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GOLF HAS ACHIEVED A high level of popularity worldwide and more people are taking up the sport than ever. This can largely be attributed to the popularity of Tiger Woods. His triumphs and defeats have seen him become a legend in the sport and he is the star attraction of any event he attends. His namesake golf game has attained a similar status, with many considering it the best golf simulation ever made. Recently, though, the series has become somewhat jaded and although it's still fun to play, it has not offered any real challenge to 'golf nut' gamers.
Its debut on the Xbox 360, then, as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, did not hold any particular expectations other than the the usual tweaks and course changes. However the game has surprised us with what it has - and has not - delivered.
What first struck us about this title is how serious it was. Gone are the almost arcade-like driving challenges; instead this game is all about delivering a realistic golfing challenge over some of the worlds toughest courses. Career mode is where this is the most evident. The game begins with player selection, using the now familiar character creator that appears in most EA Sports games. You can select or change just about any feature of your character including every aspect of their facial features and body structure. In fact, creating your character is almost a game in itself (ours was an 18-year-old-blonde girl with unfeasibly large... shoulders).
The first few challenges presented to you in your new career are relatively straightforward. They introduce the concepts of chipping, driving and putting. What is immediately obvious, however, is that the controls, although largely familiar to fans of the series, are now more sensitive - a lot more sensitive. In previous Tiger Woods games it did not take much skill to place a ball directly down the fairway with monotonous regularity. This time around, any slight deviation from the straight backstroke on your left hand control yoke, and the forward swing of the yoke will result in the ball flying off into the rough, or worse still - out of bounds. This is further exacerbated by the position of the power button situated on the left. Furious mashing of the power button while trying to keep a straight back swing is a real challenge.
The right control yoke is set up to introduce the swing and lift. It determines where you will strike the ball and this too is implemented as part of the back swing. Again, this increases the difficulty of the game. However, mastering this aspect of gameplay ultimately determines how successful you will be.
As you progress, so do the challenges and the ability of players you come up against. You will find yourself playing some of the holes over and over again before you can unlock additional challenges and courses to play. We found the "closest to the hole" challenges to be the most difficult. These appear quite early in the game when you are still trying to master the controls, and to be good at them you need to be on top of the control system.
Putting is no more challenging than in previous titles, with a grid overlay being provided that indicates rate of slope and direction. This setup is pretty much a standard for games of this type and although the putting power and direction control once again seemed more sensitive than in previous titles, it was easier to master then other aspects of the game.
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