Graphically, EA Tiburon's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 is right on par, and has never looked better. The player models, whether those native to the game, including Tiger Woods himself, or those created by players, look outstanding. In addition to the typical Create-A-Golfer commonly found in Tiger games of the past, you can also put your own mug on your created player.

To do so, you can either use your Xbox Live Vision Camera to snap front and side pictures of yourself, or simply use any digital camera and upload your photos to the Internet with a standard computer connection. Once uploaded, you can download them using your Xbox 360 and manipulate them to create a "perfect" replication of yourself to use with your profile. After your images are superimposed onto a player model, you can further tweak the settings to your liking. While it is amazing that the pictures can give life to your player, don't necessarily expect an exact mini-you immediately. It will likely take a lot of tweaking to get something that resembles you, but it is still an outstanding feature.

Unfortunately for Tiger Woods 09, graphics can't solely carry a game because the audio also must come into play. While the Menu music is okay, and the in-game sound FX are good (although there could stand to be more ambient sounds), the commentary is sorely lacking. Kelly Tillman and Sam Torrance call the action, but leave a lot of dead air and don't add to the gameplay in any way. In fact, they are usually more rude and annoying than they are constructive, and their energy and excitement levels make a three-toed sloth look like the Road Runner. Mute is your friend, or you can opt to turn off the commentary in the options.

The Tiger Woods series has always been a leader in not only graphics, but also gameplay. While there are still a few technicalities that I don't like (especially the ability to adjust your shot mid-air), the overall performance of Tiger Woods 09 is outstanding. The number of games available for play is superb, from your typical quick matches, all the way to the Career Mode and Mini-Games for both single and multiple players. In addition, you'll also again be able to take your favorite golfer (or created player) online in a number or options, but I'll mention more on that later.

Tiger has not changed a whole lot in terms of gameplay over the years, but in general, that's a good thing. Once again, you'll use the analog stick to swing, which gives the most effective and fluid movement of the controls. You'll also have the option to use a 3-click swing meter, for all of you veterans out there. The biggest issue that I faced was that of trying to swing with less than full power, making certain shots a bit more difficult than they needed to be, and I felt like throwing my clubs into a pond on more than one occasion. However, the integrity of the game (and the difficulty of the game of golf) is somewhat preserved by this fact.

The Career Mode in Tiger Woods 09 pits you against the pros of the PGA Tour and, depending on your difficulty setting, can be a nice challenge to get first place. Of course, once you learn some of the idiosyncrasies of the game, winning will become less and less of a challenge. When you get tired of playing against the computer scores, you can always hop online and challenge your friends through XBox Live.

This year Tiger Woods has a bittersweet feature for online play. You'll now be able to play a full round of golf with up to a foursome in virtually the same amount of time it would take you to play a single-player round. As you play your round, you'll see live colored lines updating that show you exactly how your competitors are hitting the ball. Unfortunately, while this is a great feature to speed up play, there are a couple of drawbacks as well. The first is that once in a while, those real-time lines will distract you, most likely on the green. The other is that since you aren't able to watch each other swing, you're a bit disadvantaged (especially on par 3's) by not knowing the club selection, power, and shot direction of your opponents, which usually will help you in your own efforts.

There are also some other interesting aspects to playing online and off, beginning with the EA Sports GamerNet. As you play your career, you can decide to post your great shots or rounds online for others to try and replicate or beat, or you can search through posted clips looking for ones that you think you can bust. Of course, some of these challenges are extremely difficult, if not impossible, so I wish you luck. The great thing about this feature, however, is that it adds great replay value and offers an addiction factor to try and top the best in the world. There are also some great offline mini-games for 1-4 players, including classic game types and some more off-the-wall types, including Bingo Bango Bongo.

As previously mentioned, precise controls when it comes to needing a specific power percentage using the analog stick as your swinging stick is the most difficult part of Tiger Woods 09. Since there is no on-screen power indicator (it only shows your power after each swing), your feedback is limited when making precision shots. This hurts mostly on approach shots where you're in between clubs or on the green, but it is the latter that is the most difficult part of the game.

In addition to having to judge your power visually (and I suppose with muscle memory in your thumb), you'll also have to read the slope and speed of each and every green. While some courses offer up greens that are fairly flat, and therefore rather easy to put on, other courses make putting an absolute nightmare. Depending on the difficulty setting you choose, you will have an option to line up your puts and then click a button to see exactly where your stroke will end up at the current direction and speed. In this game, this is a must for both novice golfers and veterans, in my opinion, because putting is very difficult. Without this, it's like shooting blind and even using this technique. It is sometimes better to try to get it close than to go for it all on long shots, thanks to the judgment call that is the power. Of course, you can try your hand at using the 3-click swing meter instead, which can help a whole lot in the power department, since you'll have a clear indication of your power.

When it comes to controls, Tiger Woods 09 is nearly spot on. With the analog stick swing, you have the option to switch from the Left Analog Stick to the Right one, which is a big bonus for players like me. You'll also be able to switch into the 3-click mode, which gives you an on-screen indicator of exactly where you'll need to press (A) to hit your less than one hundred percent marker, as well as to hit the accuracy on the follow through. This is a much welcome addition, and the fact that you can switch between the analog swing and the metered swing on the fly is a huge bonus, especially on the putting surface, where precision is key to your success.

As far as the differences between past golf games and Tiger Woods 09, they may not be huge in number, but some are great in quality. You'll also have the option to tweak your swing so that it matches your style. If, for example, you are the type of player who tends to hook the ball naturally, you can get help from Tiger's coach and enter the Club Tuner screen, adjusting your shot controls to compensate for that, and you'll begin to hit the ball straighter more often. Of course, this is great in concept, and it will likely work well for others, but in my efforts it actually hurt my game more than it helped, so individual results may vary. It should be said that the addition of Tiger's coach does feel more like a gimmick than a necessity.

Tiger Woods 09 is an outstanding title (sans the horrible commentary and difficult learning curve) and worthy of at least renting to see if it's different enough from past titles to warrant buying it. If you haven't played (or bought) a Tiger game in a while, you'll definitely be happy with Tiger Woods 09. It is the type of game that you can sit down and play for a half hour, or half the day, and rarely get bored.