Graphically Tiger 07 is simply the most beautiful golf game ever to hit the home console market. The character models in the “Create-a-Character” mode are amazing and the amount of detail alone is worth checking. Considering you can add “aging marks” to your player’s face or “crow’s feet” under his eyes, the game can sometimes get downright gross to look at. Once you get over the look of your character model you will instantly notice that the animations and imagery of the golfers is done much better this time around. Some of the animations do get repetitive but come on people, what do you expect? Models alone wouldn’t rate that high but if you throw in the gorgeous golf courses then it is hard to argue with the graphics of Tiger 07. Being the son of a 25-year golf course superintendent has its advantages when reviewing a game like Tiger Woods because it allows me to look at the game with a more realistic comparison than many people out there. Let me tell you, the courses in this game have everything from being realistically designed (compared to their real-world counterparts), to the way the grass is cut in little checkerboard patterns. EA has added a interactive crowd this time around meaning if you hit your ball off course and do not yell four you could actually strike a person in the crowd causing them to buckle over in pain. Throw in the great lighting effects and the large amount of attention to detail and Tiger 07 stacks up there nicely with any other sports title on the Xbox 360.
In the audio department Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 does everything in the average department. The announcer is “OK” but gets annoying really fast and the musical score of the game is everything we have come to expect from an EA title. The addition of the crowd adds for some nice cheering and booing effects that weren’t evident in previous versions. Also Tiger 07 has the integration of ESPN and all that ESPN Radio has to offer. This is a cool feature but unless you only load up the game once a day it also gets repetitive. At the end of the day Tiger 07 is the best golf game that is out there. The new additions to the control features, large amount of gameplay modes, stunning graphics, and so-so audio make up for one fun time on the golf course. This is one of those games that is actually playable until the 2008 version is released in a year, you can play it by yourself, with friends locally, or on Xbox Live, what more can you ask for? EA got a hole in one this time with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07.
