Golf is a funny sport in America, up until about 1996 the sport was loved by few and watched by even fewer. In 1996 a person named Tiger Woods literally said “Hello World” to the PGA golfing community and everyone else, and made the sport of golf an average American’s pastime. So when EA decided to start a golfing videogame franchise it didn’t take much genius to figure out who the cover boy of the venture would be, Tiger Woods. Now the Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise has become the best selling golf game of all time and is played by not only golf enthusiasts, but also drunk college guys and middle-aged businessmen alike. I have always been a huge fan of the series so am going to go ahead and ignore that embarrassment that was Tiger 2006 on the Xbox 360, lets just assume that this year’s shot is the first Tiger game to grace a next generation console. EA did one hell of a job with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 making it easily the best golf game I have ever played on a home console, having a perfect mix of arcade type golf and simulation style that those hardcore fans are going to love.
This year around EA has packed more modes and goodies into Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Tiger 07 from now on) so that fans of the series will be overly impressed with the amount of time they can put into this game, not only by themselves but with their buddies as well. You start off at a driving range that acts as both the menu and the training mode of Tiger 07. After loading up the real menu gamers are bombarded with a list of modes that rivals any game out there. Starting off you need to first create a character, male or female, old or young, short or tall, fat or skinny, the choices are yours alone to decide. After going through the average looks EA dives deep giving gamers the option to add moles, pimples, colored hair, scars, etc. to make up one of the most customized “create-a-character” modes that I have seen from EA. Once your character is complete it is time to start revving up your player attributes, for this EA has included an assortment of mini-games such as the golfer’s spin on H-O-R-S-E or a golfing “home run derby”, and many others. Now that you are ready to hit the links in Career mode there is an assortment of Tours at your disposal for play, the classic Tiger Challenge (where you go head to head against a professional golfer working your way up to eventually play Tiger himself), skins games (where you can bet your winnings from previous tournaments), and other things to keep you busy in Career Mode.
The course list is not massive but it is large enough to keep the game from becoming repetitive, and it is obvious that EA spent more time making the courses look amazing than going overboard on the courses; quality over quantity is always a good thing in video games. There are 12 courses to choose from in Tiger 07 which more than doubles the amount that was available in last year’s rendition. Once you are done kicking ass in Career mode it is time to move onto what has made me a fan of the Tiger series since day one, the multiplayer. Yes, EA has included Xbox Live play if you want to challenge someone from Hawaii but there are also plenty of modes to keep you and your local buddies busy. There are ranked and unranked games, but once again finding a game is not the easy thing it should be. Everything from skins to match play, best ball, etc. are available in Tiger 07 for you to challenge your local friends in. All of these great modes wouldn’t be worth much if the game was not fun though, EA has saved itself from last year’s embarrassment and made Tiger 07 both an arcade golf game or a golf simulator at the same time, depending on which style you prefer. There are different difficulty settings in Tiger 07, which change not only the hardness of your opponents but also the overall feel of the game, from arcade-type fun to simulation reality.
There are also a few new control features that were added this year, but simply put if you have played a Tiger Woods game before you will feel right at home with Tiger 07. Taking away from the simplicity that was evident in previous versions of the golfing franchise, EA has thrown in the “True Aiming System” which is basically an aiming system that allows for more precise aiming as well as more precise bunker shots. The days of having a simple pull back and swing attitude are gone, now are the days of having an “area” that your golfer can hit into and trying to get as close to the middle of that area as possible. Early on in the game the area will be very large but as your golfer progresses in skill that area will tighten up and you will be able to place the ball an inch from the cup from 90 yards out. Tiger 07 also gives the ability to have a little more control over where the ball goes and what type of shot you decide to hit. Of course slicing the ball into the trees is always a possibility if you try and get too fancy with your shot. The learning curve for hitting those “heart thumping” shots is a little higher this year than with previous versions of Tiger Woods. After a couple hours on the course though I was doing just fine and was able to keep my ball on the green more than in the sand. As far as gameplay goes Tiger 07 is a nice step in the right direction, it is not a jump ahead but it’s still progress either way.
