Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for Nintendo Wii
- Publisher: EA - Electronic Arts
- Genre: Sports
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All that's missing is the gophers
Pros
Good use of the Wii Remote, Deep and varied game play, good multiplayer options.
Cons
Lack of power control, Terrible GUI, some graphics ommissions
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Tiger Woods is a good first step towards a revolutionary home golfing experience and should satisfy most duffers when rain or lack of funds keeps them from their favorite links.
Ever since the release of Wii Sports and it's 9 hole executive golf game, hardcore duffers have been salivating over the possibility of a "real" golf game for the Wii.
The motion control capabilities of the Wii seem to be as natural a fit to Golf as Peanut Butter is to Jelly.
And for the most part, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (TWPGAT07) delivers. But for those of you who prefer "creamy" peanut butter the few "nuts" in this title may bother you.
THE GOOD:
For the most part, the use of the Wii remote makes this game. While there are some design decisions made in the control scheme which make me scratch my head, (more on that later), this game still most accurately replicates the feel of actually teeing it up that is available in a video game console. The Wii Remote can detect not only a hook or slice, that occurs on your down swing but you can twist the remote to change the facing of your club so you can add your own hook or slice. Newbies or young children may find the controls initially frustrating, but as with real golf, practice will bring rewards. You can also adjust how sensitive the controller is so that you can ease into the advanced controls easier. If you just wanna sit on the couch and control the game in a more traditional model, you can do so by hooking up the Nunchuck accessory and use the analog stick to control the swing. But then again, if that's your preference why did you buy a Wii in the first place?
This game is deep. I mean deep. Tiger Woods features nearly any variation of hitting a white ball into a hole that can be conceived of. In addition to your standard 'Golf' play, that consists of Match Play, Skins, Best Ball etc. TWPGAT07 adds several entertaining "arcade" modes.
The best of these is "One Ball" where players take turns playing the same ball. The player who "sinks" the ball gets the most points for the hole. Other players intentionally try to shoot the ball to prevent their opponents from being able to sink the putt. BUT, herein lies the rub. You must always hit the ball halfway to the hole, and you can't intentionally hit it out of bounds or into the water. If you do, you are awarded a Betrayal, and your next turn is skipped. There is a real strategy to this game because it might be worth a betrayal if your putt has little opportunity to make the hole, but you know that your opponents is a sure bet. Plus, burying a shot in the long grass behind a tree is a sure way to force your opponent into betrayal.
Equally impressive is the character generation mode of the product which allows you to make a near spitting image of yourself on the links. You can outfit your character with various items to change your appearance, or earn extra money via sponsorships, or even add bonuses to your skills.
As you progress you can assign skill points to your character to make the character better at putting, chipping, driving, etc. This RPG style really adds to the playability of the game, and drives you to play just one more round so you can up your stats.
The game also supports a 5 year career mode in which you play a fictional Fed Ex Cup season against the worlds best duffers, including Tiger himself. During this play, you can earn a variety of awards ranging from a tournament wins to a trophy ball marking your first under par round or first hole in one.
There is much more depth to the game than mentioned here, but suffice it to say that there is a ton of gameplay here and whether you just want to have a quick round, or want to run a career, TWPGAT07 can fill your bill.
THE BAD:
Graphics: I am so sick of reviewers knocking the Wii for graphics when clearly state of the art visuals were not the emphasis of this machine. Constantly knocking the Wii for "bad graphics" when compared to other "next-gen" consoles is like criticizing a motorcycle over a car because it doesn't have 4 wheels.
So lets get this out of the way. The graphics are functional but not spectacular. However this doesn't really detract from the game. The courses are rendered accurately, and are detailed enough to make you feel there. During the third camera shots of your drives, you will notice odd patterns on the ground which are actually made up of the "vegetation" graphics that look as if they were out of the old "pop up" books I used to read as a child.
While the game could look better in spots, the gameplay is so immersive that you eventually don't notice its shortcomings, which plays right into the Wii designer's stated goal of "gameplay over graphics".
In short, if you are asking "how does it look" you really shouldn't have bought a Wii. However, if you think that there's such a thing as "good enough" when it comes to rendering, then Tiger Woods graphics "weaknesses" won't really be apparent nor important to you.
Controls: As I said earlier, some of the design decisions regarding the control scheme are truly head scratchers. The most evident of these is the decision on how to set the "power" of your swing. Whereas Wii Golf actually uses the force of your actual motions to apply power, Tiger Woods uses the motion controls to track the accuracy of your swing, but uses the on screen character animation to judge it's power. So it's not where YOU start your downswing that matters, it's where your character begins his downswing. This causes two problems. One, you have to look at the screen during your swing which almost always messes up your swing mechanics causing you to slice or hook. Two, the on screen character almost always swings faster than you do, which ends up with you almost always swinging between 100% and 110%. On Drives, this isn't too important, but when you are trying to finesse an iron or wedge shot, it's overly difficult to master a 70 to 99 % shot and impossible to do any shot below from 50% to 70% with any degree of consistency.
