appear to have been toned down a bit, but the duo still drinks "Haterade" and just loves to rub it in after a poor shot. For the most part their observations are accurate, though they'll occasionally praise you for hitting the ball in the rough and chastise you for what ends up being a perfectly good shot. Should you choose to forgo the announcers, there are lots of ambient noises to listen to instead. You'll hear birds chirping, planes flying overhead, and, on Pebble Beach, the sea crashing into the cliffs.

A few people may lament the series' shift toward realism, but almost universally, the changes and additions serve to make Tiger Woods 07 on the PlayStation 3 (and the Xbox 360) the best game in the series. The courses are beautiful, the golfers look better than ever, and of course, the create-a-character is second-to-none. But there are a few things that could have been better. Twelve courses is still on the low side of what one would expect from a Tiger Woods game, a lot of the different modes and minigames feel the same, and with many of the graphics being outstanding, the ones that aren't so great are more noticeable. That said, it's an excellent game, and if you're searching for a great round of video game golf, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is what you're looking for.

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Where to buy

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (PlayStation 3): $4.00 - $28.99

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	$18.48	Yes
	$4.00	Yes

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