Ah, Tiger Woods! Forgive me for being nostalgic but a brief history lesson follows. Since PGA Tour 2003, the Tiger Woods franchise has eaten away at my time and served as perfect for when people are socialising at my place. It's a series so ingenious in its simplicity that everyone who's played it, from my five-year-old nephew to my drinking buddies to my gran, has loved it. The presentation is fabulous, the sound great and the control system nothing short of perfect, and it's easy enough for any old numpty to get to grips with straight away yet intricate enough to keep the hardcore gamer engaged. Then came PGA Tour 2004 and they made it even better (except for one irritating niggle that I'll come to later on). More courses, something to spend your hard earned money on in the way of clubs and clothing that improved your stats, a more accurate gamer face and they managed to make it look even better. However, with PGA Tour 2005 something went wrong - I can't pinpoint what exactly, but it just didn't feel right. I ran down to my local store on the day it came out and traded '04 in for '05, but rushing back home to play it I was instantly under whelmed. I gave it a week or so before taking it back and buying '04 again.

Then the Xbox 360 came out and I was salivating at the prospect of getting my grubby mitts on PGA Tour 06 - but it really disappointed me. It seemed like it had been rushed out and was about half a game compared to the version on the other formats, and boy was it ugly for a 360 game. It was like a long lost friend had returned with a botched up facelift and half his personality missing! I'd fallen out with Tiger by this point, thrown my toys out of the cot and decided that no way was I going to waste my hard earned cash on another Tiger Woods game ever again. However, when the chance to review Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 came along, I simply couldn't resist, hoping beyond hope that the flaws of the previous iteration, given that the developers had now had some time to get to grips with the 360's capabilities, would see a return to form for this once great series.

While there's plenty that's good about PGA Tour 07, I'm sad to say that the presentation is simply not up to the standard it should be; the character models here are almost exactly the same as on the Xbox. That's not to say that they're not awful, as you'll be hard pushed to find a better looking Xbox game, but it's inexcusable that more of a graphical leap isn't present, especially considering the amount of detail that EA lavished upon the incredible looking Fight Night Round 3. The buildings on the courses are inconsistent in their detail - some look as if they've been ripped straight out of LEGO Star Wars, whilst others (St. Andrews in particular) look amazing.

The next point sounds a bit nit picky and in all honesty that's because it is, but the breeze is only noticeable due to the noise and the reminder on the bottom left of the screen. On this generation of consoles we should be able to see the wind affecting the environment - the trees should move and the spectators should dress and react appropriately, perhaps having a button that causes your golfer to pick up a small clump of grass and throw it before taking their a shot (like real golfers do) to see which way and how hard it's blowing. The only graphical difference I can tell between this and the Xbox version is that it looks a little clearer and sharper, like the difference between watching a video and a DVD - and with plenty of developers going the extra mile when it comes to 360 visuals, it's mightily disappointing that so little progress has been made with the visuals. On the plus side it does load a lot quicker and the character animations are, as always, fantastic, but when you're buying a current-gen game for 360 you at the very least expect next-gen visuals.

Moving on from that main gripe, I'm glad to say that the environmental sound is incredible and if you're fortunate enough to be playing in surround you can pick out crowd chatter, birds tweeting and the wind swirling around your room. The soundtrack is the usual EA non-offensive, licensed, commercial stuff that you find in most of their games, but this time there's a great touch in that if you're connected to Xbox Live you can receive up to date sports news from ESPN. However, one of the things that always stood out as exceptional in Tiger Woods games was the commentary, which this time seems to have taken a step back; it was lively, detailed, witty and rarely repetitive in 03/04/05 and seems a little sparse this time around. I think they used to just keep adding to the arsenal of comments and quips as the years went on but may have started again from scratch this time. It's not a big flaw, but again it's a shame there couldn't have been a progression here, rather than a step backwards.

