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IGN Review of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
We keep waiting for the fairy dust and pixies -- that strange, unexplainable magic that transforms the extraordinary into perfection -- to work its stuff on the Wii remote. The controller has flexed its muscles in games like Wii Sports and we've been wowed again and again by its speedy accuracy in, say, first-person shooters. Nowadays, we look at many traditionally-controlled games and fantasize about how much better they might play with Nintendo's remote. But just as the pointer has showcased its strengths, so have its weaknesses become illuminated. Take, for example, a project like Wii Sports golf, whose simple presentation is complemented by equally simple controls -- a configuration, we submit, that could only succeed on Nintendo's new console. That is because the play mechanics which power this rendition of golf are so basic as to be ignored if not for an astonishingly refreshing control method -- so pick-up-and-play accessible that you can grip it and rip it, as they say, alongside mom, dad, and maybe even grandma, too. Intuitive or not, though, Wii Sports golf lacked depth -- you couldn't add spin or hook to your shots, for example -- and therefore die-hard simulation seekers looked to EA's Tiger Woods franchise for the real deal. Now, the simulation-heavy golfer is here and with it a deeper golfing experience than previously available -- no doubt about it. That noted, EA hasn't stumbled into the fairy dust and the pixies are still nowhere to be found. The developer has made clever use of the Wii remote and in some ways it does indeed feel like an extension of a real-life golf club. And yet, some old issues persist, from lacking one-to-one maneuverability -- Wii Sports has it beat, believe it or not -- to some truly arbitrary control inaccuracies, which keep us from declaring this the ultimate videogame golfer.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for Wii is a good first effort and, if you've got to have a golf simulation right now, it's also your very best choice. EA hasn't skimped on features and as a result Wii Tiger includes a host of gameplay modes, character creation options, stat trackers, playable characters and courses. All things considered, the effort makes Wii Sports golf look like a college technical demo where depth and variety are concerned. The title has you covered regardless of whether you seek a traditional golf outing or a host of challenges that lean on the arcadey side. You can travel the world and compete against 18 pros in the Tiger Challenge or go ultra-realistic and take part in the official PGA Tour, which hustles you through a calendar of events as you climb your way from amateur to superstar. Your created character begins with limited skills, but as you advance you acquire more points, which can be used to enhance his or her abilities -- always inspiring. However, there are also a series of quickly accessible games, from Battle Golf and Skills 18 to Target, where the object is simply to hit the ball at various targets placed around an environment. The selection of different play styles and modes is both varied and comprehensive. Frankly, there's more than enough in place to keep you busy for weeks, especially if you add in the fact that all of the modes can be enjoyed by multiple players.
There are some Wii notables that don't relate to fundamentally changed control mechanics, but not many of them. For the most part, Woods 07 for Nintendo's system looks like it does for, say, PlayStation 2, with a handful of differences. There is little doubt in our minds that the game was based on versions for the older generation of consoles. That being true, there are some visual improvements. For starters, Tiger runs in 480p and 16:9 widescreen on Wii, which we appreciate. But on top of that, EA has improved texture resolution so that the sky domes and greens are sharper than previous iterations. Tiger takes a more realistic approach to the sport of golf than Wii Sports does. Whereas Nintendo's title features a vibrant, but very simple presentation, EA's endeavors to replicate a realistic golfing environment - a much more difficult challenge. The courses are comprised of genuine greens that have a gritty, washed out look to them compared to those in Wii Sports, but the variety - from forest and desert backdrops to holes that stretch across beaches - is much more diverse. Tiger on Wii runs at 30 frames per second, but there are occasional fluidity dips, which shouldn't be happening given that the title rarely utilizes the extra power that Nintendo's new console affords studios over, say, PlayStation 2 and GameCube.
Enough about the presentation, though. The real question is whether or not the Wii remote perfectly simulates a golf club. The answer is no - there are still some issues, which we'll outline, but it works well enough most of the time for us to recommend Tiger Woods, especially for die-hard golf fans. Tiger for Wii functions similarly to Wii Sports golf in that you simply pull back the Wii remote and then swing forward to send your balls soaring over the green. There are some big differences, though - a couple that make Tiger the better game and others that make it the worse one. Wii Sports golf offers near one-to-one control so that when you pull back on the Wii remote your golfer simulates your movement. Tiger doesn't do that. Rather, you press the B button, pull back the Wii remote just the tiniest bit and your character winds up for a full power shot anyway. As soon as you swing forward, you rip the ball. This method works well when you need full power, but it's less precise for those pro shots where less is more. It's as though you have to cut off Tiger's backswing animation and quickly swing forward in order to execute mid-swings. The advanced control setting seems to enable a bit more freedom, but it still falls well short of one-to-one accuracy, which is disappointing because such a method is ultimately preferable, as Wii Sports proves. On the other hand, you can manually and precisely add hook to your shots in Tiger, which isn't possible in Wii Sports. This added level of complexity injects a much-needed layer of strategy to the golfing experience. To add hook, you merely twist the remote to the left or right as you exact your swing. Once you get the hang of it, which isn't exactly easy, you can send your shots to the left or right with some predictable degree of accuracy, which is pretty phenomenal. The problem, though, is that it doesn't always work and, even worse, occasionally works when you don't want it to at all - a constant source of frustration for many of us who swear up and down that we've swung perfectly straight even as our golf balls veer out of bounds. The good news is that if you'd rather not deal with all the complications of adding hook, you can ignore it completely - just change the control settings to easy and you'll hit a straight shot every time you swing.