This lack of power control forces the player to hitting all their shots at MAX power and then rely on the wind, lie, and club selection to control their range. Using this method is adequate in a majority of your shots but there is still that odd spot (usually about 70 yards from the pin) where I wish I could really control the power of my swing to dial in my shot due to the large differences in ranges available from your wedges.
Adjusting power while putting is a little better since the character animation is slow enough to actually vary your putting strength. However putting has it's own problems because it requires a very smooth and exaggerated back swing and downswing. Of course as any golfer will tell you, putting is one of the more subtle points of the game, and it seems the Wii may not be able to accurately capture the subtleties of the putting game.
Ironically it's this total lack of power control that eventually makes the game "too easy". Since you are not penalized for over powering your shot, and rarely can "under power" your shot, you eventually can easily master rounds of 6 to 10 under par on all but the most difficult courses. This leads to unrealistic tournament results between 20 and 30 under par.
It is hoped in Tiger Woods 08 that the swing mechanics can be more finely tuned so that the game will track not only your swing motion, but it's intensity to provide a true "real swing" feel.
THE UGLY:
This review would not be complete without a total trouncing of the GUI designer of this game. Whoever came up with the bright idea of using the Wii remote pointer with context sensitive popups should be boiled in pudding and served with a flag stick coming out of their behind. This is by far the most annoying feature of the whole game.
While it may have looked great on paper, the auto selection of options by the pointer makes the simplest tasks like deciding what shoes you want to buy a hair pulling experience. If the designers had simply added the requirement to push the A button to select an option, I would be happy, but to use a "rollover" type feature to select options causes a whole slew of problems when trying to purchase items or customize your character. Since cursor location will also activate other options, if you are in the least bit unsteady when adjusting a feature, you may find your self rocketed out of the screen you were on to something completely different, forcing you to navigate back to where you were and losing your changes in the process.
Again, here's hoping that gets changed in next years iteration.
IN CLOSING:
Overall. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for the Wii is a very enjoyable and often addicting golf game that breathes new life into the world of video game golf, where the genre had begun to get stale.
The swing mechanics work most of the time once you master them and really add to the feel of the game.
But most importantly, the 07 edition sets the bar for Tiger Woods 08. Since it already does so many things right, there is no reason to believe that EA will not "learn their lessons" and gives us virtual duffers some real hope for a truly transcendent golf experience when Tiger Woods PGA 08 is released later this year. In the meantime the $50 dollars you lay down on the 07 version is money well spent.
The motion control capabilities of the Wii seem to be as natural a fit to Golf as Peanut Butter is to Jelly.
And for the most part, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (TWPGAT07) delivers. But for those of you who prefer "creamy" peanut butter the few "nuts" in this title may bother you.
THE GOOD:
For the most part, the use of the Wii remote makes this game. While there are some design decisions made in the control scheme which make me scratch my head, (more on that later), this game still most accurately replicates the feel of actually teeing it up that is available in a video game console. The Wii Remote can detect not only a hook or slice, that occurs on your down swing but you can twist the remote to change the facing of your club so you can add your own hook or slice. Newbies or young children may find the controls initially frustrating, but as with real golf, practice will bring rewards. You can also adjust how sensitive the controller is so that you can ease into the advanced controls easier. If you just wanna sit on the couch and control the game in a more traditional model, you can do so by hooking up the Nunchuck accessory and use the analog stick to control the swing. But then again, if that's your preference why did you buy a Wii in the first place?
This game is deep. I mean deep. Tiger Woods features nearly any variation of hitting a white ball into a hole that can be conceived of. In addition to your standard 'Golf' play, that consists of Match Play, Skins, Best Ball etc. TWPGAT07 adds several entertaining "arcade" modes.
The best of these is "One Ball" where players take turns playing the same ball. The player who "sinks" the ball gets the most points for the hole. Other players intentionally try to shoot the ball to prevent their opponents from being able to sink the putt. BUT, herein lies the rub. You must always hit the ball halfway to the hole, and you can't intentionally hit it out of bounds or into the water. If you do, you are awarded a Betrayal, and your next turn is skipped. There is a real strategy to this game because it might be worth a betrayal if your putt has little opportunity to make the hole, but you know that your opponents is a sure bet. Plus, burying a shot in the long grass behind a tree is a sure way to force your opponent into betrayal.
Equally impressive is the character generation mode of the product which allows you to make a near spitting image of yourself on the links. You can outfit your character with various items to change your appearance, or earn extra money via sponsorships, or even add bonuses to your skills.
