GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

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The one golf game you need
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Even better than last year
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More options

Cons

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But not that much better
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Looks like a hangover
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Pointless bolted-on bits

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Still… how about a focus on quality rather than quantity? It’s a superb game with more options, online and off, than the entire Gradius series, but for the second year in a row, Tiger has been close to brilliance; close to being the best golf game ever made. The Tiger team obsess over details, but they always seem to be the wrong details – instead of making every course rich and beautiful in look and sound, they give us... er... new ways to tune our clubs (the epitome of dullness). Instead of perfecting the physics and making the most realistic golf sim ever, they give us Tiger’s own coach, occasionally advising us on our shots as if anyone on Earth gives a toss. Instead of redefining golf games the way the latest FIFAs have football, they give us a few extra online modes to add to the pre-existing mountain – already so tall that most will never see all of it. Tiger ’09 didn’t need more, it needed better. It needs a fresh start – not because it’s stale, but because the team has taken the man Woods as far as they can.

Sep 2, 2008