The Tiger shows off his playful side (and his inflatable head) in EA's oddball golf game.
Martin Kitts

After Mario Golf showed just how much fun golf could be when played by large-headed cartoon characters, EA's Cybertiger has golfers with magical inflatable skulls. It's bizarre - you just hammer away on the 'head pump' button and their heads expand before your eyes, complete with a strange coughing noise.

The ballooning bonces set the tone for the rest of the game. The ball sometimes transforms into various unlikely objects such as a rocket and a stealth bomber, or dons a Superman cape and soars over the fairway with its fist raised aloft. Leave your player alone for a few seconds and he'll start punching his putter or balancing on his driver. Seeing this kind of behaviour from Tiger Woods, the world's most famous golfer, is decidedly unsettling, especially when his familiar face has been blown up to grotesque proportions.

When you get over the shock and manage to hit a shot, you'll find that the control system is unlike ordinary golf games. Instead of using the standard power meter, you have to use the analogue stick as a kind of virtual club. The more backswing you apply and the more forcefully you flick the joystick forwards, the harder you hit the ball. Seta's terrible Japan-only Glory of St Andrews used a similar system and EPGA Golf includes another variation as an option, but Cybertiger is the first mass-market title to insist on making golf fans change the way things have been done since the early days of computer golf games.