As you progress you can assign skill points to your character to make the character better at putting, chipping, driving, etc. This RPG style really adds to the playability of the game, and drives you to play just one more round so you can up your stats.
The game also supports a 5 year career mode in which you play a fictional Fed Ex Cup season against the worlds best duffers, including Tiger himself. During this play, you can earn a variety of awards ranging from a tournament wins to a trophy ball marking your first under par round or first hole in one.
There is much more depth to the game than mentioned here, but suffice it to say that there is a ton of gameplay here and whether you just want to have a quick round, or want to run a career, TWPGAT07 can fill your bill.
THE BAD:
Graphics: I am so sick of reviewers knocking the Wii for graphics when clearly state of the art visuals were not the emphasis of this machine. Constantly knocking the Wii for "bad graphics" when compared to other "next-gen" consoles is like criticizing a motorcycle over a car because it doesn't have 4 wheels.
So lets get this out of the way. The graphics are functional but not spectacular. However this doesn't really detract from the game. The courses are rendered accurately, and are detailed enough to make you feel there. During the third camera shots of your drives, you will notice odd patterns on the ground which are actually made up of the "vegetation" graphics that look as if they were out of the old "pop up" books I used to read as a child.
While the game could look better in spots, the gameplay is so immersive that you eventually don't notice its shortcomings, which plays right into the Wii designer's stated goal of "gameplay over graphics".
In short, if you are asking "how does it look" you really shouldn't have bought a Wii. However, if you think that there's such a thing as "good enough" when it comes to rendering, then Tiger Woods graphics "weaknesses" won't really be apparent nor important to you.
Controls: As I said earlier, some of the design decisions regarding the control scheme are truly head scratchers. The most evident of these is the decision on how to set the "power" of your swing. Whereas Wii Golf actually uses the force of your actual motions to apply power, Tiger Woods uses the motion controls to track the accuracy of your swing, but uses the on screen character animation to judge it's power. So it's not where YOU start your downswing that matters, it's where your character begins his downswing. This causes two problems. One, you have to look at the screen during your swing which almost always messes up your swing mechanics causing you to slice or hook. Two, the on screen character almost always swings faster than you do, which ends up with you almost always swinging between 100% and 110%. On Drives, this isn't too important, but when you are trying to finesse an iron or wedge shot, it's overly difficult to master a 70 to 99 % shot and impossible to do any shot below from 50% to 70% with any degree of consistency.
This lack of power control forces the player to hitting all their shots at MAX power and then rely on the wind, lie, and club selection to control their range. Using this method is adequate in a majority of your shots but there is still that odd spot (usually about 70 yards from the pin) where I wish I could really control the power of my swing to dial in my shot due to the large differences in ranges available from your wedges.
Adjusting power while putting is a little better since the character animation is slow enough to actually vary your putting strength. However putting has it's own problems because it requires a very smooth and exaggerated back swing and downswing. Of course as any golfer will tell you, putting is one of the more subtle points of the game, and it seems the Wii may not be able to accurately capture the subtleties of the putting game.
Ironically it's this total lack of power control that eventually makes the game "too easy". Since you are not penalized for over powering your shot, and rarely can "under power" your shot, you eventually can easily master rounds of 6 to 10 under par on all but the most difficult courses. This leads to unrealistic tournament results between 20 and 30 under par.
It is hoped in Tiger Woods 08 that the swing mechanics can be more finely tuned so that the game will track not only your swing motion, but it's intensity to provide a true "real swing" feel.
THE UGLY:
This review would not be complete without a total trouncing of the GUI designer of this game. Whoever came up with the bright idea of using the Wii remote pointer with context sensitive popups should be boiled in pudding and served with a flag stick coming out of their behind. This is by far the most annoying feature of the whole game.
While it may have looked great on paper, the auto selection of options by the pointer makes the simplest tasks like deciding what shoes you want to buy a hair pulling experience. If the designers had simply added the requirement to push the A button to select an option, I would be happy, but to use a "rollover" type feature to select options causes a whole slew of problems when trying to purchase items or customize your character. Since cursor location will also activate other options, if you are in the least bit unsteady when adjusting a feature, you may find your self rocketed out of the screen you were on to something completely different, forcing you to navigate back to where you were and losing your changes in the process.
Again, here's hoping that gets changed in next years iteration.
IN CLOSING:
Overall. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for the Wii is a very enjoyable and often addicting golf game that breathes new life into the world of video game golf, where the genre had begun to get stale.
The swing mechanics work most of the time once you master them and really add to the feel of the game.
But most importantly, the 07 edition sets the bar for Tiger Woods 08. Since it already does so many things right, there is no reason to believe that EA will not "learn their lessons" and gives us virtual duffers some real hope for a truly transcendent golf experience when Tiger Woods PGA 08 is released later this year. In the meantime the $50 dollars you lay down on the 07 version is money well spent.
