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Who says you have to grow up? Here at SI.com's Game Room, our staffers review the latest sports video game titles to hit the market and welcome your feedback.
  
3/20/2007 01:34:00 PM

Review: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Wii)

By Aaron Samus

A few months ago when the Game Room got to play a working version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour (Wii), I was pretty excited to see what EA would do with the Wii controller. I imagined wildly swinging off the rug in front of my giant 60" Sony TV. I knew then the game would be judged by how well the swing mechanic worked. So how did the final product turn out?

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 :: Electronic Arts
The swing system in Tiger is pretty easy to learn. To swing you turn away 90 degrees from your TV as if you were addressing a golf ball out on the course. Using one or two hands you grip the controller as you would a real golf club, aiming the controller down at the ground. In real golf you'd be aiming the shaft of the club at an angle but in Tiger your best bet is to aim directly down at the ground. To start a swing you hold down the B button (bottom-side of the Wii remote) as you pull back the controller in an arc.

Angus Murray/GOLF.com
The tutorial for the game shows gives the idea that you can take a normal golf swing. But in reality the game will punish you for trying a real swing. The ideal swing is accomplished using one hand (your primary hand) and back swinging the remote about 90 degrees with a follow-though of about the same degree. The game rewards you with a straight full power swing if the complete swing arc is parallel to the ground. In a real golf swing the arc created by your windup and release is invariably angled (see an image we grabbed from our friends at GOLF.com).

In your swing-through you can influence the ball to the left (hook) or right (slice) by titling the controller as you finish the swing. While this adds a certain level of realism to the game it can also be a little frustrating. Sometimes the game interprets your swing as straight and sometimes it doesn't. And in some cases where you decide to intentionally play a hook or slice shot you can't consistently get the ball headed that way even with an exaggerated finish.

Here's a decent video that shows you the swing and outcome:

You can add spin to your shot by lightly shaking the Wii controller while the ball is in the air. It's a strange thing to do but it's crucial if you want that extra level of control over your shot. I'd prefer to see spin control added into the swing somehow like in real golf. It's really something you should have to commit to before you swing and not after when the ball is away.

A vital component to improving your game is the practice mode. At any point during any game you can setup your shot and then take a practice swing. You don't get to see where your shot would've gone but the HUD does tell you how much strength went into the shot and the trajectory of the ball. This is really helpful for tricky shots and for most approach shots.

Overall the swing is satisfying and effective for drives and full-power shots. However the game struggles on partial swing-shots -- in the short game and putting -- where you don't want a full swing. And while the game is somewhat forgiving in this area it's not really consistent even if you take a practice swing. The basic problem is that the ideal swing arc doesn't work well if you shorten it. If you need to hit a shot at 65 percent it's next to impossible to land it with the controller swing with any consistency. It's a significant problem that we hope will be addressed in the next iteration of the game.

Ratings System (1 to 10)
Game Play: 7.5
We commend EA for taking a stab at golf on the Wii. We wish they had decided to make the control more precise especially on the short game shots. That said the game is pretty fun and immersive in the now-you-can-suck-in-video-game-golf-like-you-do-in-regular-golf sense.
Graphics: 7
The animations in the game are decent. To EA's credit the game is in 480p and offers widescreen support. The courses are well rendered but after seeing other Wii games you have to know the system can do more than was done here.
Replayability: 8
Tiger is packed with features we've come to expect from this franchise. It has 18 playable courses and 35 characters, a solid array of game modes (multi-player and arcade) and a very engaging create-a-player mode. With that you can take your created golfer through a season on the FedEx Cup Tour or square off in the standard array of modes (stroke, match, skins and alternate shot).
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