There isn't any question that the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series is technically superior to every other golf game on the market: It's deeper, the characters and courses are drawn with impeccable detail, the controls are unerringly precise, and the game modes continue to expand with each new entry. Other games may be more quirky and entertaining—Hot Shots Golf springs immediately to mind—but as sports simulators go, Tiger Woods is the next best thing to paying green fees at Augusta. And yet it's still hard to resist mocking it a little, because the game carries itself so stiffly: Think Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge from The Simpsons, and you're close to the utter lack of charisma that plagues the commentary, the inexpressive players, and Tiger himself. In other words, it's just like the real thing.
Like other EA Sports standards, Tiger Woods has added just enough bells and whistles to this year's model—no more, no less—to tantalize Tiger Woods 2005 owners into shelling out another 50 bucks. Some of the changes are technical, including a more sensitive swinging system that requires the use of both analog sticks. The added control makes the extra effort worthwhile, but the game's multiple stick and button options can be as aggravating as patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. But the big new feature is a Rivals mode that lets you travel back in time for Match Games against golfers from the turn of the century to the present. This feature could be fairly interpreted as Woods' superstar ego running wild, but it adds all kinds of fun dimensions to the game, such as decking out your player in period equipment and garb, with plenty of options for silly-looking top hats, knee-high "plus four" knickers, argyle socks, and leather boots. And what's nobler than unearthing long-dead golfing legends in order to stick it right back in their face?