Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 - Nintendo Wii review

Can Woods get interactive on the wii?

22 March 2007 13:00 GMT / By Chris Pickering

While there’s some great golf games around, the controls have always been, forgive the pun, a little below par. Pressing one button to initiate a golf swing and another for the power may give you a fair degree of accuracy, but it’s no substitute for holding a club in your hand.

Enter Tiger Woods on the Wii and it’s all change. Forget messing about with analogue sticks, this is as close as you’ll get to golf without leaving the pavilion. Now we just need some tartan trousers.

As great as Wii Sports Golf is, it’s not quite the real deal. Packing a tiny number of holes and slightly dodgy swing detection, we’ve been waiting for this big hitter to see if console golf has come of age.

Controls wise, EA has taken the exact same approach as the earlier title. You clasp the Remote in both hands, hold down the "B" button and swing like you’re holding a real club.

If that sounds too difficult, there’s an even easier mode that sees every single shot go straight down the fairway every time. It’s not much of a challenge, but whatever floats your boat.

Get on the green however and things take a slight turn for the worse. To get your ball firmly in the hole, you’ll obviously want to have a practice swing first. Producing the very same swing a second time is nigh on impossible though.

As fantastic as the Wii has been at picking up your swings of the Remote, the small dinky movements you’ll need on the green are just too precise. Having the blasted controller register only the last split second of your perfect stroke is a massively disheartening experience. It’s almost as bad as being an American during the Ryder Cup.

Niggles aside, there’s a golf buggy full of modes to keep you occupied. There’s everything golf gamers know and love including skins, match play and stroke play.

A new mode called one ball has grabbed us by the, err, goolies. You and your opponent take it in turns to strike the same ball, the idea being to give your opponent a horrendously difficult shot to leave you with a nice easy putt. If you’re anything like us, your competitive juices might just boil over with this one.

Verdict

Looks wise, Tiger Woods ‘07 on the Wii is a step below the Xbox 360 version. But then you still have to fiddle with the analogue stick so we say the Wii game’s a far better bet overall. Golfers should lap this up.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: EA
Price as reviewed: £35
The good: Control works well for the most part, loads of modes, cracking new multiplayer options
The bad: Doesn’t look too hot, putting controls a little dodgy, no included trousers...
Quick verdict: Golfers should lap this up
Score