For this review, we played through Wii Sports golf again in an attempt to determine which control method is ultimately the winner. As it turns out, both are - and they're both losers, too. Tiger's remote-enhanced controls perform well most of the time, but we'd have liked swing mechanics that represented our movements at a one-to-one ratio. Wii Sports has the one-to-one, but totally omits the ability to add hook to shots. So as it stands, both configurations are good - some may really like the depth gained by Tiger's structure, in fact - but neither is great. We're hoping that the next iteration of either franchise takes at look at what the competition is doing and successfully incorporates the ideas because then we'll really be on our way to stellar golf controls on Wii. Still, its inadequacies noted, Tiger does deliver Wii owners a deeper and more immersive golfing experience than previously available and we think that many will be able to overlook its shortcomings and focus on its strengths.
©2007, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for Wii is a good first effort and, if you've got to have a golf simulation right now, it's also your very best choice. EA hasn't skimped on features and as a result Wii Tiger includes a host of gameplay modes, character creation options, stat trackers, playable characters and courses. All things considered, the effort makes Wii Sports golf look like a college technical demo where depth and variety are concerned. The title has you covered regardless of whether you seek a traditional golf outing or a host of challenges that lean on the arcadey side. You can travel the world and compete against 18 pros in the Tiger Challenge or go ultra-realistic and take part in the official PGA Tour, which hustles you through a calendar of events as you climb your way from amateur to superstar. Your created character begins with limited skills, but as you advance you acquire more points, which can be used to enhance his or her abilities -- always inspiring. However, there are also a series of quickly accessible games, from Battle Golf and Skills 18 to Target, where the object is simply to hit the ball at various targets placed around an environment. The selection of different play styles and modes is both varied and comprehensive. Frankly, there's more than enough in place to keep you busy for weeks, especially if you add in the fact that all of the modes can be enjoyed by multiple players.
There are some Wii notables that don't relate to fundamentally changed control mechanics, but not many of them. For the most part, Woods 07 for Nintendo's system looks like it does for, say, PlayStation 2, with a handful of differences. There is little doubt in our minds that the game was based on versions for the older generation of consoles. That being true, there are some visual improvements. For starters, Tiger runs in 480p and 16:9 widescreen on Wii, which we appreciate. But on top of that, EA has improved texture resolution so that the sky domes and greens are sharper than previous iterations. Tiger takes a more realistic approach to the sport of golf than Wii Sports does. Whereas Nintendo's title features a vibrant, but very simple presentation, EA's endeavors to replicate a realistic golfing environment - a much more difficult challenge. The courses are comprised of genuine greens that have a gritty, washed out look to them compared to those in Wii Sports, but the variety - from forest and desert backdrops to holes that stretch across beaches - is much more diverse. Tiger on Wii runs at 30 frames per second, but there are occasional fluidity dips, which shouldn't be happening given that the title rarely utilizes the extra power that Nintendo's new console affords studios over, say, PlayStation 2 and GameCube.
Enough about the presentation, though. The real question is whether or not the Wii remote perfectly simulates a golf club. The answer is no - there are still some issues, which we'll outline, but it works well enough most of the time for us to recommend Tiger Woods, especially for die-hard golf fans. Tiger for Wii functions similarly to Wii Sports golf in that you simply pull back the Wii remote and then swing forward to send your balls soaring over the green. There are some big differences, though - a couple that make Tiger the better game and others that make it the worse one. Wii Sports golf offers near one-to-one control so that when you pull back on the Wii remote your golfer simulates your movement. Tiger doesn't do that. Rather, you press the B button, pull back the Wii remote just the tiniest bit and your character winds up for a full power shot anyway. As soon as you swing forward, you rip the ball. This method works well when you need full power, but it's less precise for those pro shots where less is more. It's as though you have to cut off Tiger's backswing animation and quickly swing forward in order to execute mid-swings. The advanced control setting seems to enable a bit more freedom, but it still falls well short of one-to-one accuracy, which is disappointing because such a method is ultimately preferable, as Wii Sports proves. On the other hand, you can manually and precisely add hook to your shots in Tiger, which isn't possible in Wii Sports. This added level of complexity injects a much-needed layer of strategy to the golfing experience. To add hook, you merely twist the remote to the left or right as you exact your swing. Once you get the hang of it, which isn't exactly easy, you can send your shots to the left or right with some predictable degree of accuracy, which is pretty phenomenal. The problem, though, is that it doesn't always work and, even worse, occasionally works when you don't want it to at all - a constant source of frustration for many of us who swear up and down that we've swung perfectly straight even as our golf balls veer out of bounds. The good news is that if you'd rather not deal with all the complications of adding hook, you can ignore it completely - just change the control settings to easy and you'll hit a straight shot every time you swing.
For this review, we played through Wii Sports golf again in an attempt to determine which control method is ultimately the winner. As it turns out, both are - and they're both losers, too. Tiger's remote-enhanced controls perform well most of the time, but we'd have liked swing mechanics that represented our movements at a one-to-one ratio. Wii Sports has the one-to-one, but totally omits the ability to add hook to shots. So as it stands, both configurations are good - some may really like the depth gained by Tiger's structure, in fact - but neither is great. We're hoping that the next iteration of either franchise takes at look at what the competition is doing and successfully incorporates the ideas because then we'll really be on our way to stellar golf controls on Wii. Still, its inadequacies noted, Tiger does deliver Wii owners a deeper and more immersive golfing experience than previously available and we think that many will be able to overlook its shortcomings and focus on its strengths.
©2007, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved