EA have made great strides in recent years to eradicate their industry image as an innovation-devoid, money hungry super corporation. Handling publishing duties on such wide ranging and critically acclaimed titles as Spore and the Orange Box has helped no end, while huge changes to their own in-house developed titles, especially in the field of sports games, has seen them winning over critics and gamers alike. While the introduction of the shot swing stick revolutionised golf games and made the competition all but obsolete, releases such as last year's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 helped to remind the public that EA are still prone to the occasionally lazy sequel.

Tiger Woods 08 suffered from a twitchy, overly harsh control scheme, a hit-and-miss online component and a huge lack of improvements and new content over its predecessor. Don't get me wrong, it still played a decent game of golf, it's just that, of all the companies out there, especially of the high profile persuasion, EA simply can't afford to rest on their laurels if they want to fully win over their critics and make believers of the gaming public.

So, enter Tiger Wood PGA Tour 09; on the surface it might look like another borderline lazy instalment in the acclaimed franchise, but look a little closer and you will find a game that has been subtly - and brilliantly - refined to make it far and away the best game in the series, a game that quietly returns the series to its former glory. The control scheme is largely the same as last year's iteration, but Tiger Woods 09 proves to be a much more user-friendly affair. Gone are the days that saw anything but the most perfectly aligned shot ending up deep in the rough; TW 09 offers a more forgiving swing mechanic, combined with a host of new options and implementations to help even the most useless of videogame golfers find their way.

The swing is still controlled via the right analogue stick using the sublimely natural swing stick mechanic, while the left analogue stick controls which area of the ball you wish to strike, for added fade and draw. Like last year, you can also easily switch to the more traditional three-button swing mechanic if you prefer. Of course, you can also smash the power button during your back swing for that extra bit of oomph when looking to achieve those longest drive milestones. What is different this year however is the simple but game changing introduction of instant feedback on every swing you make, just one of a collection of gameplay tweaks that really does improve the overall package of Tiger Woods 09 and makes easing in newcomers a completely unobtrusive aspect of the gameplay. It's not just newcomers who benefit from this new addition either, as even the most skilled of Tiger Woods aficionados will find this simple heads up display useful for those rare wayward shots.

To further help along the uninitiated and cater to the perfection seeking pros comes the introduction of the all new driving range mode, with Tiger's real life coach, Hank Haney, on hand to help. Here you can change and refine each of your clubs to suit your own unique playing style. Having trouble getting that perfect swing? Just increase the sweet spot on your driver at the cost of a few potential yards. Looking to break all those long distance records? Reduce the sweet spot but gain a potentially stronger drive. You can even add bias to one side of your swing to counterbalance your natural swing if you tend to slide to the left or right. It's a brilliantly organic and perfectly implemented risk/reward mechanic that allows you to choose your own style of play in a very natural and intuitive fashion. It also helps that the system is simple to use and never overbearing to newcomers, yet far from simplistic for those who wish to dig a little deeper.

Hank Haney's role doesn't end there either; beyond the driving range and club tuner mechanic, good old Hank helps your career progression by constantly updating your skill levels and offering up new challenges as you progress. Money, like in previous releases, is still earned via the usual completion of the PGA Tour mode and the many mini challenges that come with it, along with entry into the Tiger Challenge mode and the plethora of tournaments that are available. You can inevitably buy new gear with this money, which does occasionally earn you a minor skill boost, but other than that, the perseverance-friendly, money-based skill system of old has been replaced with a more organic skill progression that sees skill attribute points raised and lowered according to your performance.

