Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (PlayStation 2, 2007)

The Good:
More courses and golfers than last year; Game face is a lot of fun, when it works; New draw and fade mechanic works well;


The Bad:
Analog swing is too touchy; Many features don't work well, if at all; Doesn't play as well as last year


The Tiger Woods series has long stood atop the charts as the best-selling golf franchise year in and year out. There's typically very little to distinguish one year's version from the next, but the games have always played well, and, judging by the sales numbers, people have been happy with the incremental upgrades. But even those expecting minimal improvements are likely to be disappointed with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08. There are some new features, but many of them don't work. Also, there are a fair amount of frustrating bugs that give the game a rushed feel. Even the game's most noteworthy feature, the analog swing, doesn't work as well as in previous years.

TW 08's game modes are almost exactly the same as last year's. New to the PS3 and 360 is bingo, bango, bongo, a head-to-head mode where you are awarded "bingo" for being the first on the green, "bango" for being the closest to the pin when you reach the green, and "bongo" for having the best score. It's OK, but as the lone new play mode it's underwhelming. Online play is largely unchanged--even the lag issues and glitches are back for another go. Career mode hasn't seen a whole lot of change, but what is different is better. You can now choose how long you want standard and major tournaments to be, which is nice for anyone who doesn't want to go through four rounds on the same course for one tournament. Thanks to the addition of Westchester, TPC Boston, Cog Hill, and East Lake, all FedEx Cup courses are in the game. Throw in Harbour Town and there are now 16 courses--a healthy amount, but still far fewer than in the last-gen versions. There are 21 professional golfers in the game.
Once again you start your career as either a rookie Tiger Woods or a created golfer with limited skills. You can improve your skills a little by performing well in events, but you'll want to take the skills challenges, which are largely unchanged, to improve them quickly. The idea is to simulate a golfer getting better by practicing and gaining experience, but it feels artificial thanks to the level caps, which are the same for each skill and go up only when you beat certain tasks in the Tiger challenge. Not only do all golfers end up playing the same (because you tend to level their skills up evenly), but the process is cumbersome--especially if you play the series every year. Because your golfer will stink to start off, you won't stand a chance at winning a tournament event. Making you play with such a lousy golfer feels like a contrived, last-ditch effort to make the game challenging. Speaking of artificial challenges, the CPU's tendency to go from making miracle shots to blowing absurdly short putts depending on how close the match is seems more pronounced than ever.

People who worry about yearly releases diluting the quality of games have plenty of ammo in the form of Tiger Woods 08. The changes to the gameplay are minimal, and some of them make the game worse. There are only five new courses, and many new features don't feel fleshed out, don't work well, or flat-out don't work.

I purchased this new PS2 game because of the value price and golf theme. In comparison to the retail price of the newer 09 version in retail stores, I felt the game was a good overall value.