Review – Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (Wii)

Ignore what Will says about the Wii in the podcast. As I was trying to explain, the Wii is a brilliant console for the market it is aimed at: namely, casual and family gamers. This means that despite lacking in processing power and graphics, it is the easiest console ever to pick up and start playing. This really shows in Tiger Woods 10, especially if you have the Wii MotionPlus. If you don’t, go out and get it. Right. Now.

The game makes excellent use of the MotionPlus, allowing you to accurately control both the power of a shot and the ability to put draw or fade on the ball. The target circle that appears in normal difficulty shows where your shot will finish with 100% power. If you move this around, you can easily see how hard you need to hit your shot. Rather conveniently, the game also chooses the best club for the particular shot you have chosen, so you don’t end up accidentally trying to play with 50% power on your best driver. Even if you did, however, the MotionPlus is so accurate that you can still play that shot. The realistic feel given to the game is amazing, as you can no longer be sitting down and just swing and hope, but slowly take your back swing up, watching as the club tracks your movements exactly. You don’t need a massive, speedy swing but a controlled, shorter swing to get full power. This is handy for golf, as otherwise I suspect you would be getting tired quickly, and it would not be good for your joints.

The interface is particularly well designed, making good use of the Wiimote’s pointer. It is easy to find your way around the menus, with obvious things to choose from. I particularly like the clothing system, as you can search the massive inventories to find specific types of, say, shirts. This is handy for the sponsorship system, where you get paid a certain amount, such as $100, for wearing an item of the sponsor’s clothing. The various clubs, balls, grips, glasses etc. provide bonuses for various skills the player has, such as accuracy or power. To improve your skills, you gather points by playing tournaments. You then buy 10% increases to your various skills. This allows you to concentrate more on one particular area of the game or to distribute your points more equally to create a balanced player. These and many more options allow you to customise the way you play the game exactly.

The Career mode of the game is where all the action is. Here you create your golfer, choose his kit, develop his skills and most important of all, get into tournaments. You can start off on the PGA tour as an amateur, and work your way up through the echelons of the tour to become the greatest golfer of them all, winning various tournaments along the way. Alternatively, there are moments in history that you can play through. If someone got 5 consecutive birdies on one course, you have to equal or beat their score. There are three levels of difficulty, so you don’t get thrown in at the deep end. This is where you unlock the ten courses you are not initially a member of.

One addition to the standard game is the variation called Disc Golf, whereby you try and throw a Frisbee into a basket where the pin is. This claims to be one of the fastest growing sports in America. It is a different take on a classic game and works well, but play it with friends, as it is not that interesting by yourself. There are many other interesting minigames and variations, from Battle Golf, where the winner removes a club from the opponents bag, to games that will test your putting accuracy.

The online options are wide and varied. You can post your scores against those of the pros competing in tournaments all over the world, such as the US Open. The Forecast channel can also be used to add live weather data to your game, changing the conditions to bring another touch of realism. This gives you the chance to directly compete with Tiger, which brings the levels of realism to new heights.

There are a few little nags, but nothing major. The commentary is sometimes a little boring, and it would be nice if the commentators got it wrong occasionally. The graphics are not perfect, but they are still pretty good and the animation is very smooth.

Tiger Woods 10 is no longer a golf game, but a golf sim. Well, nearly. But it is still the best golf game you will find on any platform, and is the most realistic golf game ever.

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