Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004

Another update in EA's ever-deepening portfolio, Tiger Woods 2004 promises to be the most extensive and detailed golf sim yet, and on this occasion it looks as though the American giant has delivered.

On the face of things, Tiger Woods 2004 is simply a case of more of the same, but that's no bad thing. Something of a benchmark for other golf sims to follow, Tiger Woods 2004 boasts a huge 19 courses, each with a full 18 holes, including famous venues such as St Andrews and Pebble Beach. In addition, there are nearly 30 playable golfing names to tee off with. There's Tiger himself of course, as well as Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk and Justin Rose to name a few.

There are also plenty of new features to this latest update. New golf modes include LongDrive Shootout, Best Ball, Alternate Shot and Battle Golf. These are fun games that are best played with two or more, and they pose obvious competition to Mario Golf's mini-offerings. A new World Tour mode allows players to travel the virtual globe and challenges them to unlock additional characters and earn cash and new equipment along the way. Players can also create a golfer of their own and specify visual aspects of their new characters in alarming detail.

The PS2 incarnation doesn't looks quite as polished as its Xbox counterpart, but nevertheless is still delivers some amazing visuals and smooth character animation. Game worlds are vibrant and come complete with varying weather effects such as rain and wind. The PS2 controller does a fine job of bringing EA's analogue swing playing method into effect and the game is generally easy to pick up.

On the whole, this is the finest Tiger Woods update that Electronic Arts has come up with...so far!