This constant flux of skills not only keeps you on your toes and diminishes complacency but also provides a much more natural progression for your created character as you improve your game and aim for Tiger-like levels of excellence. At the end of each round, Hank pops up to mentor you and your created golfer on what you did well and what aspects you may have struggled with. Points are then dished out accordingly, thus encouraging improvement of the weaker aspect of your game. Of those weaker portions of your game, you are given the opportunity to enter a collection of short mini challenges, when Hank gives you the chance to pick up a few attribute points that you may have missed on your round. Although not perfect, this mechanic does encourage self-improvement while successfully making you aware of your strengths and weaknesses as you progress; it's just a shame that every so often you will find yourself positioned right behind a tree or a bush. The actual raising and lowering of attribute points also goes awry every once in a while, with points gained or lost not accurately representing what happened on screen.

Most of the game modes are par for the course (sorry) and EA has upped its game for the online additions to Tiger Woods 09. Last year was far from short on online options; it was the execution that left many players feeling cold to the experience. Tiger Woods 09 has gone a long way to rectifying a lot of the issues that plagued last year's release. The first and probably most notable improvement is the opportunity to play online matches with up to three other players simultaneously, taking out the boring, often time-consuming wait for other players to take their shot. Each of your competitors' shots are now signified via a coloured line that, while a little too prominent, does allow for a much speedier and visually rewarding experience; it really is nice to see your ball creep past those other coloured lines as you drive down the fairway.

Another subtle but surprisingly substantial improvement comes in the form of the hugely improved EA GamerNet. While you can still upload shots, rounds and holes and lay down challenges to others at the press of a button, these challenges have now been smoothly incorporated into the single player aspect, with constant updates as to who has the longest drive on the course you are currently playing and so on. You can even add the feature for challenges to appear as you play through the single player game, with markers shown for long drives and challenge updates providing an added incentive to raise your game at all times. These EA GamerNet challenges also make the lifespan almost infinite, thanks to the never-ending collection of challenges online, which range from surprisingly easy to ridiculously hard, but with a bit of searching provide enough gameplay and challenge to keep anyone happy. Of course, if you can't be bothered with any of this then EA GamerNet can be pushed into the background and left as little more than an optional Tiger Woods video library.

While these new additions all add up to make a far superior gameplay experience, there is little here to differentiate Tiger Woods 09 from its predecessor in terms of content. Although there is a minor collection of new courses, including Wolf Creek, Bay Hill and Wentworth, the total of sixteen courses is the same last year; expect a few expensive course downloads to show up online in the not so distant future. The roster also hasn't seen a huge update either, with only Se Ri Pak and Darren Clarke added. A few of the more annoying aspects of the Tiger Woods franchise are also persevering, in an attempt to sour the experience somewhat. For some, insanity inducing reason, you still can't skip the CPU's turns when playing solo, making games a lot more time consuming than they need to be. Putting is still largely unchallenging and the lack of animation moving to the tee is more jarring than ever.

This visual quirk is just one of the reasons why Tiger Woods is need of a graphical overhaul in the near future. It may be far from being an ugly game but the lack of transitional movement, the vacant look in the golfers' eyes and the pug fugly locations in the distance still stand out like sore thumbs. These moments of laziness are accentuated tenfold when put into contrast with the aspects of presentation that EA has obviously worked on; with the exception of their slightly dead eyes, player models look better than ever, with special note going to the brilliant resemblance of some of the more famous players from the world of golf. The course and greens also look spectacular, with water effects now more realistic than ever. It's such a shame that this level of sheen hasn't been implemented to all aspects of the presentation.

The audio also proves to be a hit and miss affair, with ambient noise, swing and ball impact all sounding near spot on, while the new commentary team sadly fails to liven up proceedings, proving as dull and uninspired as their forerunners. Luckily, there is an option to turn them off and listen to the mostly excellent soundtrack instead - an option I definitely encourage.

While Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 still suffers from a few of the glitches and lazy development that plagued its predecessors, the hugely innovative and perfectly implemented additions to the tried and tested Tiger Woods framework makes Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 very easy to recommend. If you consider yourself a golfing fan, or simply a fan of golf-based videogames, then you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of Tiger's latest foray into greatness.

Reviewed by Liam Pritchard for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).

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