I got a copy of Tiger Woods 08 for the PS3 to play around with and I’m pleasantly surprised with the game. Sure, it’s another year without major improvements, but EA refined the title in ways to make it more fun.

The graphics aren’t much different than the 07 edition, other than addition of more courses and golfers. The biggest additions come in the Tiger Challenge and the swing mechanics. In the Tiger Challenge, you no longer just go from one golfer to another in match play. You now have to complete 6-8 mini challenges before facing off against one of the game’s major golfers. With each defeat of each major golfer, your skill potential will increase (usually 10%), which you need to train your golfer to get their stats to that level. Thankfully there is no cheat to buy on the PS3 to max the stats of your golfer. Who knows if and when that will change. A new addition to the swing is the ability to draw or fade the ball easily with the L1 and R1 buttons. This makes it easier than trying to aim properly and swing at an angle with the analog stick.

The Photo Game Face mode is great in theory, but getting it to work is a pain in the behind. The process takes 20-30 minutes to compute on the console, and the online servers are up and down, so getting it to work is like pulling teeth. Hopefully this gets alleviated.

The GamerNet features online are great in theory too. You can post a challenge for anyone in the world to complete. Again, the servers have been an issue here with many challenges just not working. EA needs to invest so time and money to make their servers work properly.

Overall, I’m impressed with Tiger Woods 08. I don’t know if it’s worth buying if you’re still comfortable with 07. Maybe just a rental. I’ll have a full review coming soon.