"A couple new ideas, but they need to be perfected."

Electronic Arts gave the Nintendo DS the most titles during its holiday launch. One of those titles was Tiger Woods PGA Tour, a port of the popular console golfing game, starring the most popular golfer in the world, Tiger Woods. The biggest difference is in this and the console version is the new swing meter, making use of the DS' stylus and touch-pad. While this brand new way to golf in a videogame is interesting and easy to do, there are too many glaring flaws in other parts of the game. If these flaws could be fixed, then Tiger Woods DS could stand proud next to it's console counterpart.

The main selling point of Tiger Woods DS is Legend mode, where you take your custom golfer up through the Rookie, Pro, and Legend circuits. You are put into a skins, match, or stroke game, and you must come out on top. These challenges may only have nine holes, or they could be for a whole four day open, and sometimes over different courses.

After you finish the event, you get money based on how well you played and if you won or not. This money can be used to buy your self some new attributes, from power to help off the tee, to putting to get the right line, to luck for real lucky bounces.

Hitting the ball in Tiger Woods DS is completely different than any other golf game on the market today. Instead of using the analog swing system (where you move your analog stick back and forth to imitate a swinging motion) you must use the stylus and the touch pad to hit. You aim where you want the ball to go (using the stylus or the D-pad) and then you touch the golf club in the bottom right portion of the screen. You then go to a swing meter, where you can set your power or if you want a straight, draw, or fade shot. Depending on where you begin your swing, you give it more or less power. If you start your swing in the middle of the meter, you only get 50% power, a quarter 25%, and so on. There is also a boost bar, just to give your drives a little extra juice when the wind is coming at you. After you hit, you can control the spin on the ball in the air, so you can almost control which way the ball will bounce when it hits the ground. A nice touch, and a good way to use the touch pad.

While still on the fairway, Tiger Woods is an enjoyable game, but once you start to putt, you can see some major problems. Once you are able to putt, the six by six foot grid appears around the hole. This is supposed to show you the contours on the green, but it does not help at all (no matter how bumpy the greens may be, that square stays flat, and I find it easier to line up a shot without it), so you must rely on your helpful caddy to tell you exactly where to putt. The Caddy Tips tell you where to aim your ball, and if you are close to that mark, you make it in. However, the Caddy Tips are sometimes unavailable, even when you have a short putt, meaning you either take the two putts, or do the hole over. Very annoying.

Tiger Woods certainly would not win any awards for it's graphics, but they get the job done. The 3D golfers and courses are textured nicely and you can easily recognize them, but the use of color is lacking. There are only two different kinds of trees and shrubs, meaning the American courses look all the same, while St. Andrews in Scotland and the made up Emerald Dragon on Mt. Fuji in Japan have look distinct, with the different grass in St. Andrews and waterfalls all around Emerald Dragon. However, when you see the 2D view of the golf courses, it actually looks much better, though you cannot tell from that how the course plays, while you can in the 3D rendering. If a little more detail was put in to it, you could have a wonderful looking game.

While golfing, the game is very quiet, with only a few bird calls, and when close to water, the babbling of a brook or waterfall. Each course has their own birdcall, which is nice, but when you hear it over and over and over again, you just wish to turn down the volume, as it does not add anything to the game. There are also a few midis during the main menu, and they range from music that you would hear on a golf TV broadcast, to drum beats. They are only a minute long each, and they do not really add much to the experience of golfing. The only thing good is the swing sound, which is realistic and seems like it sounds different every time.

Along with the robust single player, you can play against your friends in any of the courses, because of wi-fi support. However, your friends must also have a copy as well. If you can find another person who owns Tiger Woods DS, it would be a fun experience, but with no interaction between players, and no extra modes just for multiplayer support, or even an ability to pass the one DS around for multiple people, you can tell that EA was slacking.

While Tiger Woods DS may be the best sports game out for the DS right now, it is not like it had much competition. It brings the fun game of golf to the handheld for the first time, so if anyone is looking for golf on the DS, or if they want to see what the touch screen can actually do, they should get it. Overall though, it really lacks in the amount of modes, courses, and also does not feature the popular Gameface option seen in the console Tiger Woods. If these things were added next year, then that would be a great golf game. Now, it is just average.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/29/05