Review: Tiger Woods PGA Tour (NDS)

As with any new console, third party support plays a major role in determining the eventual lifespan and success, and with EA behind the Nintendo DS, that can only be a good thing; with key titles like Need for Speed Underground 2 and Goldeneye: Rogue Agent on the horizon, things are looking healthy. For the launch, EA have released two DS games: The Urbz, Sims in the City, and this, Tiger Woods Golf.

On first glance Tiger Woods DS doesn't appear to have much going for it - the graphics are sub-PS1 and the intial menu seems only to offer the most basic set of gameplay options. This feeling only really subsides once you get into the game itself, and whilst the aesthetics never really reach the fluidity and scope of it's older console brothers, the DS manages to render the courses to a decent enough standard and the animation on the golfers is actually pretty good.

There's little in the way of sound, too - gone is the licensed EA Trax music and in place is a smattering of midi-powered elevator music, unsuited to the game and just begging to be switched off. Effects themselves are muffled and low-resolution, especially with regards to the waves at the beach, and the repetitive oohs and aahs from the (invisible) crowd. None of this has any real bearing on the gameplay, except perhaps in terms of immersion, but it's worth pointing out that Tiger Woods is not a game you'll be buying to show off your DS's audio and graphics.

What does make it worth the cash, though, is the wonderfully modelled physics engine - never once does the ball go unexpectedly wayward or bounce oddly off the lawn - coupled with the great use of the touch screen, which requires an intuitive swing with the stylus, and you've got yourself a solid game of golf where success and failure are entirely down to the skills of the player, and surely that's the most important thing.

Putting is tricky, and you can clearly see the DS's limited processing powers struggling with the caddy tips as it jerks across the green trying to work out where you should aim the target. Once you've established that each grid square is 2 feet putting becomes a lot easier, but this is only relevant once you're near enough to the hole for the DS to work out the caddy tip. Far away and you're left with just punting it and hoping for the best.

The game can be entirely controlled with the touch screen - which is a great feature, everything from club selection to shot type is handled via the 'pocket caddy' - again, just a tap of the icon on the lower screen brings that up. Drag your finger or stylus around the map on the lower screen and your aim target moves smoothly around the main 3D screen instantly, let go and it returns to behind your golfer, ready to swing.

Although the create-a-golfer is fairly average in terms of the flexibility of how your golfer looks, there are plenty of chances to customise his skills (there are no female golfers) as you progress through the main mode of the game - the Legend Tour - and upgraded golfers can be taken onto the various courses against your friends in wireless multiplayer mode, which is where the game really comes into it's own. Turn down the sound effects, put on some music on the stereo, and enjoy a great game of golf with your mates on a lazy Sunday morning. Perfect hangover cure.

The Tiger Woods series has had a major impact on gamers around the world, and now you can play the game in your pocket that looks likely to continue: the DS version of Tiger Woods is a competent, albeit slightly ugly, round of golf that whilst nowhere near as accomplished as the PSP version, offers a more tactile control method and a more suitable visual interface, and comes out as a highly addictive portable title. It's all been done before, and the console versions offer far more game modes - hence the score, but we at least are looking forward to next year's version...

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Alex Carroll