X360 v PS3 Multiformat Face-Off, Round Two
Not the face!
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007
The emergence of Tiger Woods in the next-gen console era turned out to be something of a double-edged sword. While the game received a hefty boost in visual fidelity, actual content turned out to be somewhat thin on the ground. A lack of courses, game options and golfing attire were routine gripes that plagued an Xbox 360 launch title that smacked of being rushed to market.
In many ways, Tiger Woods 2007 is the game that its predecessor should have been, restoring the lion's share of the missing stuff while providing even better visuals.
It's really difficult to fault this title as a package, which is perhaps just as well considering that when it comes to realistic golf, Tiger Woods is almost the only game in town. The dozen courses available provide a mountain of challenge (though nine more are still absent compared to the current-gen versions) and a lot of thought has gone into the multiple game modes. The Game Face mode, which sees you creating your own custom golfer, is also a real winner.
There are no complaints either from a technical perspective. Tiger Woods PGA 2007 is essentially identical on PlayStation 3 when put up against its more mature Xbox 360 sibling. The screenshot comparisons we've included aren't just close - they're effectively identical.
However, just like EA's Need for Speed Carbon, there is a minor Sixaxis enhancement - the motion sensor can be used to add spin to your shot. As with most Sixaxis 'enhancements', it's barely worth mentioning - it's clearly an afterthought and with the motion sensor being as imprecise and lacking in feedback as it is, the older method of tapping the X button or L1 feels more 'trustworthy'.
On both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 is a great game. In a commercial environment where EA Sports effectively holds a monopoly, it's good to see that the lack of competition hasn't stopped the developers from handing in a solid, entertaining, accomplished title.
World Snooker Championship 2007
It's a videogame without soul, an experience that is the very definition of 'competent', and with that being the case, it's difficult to summon up much love for World Snooker Championship 2007. If you enjoy poking balls with a long wooden stick, it does a decent-enough job of replicating the sport in the digital domain, encompassing as it does the games of snooker, billiards and pool. But for all its realistic physics, tournaments and settings, what this lacks is that magic X-factor - a sprinkling of development fairy dust that transforms the reality of the sport into a great video game.
Unfortunately, there's nothing in the PlayStation 3 version of the game that does anything other than take you on a journey to Portsville, Arizona. Blade Interactive Studios have effectively taken everything in the Xbox 360 version and plonked it onto the PlayStation 3 with nothing in the way of enhancements. While still shots make it difficult to discern much difference between the two versions (they are both equally underwhelming visually - borderline ugly in fact) in motion the PS3 version disappoints with choppier motion compared to the 360 version. However, in every other sense the games are essentially identical.
On 360, World Championship Snooker 2007 feels like a game made to order and in being slightly diminished on PS3, it's difficult to experience anything other than an empty disillusionment when playing both games back-to-back.