Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 is the most recent golf title brought to us from EA Sports. TW 06 has 15 beautifully detailed courses including Pebble Beach Golf Links, St Andrews, and Reflection Bay to name a few. You can play against Tiger Woods and 16 other PGA Tour players, including the newly added Chris DiMarco, Mike Weir, Ian Poulter, and Luke Donald. If you can perform some really tough shots you can earn some cash to buy special equipment and apparel to further customize your player.

A new feature to the Tiger Woods series is the new Rival mode. Here you can prove yourself as the greatest golfer of all time by taking on the legends in the prime of their careers -- on their terms. Do you have what it takes to beat Jack Nicklaus in his heyday with a bag full of wooden clubs or Tiger Woods with his modern-day equipment? This is a new and challenging feature that is loads of fun to play. One of my favorite features in the game is that you can make side bets like greenies, aces, longest drives, et cetera. This to me was the most realistic part of the games because that’s exactly how I play on a real course. Making side bets such as closest to the pin. WAHOO!

Visually the game can seem to be lacking full visual quality compared to some of today’s titles, but I have to tell you I am quite pleased with what the developers have done. The graphics are not bad or anything, just not exactly eye popping. Instead we are blessed with what I like to call balanced. It's not cluttered with so much detail that it takes away from the game or slows down performance, yet not too simple to make the game seem like it can be played on a cell phone. This is not a first-person shooter or anything so jaw-dropping graphics are not really needed here. In my humble opinion I think visually the game looks superb. Audibly the same could be said. You only have so many sounds on the golf course like balls splashing into a water hazard, tee shots, birds chirping, etc. All sound great. Even the commentating is not bad. Usually in most sport titles that is challenge, but TW 06 does a pretty decent job.

Swinging the club could not be easier. There are several ways to hit the ball, but my favorite has to be the trueswing. Trueswing closely resembles the ball from the arcade hit Golden Tee. You bring the mouse back to facilitate your back swing then move the mouse forward to follow through. This does take practice otherwise you can push or pull your shot, but this is where the realism comes into play. I'm a big advocate of this technology and I'm sure most true golfers will feel the same. You can also hit using a swing bar where you click once to begin your swing and again to hit the accuracy mark. This is old school for those who played golf games 5+ years ago, but if that’s the way you like to play, so be it. Lastly you can also use a game pad with two sticks. When using this mode of play, you coordinate both sticks to not only hit the ball but also add in a fade or draw. I find this to be the most challenging way to play, but most effective for pulling off tough shots. I’m sure everyone will have his or her own preference, but trueswing for me works great!

Putting is a bit too simple for my liking. I’m not sure if I am just that good, or if it’s just a bit more forgiving than in previous titles. Most likely the latter. A grid can be used now which is laid over the green so you can see the breaks a bit easier. Sure this helps for reading the green, but like I said a bit too easy.

In short this is a great title if you have not picked up a golf game in sometime, and even better if this is your first golf game. If you have TW 05 I’m not sure if there enough new here to warrant adding this to your collection, but if you are die-hard fan or new to the series I would highly recommend this one. With the holidays coming up I can't see a better gift for the golf enthusiast who likes to hit the links in the off-season. The game is beautifully done and the courses are top notch. For a price tag that one would easily pay for a round of golf with a cart, this would make a great stocking stuffer.

Graphics: 8.0
Not exactly extraordinary, but crisp and clean.

Sound: 8.0
There is a decent soundtrack and all the sounds you can hear on the golf course. Even the commentating is not too annoying, which is more than we can say for some other sport titles.

Concept: 7.0
Every year it’s just another installment. Sure, we like to see games that have current players and courses but you can only improve upon a good thing so much to warrant buying a new title every year. Having said that, this is definitely a game to pick up if you either are new to golf games or it has been some time since you bought one.

Multiplayer: 9.0
Easy to get going and will add tons of replayability.

Overall: 8.0
Lots of enjoyment to be had here and is well worth the 40 or so bucks.