When releasing its first few titles for the revolutionary Nintendo DS, it’s perhaps somewhat expected that EA would fall back on to its existing brands and franchises to mark a “safe” entrance onto the format.

So Tiger Woods struts up to the green, and whilst it’s never going to be the type of game that defines what the DS is all about, the game does suit the handheld format well, providing an entertaining experience for golfers and those that like to do it from the comforts of their own armchair alike, along with taking advantage of one or two of the formats unique features to deliver a compelling handheld experience.

The touch-screen and stylus presents a considerable number of options to EA when it comes to creating the swing method in the game; however rather then rely on the trusted three-tap method or even the more recent drag-and-swing, they’ve actually opted to devise an entirely new technique which suits the format well. The second screen acts as an overhead map and allows you to place roughly where you’d like your shot to end up; taking into influence factors such as wind speed and the lay of the land, the actual swing mechanism allows you to “Boost” your shots by charging a bar beforehand simply by rubbing up and down in a frantic manner, before moving onto the actual swing which allows you to choose the amount of backswing and draw a smooth arch and ultimately determine whether you want to play the shot straight or apply slice/hook.

Although it’s never going to win awards for the most exceptional use of the DS hardware, it suits the game well and creates an entertaining, enjoyable and addictive experience throughout the game. Similarly the game is never going to win awards for it’s groundbreaking realistic physics or ball behaviour, but it is at a level beyond what we previously expect from the handhelds and has that “buzz” because of it. The courses are reasonably depicted in 3D and the actual models boast some nice animation, although on a slight disappointing note is the lack of texture detail.

There’s a huge amount of content featured within the game with a wide variety of famous courses and licensed pros to compete against; while the structure throughout is thoughtfully designed to keep you coming back for more and ensuring that the player feels suitably satisfied with a good performance – we’re not the biggest golfing fans in town but this has kept us glued to the DS on more then a couple of occasions.

If you've just picked up a Nintendo DS there's a lot worse then Tiger's outing, but then again it's hardly the revolution in gaming that Nintendo promised.