EA Sports’ Tiger Woods games have consistently been the best golf games on the market. So much so, that in the world of simulation golf games it doesn't have any competition. With EA's recent annual release, the bar has been pushed even further with a game that not only will impress the hardcore golf audience, but the casual who only tune into golf tournaments to watch Tiger Woods.

GamePlay

This year’s Tiger Woods provided gamers with tweaks and enhancements to an already sound gameplay experience. The analog stick feels better than ever when using it to swing your club and you can visit the Club Tuner in the game to further tweak your golf bag. Visiting the Club Tuner lets you tune your individual wedges, irons, woods and driver to get the most out of your clubs. Obviously, you'll need to balance the risks of club performance versus ease of use.

Another new feature this year is the ability to have Tiger Wood's real coach Hank Haney guide you through your career. The best thing about this feature is that it makes perfect sense with the all new Dynamic Skills feature. Instead of building your golfer from scratch this year, you are put through various mini-games to rate how good of a golfer you are, which ends up being a lot similar to the Madden IQ tests in this years version of Madden 09. Once you have your base skills you can compete on the PGA Tour verses other golfers. After each round the Dynamic Skills feature rates how you did and either increases or decreases your stats which break down into power, accuracy, short game, and putting. After each round, coach Haney asks you if you'd like to practice a bit which gives you a chance to increase your stats even more. With these two key features I never felt like I wasn't good enough to compete with the other golfers on tour and the only way I would fall behind on the leaderboards would be due to my own mistakes.

When it comes to playing golf online, the thing I always hated was waiting for the other guy to take his shot. I play pretty fast so I expect my opponent to as well, but this year EA brings us impatient gamers an all new 4-player online simultaneous player mode. This mode allows four people to complete a round in the time it takes you to play alone. Finally, no more waiting for your friends since you will see their ball trail while all four of you play each hole at the same time. If you finish the hole first, then you can switch to a spectator mode which makes it a lot of fun to try and mess up your friends shot.

Graphics

As with all EA Sports next-gen titles, this game looks stunning and you can tell they worked extra hard to get it just right. Everything from the water to the sky to Tiger Woods himself is exactly what you expect from a top tier golf fame. This year’s version brings you 5 new courses and 11 updated courses with enhanced graphics. This game will certainly be up for the prettiest sports game award by the end of the year.

Sound

Have you ever watched a golf tournament and wondered what it would be like without any announcers to bore you into submission? That is what went through my mind after listening to the new announcers Kelly Tilghman and Sam Torrance. As far as golf announcers go, these two are middle of the road but don't expect anything spectacular.

You can always expect a new EA Sports game to come packed with a new soundtrack each year and Tiger Woods 09 does not disappoint. Don't expect to be blown away by the tracks picked this year, but that isn't a bad thing. With music that doesn't damper the experience and impressive sounds on the golf course, it's easy to forget about the terrible commentary team and their repetitive dialog.

Plasmafactor

Hey EA, you've made the ultimate golf game so what are you going to do next? Hopefully, you won't be satisfied with your current progress and you give us a full-fledged career mode. I want a storyline next year and I’ll even give you a freebie tip. You have Tiger dominating the tour and then this young rookie takes the world by surprise and becomes Woods biggest rival. It's just a thought of course.

Conclusion

Tiger Woods 2009 is the greatest golf game ever made. EA has finally created the perfect blend of simulation with casual friendly controls. In the game, you never feel like you are fighting with the controls and when you do make a mistake on the course you can only blame yourself for shanking it into the water. The lack of intelligent commentators is the only bad thing I have to say about the game and that means a lot coming from someone as critical as me.