Surprising as it may seem I have managed to avoid all the incarnations of Tiger Woods so far in my gaming pursuits. Probably not being an avid golfer was fairly instrumental in my games choices to date.

So I started the review of the game with some trepidation being the only one down the pub in my group of mates who doesn’t get excited about the Ryder Cup. Fortunately even a golfing n00b can literally leap in. My last venture on the digital fairways was probably on Leaderboard on the C64! Yeah I know golf games have come a long way since then (and I’m not including Wii Sports golf which I HAVE played...)

The game supports two methods of controlling the club during swings. The left analogue stick can be used for both power and speed control (including hooking and slicing the ball like I did at the “real life” driving range.) Add additional tapping on the X key during an analogue backswing and you can boost your shot power to over 100%. Otherwise the traditional ‘triple tap’ button press can be used; press once to start powering up, once to stop at the correct power then the final push to select accuracy. Tap, tap, tap - easy.

After a brief play late one night I thought I’d try out the game with the missus to get a multiplayer game going. Tried explaining the triple tap controls but she preferred the analogue style instead. Decided to go easy on her at first because she does not often play games and always insists that I “HAVE” to win and complains when I do well. Anyway within 2-3 holes she is whooping my ass all over the course and I’m losing badly. After 18 holes she beat me hands down. However, in my disjointed round of golf I did get to visit plenty of the course, getting stuck in the woods for a while and being insulted by the full gamut of sarcastic commentary. Even though I was beaten it was a fun game and a credit to the ease with which you can get into the game.

Deciding to probe a little further I tried about some of the other features. One that I HAD to try was the new “Photo Game Face”, which allows you to create your own avatar from a front photo and side photo. Not having many side profile shots to hand (who would unless you had a complex about the size of your nose?) I plugged in the trusty old PS2 eye toy. Two quick and grainy snaps and we’re off. Pinpoint the relevant points on the images; eyes, ears, top of nose etc and then... wait... Now the PS3 is a “next-gen” console capable of rendering millions on polygons in the blink of an eye, containing a cell processor with enough power to process a billion simultaneous moon landings. So why does it take 20 minutes to process two photographs? Well the handy text on screen does tell you what’s going on. “Binarizing data”, “Orthogonal paradigm shift”, “rerouting main CPU to load random text” (hmmm?), “Geonome mapping modifying meta data” (wait a minute)! I half expected “trans-combobulating the ooo-ge-ma-flip” to come up next. I guess it helps to pass the time though, cheeky b*ggers.

Tailored with the career mode is the personal coach to give you lots of encouragement and tips to develop your player, you can complete optional challenges that he gives you to upgrade your player’s stats. Truckloads of options are available for different combinations of multiplayer games and single player mini games such as target practice.

Then there are all the online features. Firstly you are able to join games directly by searching for particular styles of games or people at your skill level or you can enter the lobby, look for friends and create your own custom game. I found the online experience difficult to get into at first but realised that this was mainly due to my hanging about joining a game. My PS3 locked up once whilst trying to get online too. If you do not connect straight away after searching the list of games the remaining places on a game are likely to be filled.

Another feature is Gamernet that regularly pops up challenges on certain holes to see if you can beat a record that has already been set in the game. These are often ‘nearest the pin’ type affairs. This is a nice addition that gives you a little extra to achieve, and the chance to go down in history online if you do pull off a monumental shot (or fluke it.)

My only real gripe was the excessive usage of bass on the audio. My sub woofer was almost at window rattling levels for the entire game no matter how much I adjusted the music and sound effect levels in the game. Now I’m all for the throaty rumble of a muscle car but isn’t flicking through menu options with an accompanying boom to challenge an atomic bomb a bit of overkill on a golf game...?