Tiger Seems a Little Confused????
It would seem that ever since TW04 EA has tried to make the Tiger Woods series increasingly difficult and to try and move away from the acrade experience that was the earlier versions. However it leaves me feeling that TW07 is pulling itself in two different driections and the developers can't seem to commit to one idea of what this game should be trying to achieve.
For a start this move towards simulation has resulted in one of the most bizarre changes I have seen in a golf game, the aiming circle. Now having played enough real golf in my time to understand it's subtle frustrations. Aiming (In my case) is a fairly random affair. However the base principle applies that how I allign my feet and shoulders directly relates to the path the ball should fly away in. So I can aim for a specific point on the fairway or the green and depending on how well I hit the ball directly relates to how close to that original aiming point I land the ball. With that in mind I find the inclusion of the aiming circle to be an overly random representation of the aiming process in golf. I see no requirement to vary the possible trajectory of even a well hit shot because surely sensitivity of the swing detection through the thumbstick would relate to the variance of the shot anyway.
Granted the ability to increase your players stats eventually overtakes the inaccuracy created by the aiming circle but I can only surmise that new players to the game may be put off by the initial difficulty of this system.
The removal of the ideal put line does make for a welcome increase in the difficulty of the puttling however anyone familiar with the putting system in the original PC Links series will recognise this immediately.
I do appreciate the developers attempts to make a more realistic golfing experience with the inclusion of a harder aiming system and an increasingly sensitive swing system but in a simulation where you would be expected to adapt to the control method to get the most out of it because TW07 still uses the stat increase system your players abilities soon overtake the limitations implied by the aiming controls that it no longer affects your game to any adverse level.
To be fair this is the best looking game in the series so far. It is still a little annoying that the 360 version does have the least number of courses due to there increased storeage requirements but there are a fine selection of courses available to play on.
The folley sounds/crowd reactions and commentaries are exactly the same as they have been for the past few incarnations of the TW series that it really doesn't merit any comment.
In summary TW07 is the best golf game on the 360. Bearing in mind that the only other golf game available is TW06 and it was rushed for launch thats not much of a statement. TW07 still offers a fun golf experience and is worth commiting some time to but sadly I do feel the series peaked for sheer playability a good few versions ago and we will continue to see graphical and gameplay tweaks that don't really take the series anywhere special. Maybe in TW08 the developers will decided to make an all out golf sim or go back to it's arcade roots.