Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (PS3)

On the whole, Tiger Woods 2008 on PS3 is a joy to play. It really suits the next-gen software. However, there are some issues.

Firstly, the graphics of the golfers are amazing. Tiger looks fantastic and Monty has his own head-down walk. However, the environments look distincly PS2ish. The trees don't have leaves, rather long lines of green. Spectators look jaggedy but redeem themselves by having realistic animations when you hit them. But, when the ball is in flight you truly see the next-gen gameplay. As for frame-rate issues, I haven't noticed any as of yet.

Now onto the most important thing of all, gameplay. The first thing you notice is that this isn't just an update of 2007. The game is hard at first. EA have put in a new swing feature, reminiscent of Everybody's Golf. You activate it with a press of R3. It appears that they've tried to make this game accesible to those who either don't like the frankly more fun analog swing or have just decided to try this game after playing Everybody's Golf. Yes, the new system is more accurate at everything except putting but it takes the interactivity out of the game. You feel as though you haven't put anything into that shot. This wouldn't bother me if they'd kept the analog swing system untouched. Unfortunately, EA haven't. It's REALLY sensitive at first and you'll hook a few out of bounds and probably score a few bogeys but once you get used to it you won't turn back to the too easy new swing style. It's when it all comes together that you really start to appreciate this game. On one hole, I managed to score a double eagle thanks to some heavy thinking. For once, Tiger Woods makes you think about how to play the hole and not just blast the ball. If you're Tiger then you'll probably find yourself using the driver less and less especially on the links. The double eagle brings me nicely into the biggest feature of Tiger Woods 2008 - EA Sports Gamernet. After that hole I simply tapped square and my clip was saved and ready to be posted onto the internet. But it doesn't stop there. When you go online you can take Gamernet challenges ranging from sinking an incredibly fast putt to spinning a ball back 12 feet from 135 yards. Most of the challenges are user-created but a great novelty factor is the Celebrity Channel where Tiger Woods and other not so famous celebrities have laid down challenges themselves and the best thing is it's all constantly updating. The next big feature in this years game is Confidence. This only works with a created golfer or Rookie Tiger Woods (yes, you can play a career as him). Basically, for every shot on every hole on every course you play a confidence meter tracks how well you play that particular hole/course. My personal best hole was hole 7 at Carnoustie where I scored an eagle but my overall confidence at Carnoustie is around 45. It just shows the depth of the game where confidence changes during a round. All the usual EA features are there like ESPN updates and the majority of the controls are the same. There are some new modes but they don't really add much except a fun factor.

As for the Career mode,you can create yourself using either customisation options or put your face in the game with a couple of digital photos of you. I haven't tried this myself but I've heard it's very good. Or, as I chose to do you can play as Rookie Tiger Woods but you don't get any extra skill points, you have to work as hard as you would if you created a character. My advice is to stay away from tournaments for a while and just get your skills up. This is done through mini-games and is actually fun. I'm at skills of 35 so far which is nearing Pro level but I still haven't entered a tournament as my character is shockingly bad. He can't even putt straight yet. This mode keeps you entertained and will probably see you coming back to the game where previous Tiger Woods games would have been left to gather dust. Combine this with Gamernet and you have a long-term investment.

All in all, Tiger plays great on PS3. EA has certainly made some attempt to utilise the power of PS3 with Confidence, great graphics of golfers, Gamernet and Put your face in the game. The only trouble is that the things they didn't put much effort into are really obvious. The environments look poor and while the Everybody's Golf system will appeal to some it will annoy the long-term Tiger Woods player. The Analog swing system needs less sensitivity but at least its more challenging than previous editions. Fun-wise I haven't played a round yet that hasn't been enjoyable and the ability to save your highlights to the internet adds real incentive. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who has played any of the Tiger's before.

Oh the joys of living in Canada! Early release games on the PS3 (Region Free is the way forward, I have a UK PS3) Released today here and very impressed. Game is of course a continuation from previous TW PGA Tours, with added benefits of the photo game face which allows you to put your own face on to the player. A little fiddly but worth the effort to get it right, very lifelike! Game easy as ever to play but not so to master (I suspect) I am a fan of the TW PGA games and have always enjoyed them, I had 07 on the 360 and found it a little too unforgiving and frustrating as a result. The camera angles are much improved with much better views of putting lines etc. The putt preview on this PGA is good enabling you to view around the green from low down and above to select the line of your putt more accurately. There is also a gamer net feature which allows the uploading of shots, rounds, half rouinds and funnies which in turn become challenges. I have not used the facility yet so wouldnt like to comment on it. There is also a confidence menu which stores your history of shots, enabling you to view your own history of courses and holes. Again I have yet to use it. All in all I have enjoyed the few hours I have had with the game thus far and can recommend to all.

I was so looking forward to playing this game but what a let down it is.For a start the action is very jerky and the controls using the stick are very sensetive.The only thing that it has going for it is more golfers and more courses.But quality is squashed by quantity.If they had added half of the golfers and courses and put a bit more into gameplay then it could have been a cracker.I own woods 06 on the 360 and it knocks this version out of the park.Only a few golfers to select and not many courses but i will still be playing it long after i have thrown away woods 08 on ps3.One last gripe i have with the game and it does actually apply to the whole range of tiger woods golf games not just this one.When i pay a lot of money for a game i do not expect to be able to play a small version of it.I do not want to unlock courses and golfers the better i get at the game.I want these options available from the start.That is not because i am no good at the game it is just that i dont see why after paying so much money you should only get a small portion of the game and then have to waste your time unlocking the rest.