Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07

One of our all-time favorite sports franchises is the Tiger Woods series, which we manage to sink hundreds of hours into every year. Last year was a notable one for the series, as two distinct versions were developed: one for current-gen platforms like the Xbox and PS2, and an all-new version created for the Xbox 360 launch. That 360 version was met with decent-but-not-rave reviews, most often being labeled as a bare-bones offering when compared to the amount of content in other Tiger installments. At EA's 2006 summer press event, we had a chance to look at the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, as well as the Xbox and PS2 versions, which will once again be significantly different.

For starters, EA was eager to talk about the amount of content being put into the next-gen versions of Tiger 07. Six more courses are being added to the roster, doubling the total of the initial Xbox 360 version, including Spyglass, Princeville, Glen Abbey, Firestone, Bandon Dunes and the classic St. Andrews. Fifteen PGA Tour pros will appear in the game, including Annika Sorenstam, John Daly, Vijay Singh, and of course, Tiger Woods himself. As usual, progression through the game's content is a little different every year, and Tiger 07 will allow players to develop their skills in practice events (which EA's reps likened to Madden's Mini-Camp) before taking on the world's best in the World Tour.


Every year also brings subtle changes to the Tiger series, and the 2007 version is no different. The interface has been cleaned up a great deal, with a classier look using smaller text and serif fonts -- the result is that it looks strikingly different from other EA Sports offerings. A new "True Aiming" mode allows you to survey your intended target area, and instead of being able to pinpoint exactly where you'd like to drop your ball, you'll get a circular target area that shrinks as your attributes improve. The Gamebreaker feature has been removed (there were complaints that it was a bit too arcadish), and several steps have been taken to speed up the gameplay, such as picture-in-picture reactions from the golfers (instead of cutting back to isolated shots) and the ability to accelerate shots so you don't have to wait as long for your ball to land.

After seeing the bulk of our next-gen demo on the Xbox 360, we were whisked away to a separate area for a look at Tiger 07 on the PS3. Currently slated to be a launch title, we were told development on the PS3 version is about a month behind the Xbox 360's, and indeed the PS3 version was noticeably choppy, while the Xbox 360 version on display was running smooth as silk. However, the graphics still looked every bit as good, as evidenced by the demo we were given at St. Andrews.