It'd be fair to say EA's come under some flak for its long-running sports franchises, with critics bemoaning that each successive release seems to be merely an uninspired update of the previous one. With the Tiger's latest outing however, its Redwood studio has put things to rights, incorporating some all-new game features.

Of course, all the familiar options are still available, like PGA Tour (Career mode), strokeplay, skins etc, and the fun practice courses. Once you've created your on-screen abomination (as all of ours seemed to be), enter My Legend and work your way up from Putting Prodigy to Swinging Superstar. No, not a nocturnal suburban legend, but one out on the course who, after defeating established Pros on the way up, gets the chance to take on one of the game's greats. Jack Niklaus, Arnold Palmer, Seve B and more all feature, and success in Legend mode results in you amassing Legend coins, which allows you to modify any course and paves the way for another innovative feature: Tiger Proofing.

This brilliantly lets players alter the fairway width, bunker size (who'd make them bigger?) and undulation. Course upkeep can be altered from pristine to poor, as can the weather and time of day. These all have a massive impact on your ball's physics and behaviour (i.e. an immaculate hole on a hot day will see your dimpled device bounce higher than Ram Man on a Smarties overdose). This obviously has a major effect on gameplay, and significantly enhances the lifespan of the title once career mode has been clocked.

Once again, all manner of accessories are available in the Pro Shop so you can be just like Tiger, if you want. More than 1,500 new items join the already-countless numbers of shades, apparel, headwear and shoes. You can now buy a defaulted swing for your character from one of the featured Pros or, for that personal touch, customise your own. Adjust your swing length, knee flex, follow-through (never a pretty sight) and hand position to tailor your own golfing style.

To add a bit of a strategy, we now have Tiger Vision - an invaluable putting aid from the big guy himself. Sparingly allocated to several uses per round, you can tap the White button on a tricky putt for a yellow dot to appear on the green. Align the cursor dead centre in the time limit and you'll sink the shot every time. This adds massively to the gameplay experience, especially in multiplayer.

Factor in these new features and couple them with the tweaked graphical polish, fantastic swing system and added original and authentic courses, and Tiger Woods 2005 is the most comprehensive golf game ever made. The only complaint we have is the lack of (previously promised) Xbox Live play in Europe, which would have driven this straight into the multiplayer hall of legends. However, it's still much more than just an update, and EA will have to go some to outdo itself again next year. Might we suggest Live play? .

1. The fantastic swing system remains the core of Tiger's gameplay, and continues to make it the most accurate and accessible golf sim.
2. New Tiger Proofing mode allows players to completely customize any aspect of the game, providing massive amounts of replayability.
3. Remapping of all existing courses with improved motion capture and character animations; this is as real a golfing experience as you'll get.
4. The GameFace II feature allows unprecedented accuracy in creating your very own custom player.

1. Multiplayer is just as fun as ever, though criminally, Xbox Live Play is not available in Europe, only in the UK. It's not fair, dammit!

Massively deep; drives the perfect line between simulation and arcade action. Features and options aplenty.