Game: Tiger Woods '09

Producer: Electronic Arts

Rating: T for Teen

Score: 9 of 10

THE REVIEW

Golf season is in hibernation and the sports' premiere figure is laid up for an undetermined amount of time after knee surgery, but gamers are free to golf all winter and watch and compete against Tiger Woods in action as they do it.

Sports titles have the difficult task of convincing gamers that they need to buy each new annual edition as it comes out. Golf faces the disadvantage of not featuring uniforms or free agency — both of which change the landscape of professional leagues like the NBA or the NFL each year while golf is still golf.

The latest version of the Tiger Woods brand actually separates itself from the last few editions, which were a little similar, and adds enough features and slight graphic improvements to make it worth a purchase and will be

hard to supplant in the next couple of years.

The learning curve can be a little steep for less experienced players but not impossible, and in the long run a higher difficulty level makes for better longevity. The swing motion comes from a thumbstick that is pulled toward the player to simulate backswing and then pushed forward, hopefully rapidly and accurately. Slight deviance from a forward path creates a hook or a slice.

Play comes in all kinds of game modes but the tour on career mode is the game's backbone. Players compete in a simulation of the PGA tour with tournaments on the courses you expect and on the same end-of-week and weekend schedule. Even in this mode there are daily online leader-boards and marks of drive distance, hole accuracy and — if desired — simultaneous online play with each player's ball creating a different colored flight path live.

Even when a player masters game play and can win virtually every tour experience, this online comparison can humble the arrogant and give marks to strive for.

AUDIO:

Sounds of the game are solid but not spectacular. Gold doesn't lend itself to an incredible auditory experience, and I found I preferred to play my own Xbox 360 custom soundtrack although the game comes equipped with music.

VISUAL: