Platform: Xbox 360

Genre: Sports

Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’08 is just as visually stunning as ’07, but introduces many new features and controls that will give hardcore gamers a reason to pick up this year’s copy.

The biggest addition to the game is the introduction of EA Sports Gamernet, which will allow players to save clips of their shots and then post them online for other players to view and challenge. For example, if you were to shoot a hole-in-one on a par four, you can post that clip online and allow other players to try and do the same. It’s a pretty neat idea and there are already some crazy challenges posted. One challenge had me attempting to score a hole-in-one on a par four by bouncing the ball off the fairway, onto the green and into the hole. After about 10 or so tries I finally gave up.

Another addition to this year’s Tiger Woods is the “3- Click Swing.” Similar to Mario Golf or Hot Shots Golf, a gauge will appear at the bottom of the screen by pressing in the right analog stick. You then press the A button to get the meter going and stop it once for how much strength you’re wanting to use and then stopping it again for accuracy. It’s just another way of playing if you don’t like using the left analog stick to swing the ball. I kind of feel that the

3-Click Swing is somewhat out dated and for rookies, but some people complain that the analog stick is too sensitive. I think that’s a bunch of BS?you know how some gamers use whatever excuse they can come up with when they lose, cause I know I do.

Another neat feature in Tiger Woods ’08 is the ability to put your own face on a customized character. By importing photos of themselves (via digital camera or the Xbox Vision Camera), players can create a character that looks just like them.

The all-new “Draw & Fade” system allows you to draw and fade your shots with precision. You can toggle how much left or right you want to hit the ball. This really helps when driving off the tee whether you’re swinging with the analog stick or using the 3-Click Swing.

There is also a new “Putt Preview” that will show you a detailed outline of where your ball will go once you hit it. While putting, just click the LB button and you can see how you want to hit the ball to sink it. Be careful though, you can only use it once during a putt.

If you’re familiar with past Tiger Woods games, you’ll feel right at home with ’08. Don’t expect too many differences in gameplay and many of the modes, such as the Career mode and Tiger Challenge, are much the same. Once again, the visuals are stunning and both the golfers and courses look just like real life. If you’re a big fan of the series the new features should be reason to pick up this year’s edition, but otherwise ’07 is still a great game with the same graphics and pretty much the same gameplay.