Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 – WII – Review

When I first learned that a free
video game featuring five different sports would be included with a Wii console,
I immediately blew it off as a mediocre promotion with a likely substandard
game. However, once I purchased a Wii (a couple months ago), I was instantly
hooked to the simplistic fun that is Wii Sports. In particular, Wii Golf felt
the most natural with the controller in hand, gauging the proper direction and
force of every swing. Now, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is hoping to take the green
jacket from Wii Golf, delivering an experience that mixes EA’s quality franchise
with innovative game mechanics only the Wii can handle. The real question now is
whether or not Tiger Woods 07’s offerings can justify a $49.99 price point
considering the free alternative that is Wii Golf.

The first thing you must do before
starting the main game is creating a character. Creating your own unique
character by changing subtle face and body features works very well and features
2D grids for which to augment these advanced features. After changing how your
character looks as a person, you can decide how they play as a golfer with a
wide variety of swing-types. This really adds to the uniqueness of the
character. When you start playing with your created character, you don’t have
much to work with. You will need to gain skills by completing training
mini-games like competing with other golfers for best shot and race-the-clock,
where you must earn a certain amount of money for successful shots under a
specified amount of time. Whatever mini-game you choose will affect the type of
attribute that will increase. Playing putting contests will boost your
short-game skills while long-distance competitions will boost your long-game
skills. The game has also integrated a significant portion of gaining skills in
tournament play. If you win a pro tourney, your attributes will also increase.
There is also a range to practice distance shots. I highly recommend taking
advantage of these practice ranges as well as the available tutorials to figure
out how to swing and improve upon your game.

Swinging the golf club requires the
use of the Wii Remote. Grasping it with both or one hand (one hand works best,
interestingly enough) with the button-side facing you, you swing it just like
you would a golf club. Depending on how fast you swing and the direction of your
follow through (how you tilt the controller), the ball can do all sorts of
things including fly high, draw, hook, slice, and fade. Just like most Wii
games, Tiger Woods 07’s controllability is hit or miss. Simply put, I felt I had
much less control over where the ball was going and how far it traveled as
opposed to using a standard controller. Unlike a real golf simulator, you can’t
swing normally and must match up your movement to Tigers. For example, there
were a couple times I began a semi-fast backswing and Tiger would immediately
launch the club on the ball. These small glitches can really do damage to your
once low-scoring round. Generally, however, golf swings worked as they should. I
recommend making use of the practice swing option (press the minus button) to
get a feel for the controls. As any golfer knows, where your ball is on the
course will affect how the ball travels. Playing from the fairway is a lot
different than playing in the sand traps. The lie indicator determines the
percentage of distance the ball would take under usually circumstances. This is
important in deciding the right shot to swing because the automatic club and
shot setup is not always the best choice. The button-smashing game mechanic
introduced in the Xbox 360 version to add power to the golf shot is gone. Power
is now dependent on the force you put in your swing. It must be said that the
game does not require you to take a full, strong golf swing to get ideal power
behind the ball. By quickly flicking your wrist, you can gain the necessary
power. While this makes Tiger Woods 07 easier, it’s not realistic.

Once the ball is in flight, you can
add spin to the ball by pressing the D pad in a particular direction while
wiggling the controller. Although this becomes especially useful when the ball
lands on the putting-green and spins closer to the whole, it is very unrealistic
(manually controlling the golf ball in the air is something the professionals
have yet to accomplish). The True-Aiming system is comprised of a large circle
covering a sizeable portion of the green that can be adjusted depending on the
type of club used and the directional pad. The Wii’s unique positioning
functionality has also been integrated into aiming system. Using an on-screen
hand, you can actually grab the large circle and place it where you want. Sadly,
the whole thing is a bit unnecessary considering the directional pad works much
better. This circle does not necessarily guarantee your ball will end up
somewhere within the vicinity. You need to adjust for multiple factors including
wind and environmental barriers (trees, bushes, etc). When putting, a large grid
will appear over the green showing you how the level it is. You will need to
adjust the direction of aim to account for changes in slope. On the Wii, putting
is one of the easiest things to do mainly because you don’t have to backswing as
much. Unfortunately, even though the sensor can usually pick up putt shots
better than a full swing, there were still times when my character would hit the
ball way before I had brought back the club. One of the real pains of the game
is after taking a long shot or putt, the screen narrows indicating the ball will
be perfectly placed. The suspense is short-lived in some instances, for example,
when not only did your ball not land near the cup but you were so mesmerized by
the wide-screen view that you forgot to add spin to the ball!

