The best golfer gets the best game
This version of Tiger Woods is by far the most enjoyable I have played so far in the series. Previous to 09 coming out I always enjoyed 07 the most but the newest game gets the difficulty curve right and adds loads of new features to increase the games longevity.
The biggest improvement comes from the fact that every shot you hit counts for something. At the end of every round you are assessed for your Power, Accuracy, Short game and Putting. If you have a poor round then your stats in these fields will drop which will ultimately affect your shot making during your next round. Of course if you play really well then your stats rise and you end up hitting the ball much better.
Also the addition of the Gamernet system means that you are competing against various other players across the globe who have saved replays of their best shots and uploaded them. This means that practically every shot from tee to green becomes not only a challenge to break par and keep your stats high but also against another players shot. Every Gamernet challenge shot you beat during a round gives you Gamernet points which can also be given out by taking part in the online Gamernet challenges. These points put you on a daily leaderboard for yet more competition against Tiger fans across the globe. The only flaws with this system is the odd server crash and the fact that if you do not have access to Xbox Live then you will be missing out on a great feature which adds so much to an already great game.
The game looks great with lovely looking courses and some great water effects. You can also make your created golfer look as close to yourself or anyone else for that matter now with the ability to take a photograph of yourself using an Xbox Live Vision Cam or by uploading an image to the EA Sports World website. This process though is not without its frustrations though as you need to register an account on the website and then link that to your Gamertag which can be fiddly and took me a few attempts to get it all working correctly.
Overall though this is a great golf game and the odd little niggles here and there mainly with the EA servers in no way take away from the fact that this is the best Tiger yet and a game I can see me playing for some time to come.
