Mark Twain once remarked that golf is no more than a beautiful walk spoiled by the presence of a little white ball. Obviously Mr. Twain never had the opportunity to play any of the consistently excellent Tiger Woods golf games, a series that has been helping the less than coordinated among us live out pro golfer fantasies without the embarrassment of having to ham fistedly put club to ball for a number of years. There is no denying that the Tiger Woods golf game franchise is the best that there is (although games such as ProStroke Golf and Real World Golf have been making some serious headway of late), but therein lies the problem. How does the best consistently get better and do we really need to pay the entry fee every year?

After spending some time with Tiger Woods 07 it's clear that EA is acutely aware of the pitfalls of incrementally improved sports titles. Rather than try to redefine, redesign and revolutionise their golf game yet again, EA has chosen to make a Tiger Woods best of, or rather a Tiger Woods mix tape if you will; all that has been great about the franchise over the years has been painstakingly squeezed onto a single disc. There is not a tremendous amount of fresh content here - there are some new courses and golfers both real and fictional, but where EA has really gone to town is with the addition of several new modes. The number of different ways you can choose to hit a ball around a park with a stick is nothing short of staggering. If anything, the number of modes and options (which are so great in volume that they occupy two separate menus) may be regarded as somewhat intimidating for newcomers. Having said that, for a game that is so easy to engage with and enjoy, the presence of so many game types is welcome and lends the title yet another layer of longevity.

One of the best new modes (there are far too many to detail here in a way that would be interesting to read) is the Team Tour, which is basically a cross between the Rivals mode from the 2006 edition and some sort of fantasy sports league. With a crack team of four, the player must sculpt and hone their players into a force powerful enough to challenge the formidable team Tiger, which despite sounding like a plotline from a low budget animé is tremendous fun. Continually upgrading a player's wardrobe or equipment gives a genuine sense of pride and the option to switch underperforming players with relinquished foes adds yet more depth to the proceedings.

Tiger Woods 07 plays as well as you expect it to; the mechanics are seamless and EA has done well to exercise the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' rule. However, in keeping with the anthology spirit that runs through the core of Tiger Woods 07, EA has chosen to yet again present the player with as much choice as possible and offer some slightly retrogressive options as an aside to the tweaked and perfected mechanics of the incrementally established house style. The innovative dual stick swing system that debuted in the 2003 edition is of course present and correct. However, the simpler option of ignoring some of the more involved golfing terms such as 'control fade' and 'draw' and utilising only one of the analogue sticks golden Tee style, is also available.

The benefit of having a suite of online options for a golf game is the suitability of the source material. The solitary nature of golf makes for compelling online matches, as the absence of any AI controlled characters (as in any team sports game) reinforces the player's sense of involvement. Similarly, the Tiger Woods character creation tool - one of the most comprehensive and easy to use ever created - makes forging a custom avatar to pit against other online players a cinch, which again adds another element of immersion and gives the player a layer of personal identity to hang their achievements on. As far as modes go there is the typical quick match set up as well as the option to take part in tournaments. EA hosts a tournament every day on a course of their choosing, where players can play a round, record their score and attempt to move up the leaderboards. Of course, the most engaging and enjoyable of the online modes is match play against a friend, especially since the loser doesn't have to pay for drinks at the clubhouse afterwards!

The game looks and sounds as good as it ever has, although those expecting some sort of leap in these departments are probably asking a little too much of the ageing Xbox. The courses are bright and detailed and the golfers bear a more than passable likeness to their real-life counterparts. There are some new sound effects, but there doesn't appear to be anything new from the legendary Feherty and McCord, whom are perhaps to busy lapping up their share of the royalties to enter the booth again and provide some fresh commentary. Still, their presence in this much loved series is like that of an old friend and their comments achieve the rare feat of never outstaying their welcome, even during prolonged bouts of play.

The most subtle and yet perhaps the most significant difference between Tiger Woods 07 and its predecessors is the way in which the difficulty has been tweaked. The most enduring criticism of the series has been how easy it is to win. For people like myself who find golf in the real world a bit like trying to drag an elephant backwards through a puddle of treacle, the difficulty level throughout the series has imbued rounds with a welcome feel good factor. However, for the more experienced (and by that I mean less cack-handed) golf aficionados of this world, the Tiger Woods series may have at times felt a little less than challenging. In the 07 edition, the difficulty sliders that affect the environment, the opponents and the players' swing have been balanced succinctly and make for a game that responds dynamically to encourage novice players and yet challenge more experienced fans of the series.

There is little criticism that can fairly be levelled at Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07. It is undeniably the best of the series and it has more than enough content to offer. However, the problem is that the difference in price between the 06 and the 07 edition of the game does not correspond favourably with the number of improvements that have been made. In spite of this quibble, Tiger Woods 07 is arguable the best golfing game ever made; newcomers will be spoilt for choice and fans gratified, and although those of us in the middle may feel a little short changed, they will still enjoy the game immensely and to ask for more is perhaps a little greedy. Yet it is hard to keep the experience from feeling stale when new editions are released so often. Nubar Gulbenkian once remarked about golf that it is better to be bad at the game, as the worse you play the better you remember the occasional good shot. With the Tiger Woods series hitting a hole in one on so many occasions, maybe we are already too spoiled to fully appreciate just how good Tiger Woods 07 really is.

Reviewed by Fraser MacInnes for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).