There's nothing wrong with fine-tuning something, be it the strings on your guitar, the keys on your piano, or the mechanics of a game. If it's already good then why bother giving it an overhaul? For the last couple of years, Tiger Woods has received something of a fine tuning - maybe with a novelty or two put in or taken out, and maybe even a story, or some funky time travelling idea, but Tiger Woods was always Tiger Woods, and players were safe in the knowledge that their favourite golfing game would remain more or less unchanged. But EA doesn't just want to cater for gamers, and in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 you can see that they've branched out to target the golfing community, adding a degree of realism and taking away novelties that are sure to make real golfers happy. The question is, does this new formula rock the boat for casual players?

The answer is not a simple yes or no. In Tiger Woods 07, the biggest change has to be the True Aiming system. This alone makes the game ultra realistic, because now when you look onto the course to see where your ball will land, you're presented with a rather large circle - a vicinity - where your golf ball could land. Naturally, this is more true to life, because in earlier games you were just given a little arrow and you could bet that, providing you hit the ball right, your ball would land where the arrow was pointing. Now you have to face the fact that your ball just might not go where you planned, and factor that into your game. However, to combat this, you can buy better clubs that reduce the vicinity where your ball could land, while building your player's stats helps increase the chances that you get that hole in one after all.

Continuing with the 'for golfers' vibe, if you connect to the EA servers you can access ESPN On Demand, a service that allows you to see all the latest updated golfing news from ESPN - perfect for those players who want to play a game of Tiger Woods while keeping an eye on how the real Tiger Woods is doing in the real world. Speaking of online modes, there's a wealth of things to do online, from serious full hole games to challenges you can play daily on the online calendar, which means that if you want to play one of the EA set challenges that happens in four days' time, you'll have to wait four days until that day comes around. What a great idea to keep players coming back! There are also options to upload your scores - and if you're feeling a little bit light hearted, you can play loads of mini-games with your online pals, one of which has you playing with only one ball. Each player takes it in turns to hit the ball and the one to get it in the hole wins. This calls for some strategy though, because you have to hit the ball at least half of the remaining distance to the hole with each shot - but you want to be aiming to hit the ball into an awkward position for your opponent to get out of. Think of it like snookering your opponent!

The controls of the PS3 version of Tiger Woods 07 are as fluid and natural to use as fans of the series have come to expect. After using True Aiming to circle your area of landing, obviously not going further than your club allows, you use the thumbstick to pull back the golf club and quickly push it forward for a powerful hit. Of course, you can pull the club back or hit the ball as viciously or gently as you need to, which is perfect for those precise moments. It doesn't end with backwards and forwards though - you can add to your swing by rapidly tapping a button while pulling back and when you've hit the ball you might want to put a spin on it in midair, to ensure that when the ball lands, it rolls in the right direction. You can spin the ball with directional buttons, or with the PS3 sixaxis pad, which you can spin around for the same effect. While this idea is novel at first, you soon get sick of juggling your controller around just to get an effect that you can easily achieve with a couple presses on a directional button.

The Career mode is the main meat of the game, as always, which is where you compete in rounds of golf that appear on your calendar, as well as tournaments against big named professionals, building yourself a profile at the same time. As you earn money and stats from your career, you'll want to go shopping for new clubs, appeal and golfing animations to give your character a bit more personality, and a bit more functionality when it comes to improving your True Aim with the statistics of the new clubs on offer. Aside from the main career modes, you can play in quick rounds from the main menu, as well as mini-games, training games and perhaps a customised round of golf on a summer's evening with a cup of tea is in order too, old chap!

Some highlights from the previous Tiger instalments have made it into the mix this time around, the most notable of which is probably the Gameface, something that all major EA Sport titles have now. For those of you who aren't in the know, Gameface is a powerful character editor that allows you to virtually shape any face and create a character that looks something like you - or even someone who you'd prefer to look like! With so many hairstyles and so many details like age spots, freckles and a scary amount of facial hair options too, you'll have lots of fun making new golfers in Tiger Woods 07. As with Tiger Woods 06, this latest version brings back the stat building method in the sense that you have to use your skills before they build themselves - a 'practise makes perfect' way of doing things. A gamer who puts muscle into his swing will build his swing stat quicker than someone who relies on luck - but the gamer relying on luck will just continue to get luckier, as that will be the skill they constantly build. This method, in my opinion, is a lot more intuitive that simply buying stats from a shop.

The graphics for the PS3 version of this game are brilliant, although I feel that not much has been done in the way of utilising Sony's beast's full potential, as the visuals look a lot like those found in the Xbox 360 version. Evidently that's no bad thing; the real captured golfing movements come across beautifully, especially as you see Tiger Woods elegantly swinging his club like he does in real life. The greens are stunningly mowed and the scenery in the distance is wonderful to behold too. Uncompressed audio on the PS3 means that you can hear what the crowd are thinking - figuratively speaking of course - but it's really great to listen to their reaction to every move you make; sighs when you don't get the ball where you wanted and claps of glee when you eventually put it in the hole. The commentary this year sounds a lot like last year's Tiger Woods - clearly the same two commentators have been used - but aside from a few familiar phrases that I recognise from my years of playing Tiger Woods, the duo do another good job of voicing the game's progress.

Something that all golfers - casual or professional - will appreciate is the new menu system. Not only is it easy to navigate, but it looks clean and also integrates well with the new training course that your golfer can play on at any time. This training course is a luscious green with big targets and obstacles for your golfer to improve his stats, and hopefully for you to improve your game at the same time. The training green is home to many mini-games too, which are fun to play and also teach you a great deal about the gameplay.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 has been finely tuned for gamers looking for more of a simulation, but this could upset the casual players who enjoyed the accessibility of the Tiger Woods series, as the True Aiming system, while feeling a lot truer to life, actually makes it a little bit harder to get a good score. However, it's the challenge that Tiger Woods 07 provides that should keep both casual players and ardent golfers glued to their seats, and it's that raw challenge and the thrill of a win that really does compensate for silly little novelties that a golfing game really doesn't need, despite enjoying them in the past. It's not the frills that make a game, it's the sheer excitement of actually winning that counts, and Tiger Woods 07 nails the satisfaction of an intense, challenging and enjoyable round of golf.

Reviewed by Dexter Pearson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).