Fortunately, the lack in next-gen presentation is made up for by the great control system; to take a swing you simply pull back and push forward on the left stick. Straight for a straight shot, or you can push forward left/right to draw or fade. This control system was perfected around the 03/04 iterations and it's been tweaked a little since. It's a bit more difficult to get a perfect shot now and although I actually prefer it this way, it may spoil the experience for the more casual players. One of the best things about Tiger Woods a few years ago, as I mentioned earlier, was the fact that anyone of any age or competency could play it. Even my gran took part in a four-player bout at Xmas '04 and had no problem, but when I gave it a go with a few mates this time around, the non-gamers struggled to hit the ball perfectly straight and got fed up with it after half a dozen holes.

The same criticism can also be levelled at the shot aiming system and the putting; to aim your shot you press and hold the B button and the camera zooms to a point on the course where your ball could be likely to drop - there's a huge circle there, easily as wide as the fairway, which you move with the D-Pad to alter where you want to aim. This is far less precise than the simple arrow of previous games, but more realistic in that you never know exactly where the ball will land. Again whilst this makes for a better single player experience for the Tiger Woods veteran, it once again makes it tougher and more frustrating for the newbies. The putting, for example, used to be a simple case of reading a caddy tip (e.g. 4ft long, 2ft left) and adjusting your shot accordingly, but now you have to read the green, with a grid covering it that changes colour to represent the dips and curves. Some will appreciate these changes and some won't - that's really for you to decide, and when you've got a near perfect system you're in a difficult position, as changing very little will garner you criticism, just as making changes could do. Perhaps next time we could have both systems! That would be absolutely ideal, being able at any time to choose between the old, easier system for the novices and non-gamer, or the more advanced, simulation style system depending on whether we wanted a gentle round of golf with friends or something a bit more challenging.

So what about multiplayer? It's more or less summed up within what I've just said about the controls - if you and your mates are keen gamers who like a challenge then there's plenty here to keep you entertained; five traditional games to choose from, plus mini games and arcade modes. The difficulty level is ramped up and there's an element of luck as well as skill. It's definitely a more thorough golf sim. The only annoying thing is making your game faces the first time you play. The menus are bit awkward, somewhat unintuitive and frustrating. For my first four player game it took an hour to get us all game faced. Don't get me wrong, the process of building your look-a-like is straightforward enough and more comprehensive than ever, it's just the messing around trying to navigate through a load of menus to do the second, third and fourth one that's a pain. I must admit that a good look at the instruction book would have sorted out my problems, but why should I need to? I never did before. Another annoying point is that for some crazy reason you can only have a maximum of four game faces, so if you've got more than three friends you'll have to delete and redo them!

I have one other slight personal niggle that has now been in place for a few years. In PGA Tour 2003 both you and a mate could play through the career mode together, unlocking and levelling up as you went. This was great if (as I did) you lived with one of your mates who was also a gamer. Since then, if you've been in career you've had to go through it alone, which means taking it in turns at thirty minutes a round. This poses no problem if you're the only gamer in the house of course; it's just worth a mention as a feature that I loved (and I'm sure many other people did too) that would really be worth bringing back in again, with Xbox Live support as well, being that many 360 games have strong co-operative elements and game modes. Go on EA - you know you want to!

Despite all the criticism I've levelled at Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, it's still a good game, just one that hasn't yet reached the full next generation potential needed to make it great. There're no stunning next-gen visuals to be found, and it doesn't help that it has such strong competition to live up to from its own predecessors. If you've played Tiger Woods before and love it then there's certainly enough here to keep you happy, with a lot more content than the 360 debut for the series last year, while due to the increase in difficulty level it poses an enjoyable and new challenge. If you've never played a Tiger Woods game before then you may find it a little tough going initially and if you've not got the patience to sit down and devote a good few hours to training your character and getting used to the controls, I'd recommend saving yourself some cash, getting into the pre-owned section of your local gaming shop and digging out the original Xbox version of 2004, or if you share a machine with another gamer then 2003, as they hardly look any different and they're easier to play. If you play Tiger Woods mainly for multiplayer fun when the mates come around and have an older version you're all already used to then just stick to that, because there's nothing here but another learning curve and a few extra mini-games for your money.

Reviewed by Mark Hayhurst for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).