There are many PGA Tour pros
available to play as or against besides Tiger Woods, including Vijay Singh, John
Daly, and LPGA legend Annika Sorenstam. Each golfer looks and plays just like
their real-life counterpart. Besides the pros, the developers have thrown in
some wacky characters (35 players in total) to unlock including an old-timer
named Pops Masterson and a linebacker-sized player named Big Mo. Tiger Challenge
utilizes these characters early on in a competition to beat all the top golfers
in the world and eventually Tiger Woods himself. Training your player is very
important, so practice the different mini-games offered to gain attributes. As
far as golf courses go, there are 18 locations including the famous Pebble
Beach, St Andrews, Glen Abbey, and Firestone Country Club and a few fantasy
courses, all of which look great and detailed.

The game features a variety of
multiplayer modes and matches. These traditional games include the normal Stroke
Play, Match Play, Alternate Shot, and Skins that we are all familiar with. In
addition, the developers have included three of the new game modes released this
year. Greensome is a two-on-two game where your team plays the best ball each
swing. Bloodsome is another two-on-two game where your opponent chooses the ball
you will use, most likely the worst shot available. Both of these game modes are
dependent on having good teammates. There were numerous occasions I was stuck
playing with a buddy who couldn’t make a straight shot if his life depended on
it. Battle Golf is a two-player match where the player with the lowest shot
count wins the whole … and then removes a club of his choosing from his
opponent’s bag (or adds a removed club back into his own bag)! This is easily
the most fun mode Tiger Woods 07 has to offer. Imagine a tee-shot on a par five
and the best club you have is an 8 iron. It’s rare to be in such a position, but
you get the point. There are also a few arcade games for those golfers that want
to play a quick round. Skills 18 places levitating rings in the path of a
fairway that players must aim for during the course of a particular hole to earn
extra points. T-I-G-E-R, Target, and Target2Target are all variations of a game
where you earn cash by placing the ball in a targeted zone on a golf green. The
most challenging and frustrating of these is One Ball. Your opponent and you
take turns shooting one ball to the cup. Ultimately, only one of you will get
that hole. Strategy is the key in where to position your shot. Every shot, the
player must hit the ball inside the “Circle of Trust” or risk “Betrayal” where
he would lose his turn. This becomes a devastating blow if you get close to the
hole giving your opponent two shots to make it. Unlike its console competition,
the Wii’s version of Tiger Woods 07 offers no online multiplayer. Also, the ESPN
features found on the other next-gen versions which included sports news from
ESPN.com and listening to audio clips of ESPN radio are non-existent.

Besides lacking the tremendous
graphical power of the Xbox 360 for high definition, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
offers the same quality character animation and likeness that EA is famous for.
The game also supports 480p-widescreen resolution for maximum Wii picture
quality. Although there was a surplus of “jaggies” and an obvious lack of
spectators that really added to the realism of the Xbox 360 version, I’m glad
facial expressions and the impressive character-creation tool are back. The
sound is okay. It suffers from the less than stellar commentary performances by
David Feherty and Gary McCord. They often give out their opinion of a shot
before it’s even close to deciding how the ball will end up. If you think this
is just expert analysis with just some kind of advanced forecasting, you will be
shocked and confused when their comments are directly opposite of how the ball
plays. Sometimes good shots get negative feedback while bad shots are met with
positive remarks. Also, the crowd noises felt unnecessary considering there were
no people on the course. The rest of the sound effects sounded very authentic
including the ‘ping’ of the club on the ball and how the ball interacts with the
environment (breaking through trees, landing in sand traps, et cetera). The
soundtrack is a mixed bag, sometimes feeling spot on and sometimes feeling as if
it belonged at a rave party.

If you are already a Tiger Woods PGA
Tour fan, you will surely appreciate the unique translation on the Wii. Compared
to Wii Golf, Tiger Woods 07 is a lot more user friendly. You can really sink
your teeth into what this game has to offer. The kinks in controller
functionality aren’t completely smooth and you may even get tired of standing
for long periods of time. But if you are golf enthusiast and want more out of
your experience, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 won’t leave you in the rough.

Gameplay: 8.2
Generally, the Wii is receptive in executing the swings you perform with the
controller. There were times, however, the sensor inaccurately read where the
controller was and prematurely launched the golf swing.

Graphics: 8.6
Although it doesn’t compete with its next-gen console competitor, Tiger Woods
07’s graphics offer a great deal of facial and body detail as well as fluid
animation.

Sound: 7.0
The commentary work is pretty rough, but the sound effects are authentic (the
game even makes use of the Wii remote’s speaker that ‘ping’s when the club hits
the ball. The soundtrack also feels misplaced.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard

Concept: 9.0
Tiger Woods helped revive golf; Tiger Woods 2007 may just have done the same.

Multiplayer: 8.5
There are many new multiplayer modes to keep you and your buddies busy for hours
despite a lack of online multiplayer. The best mode, in my opinion, is Battle
Golf. Try it!

Overall: 8.3
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 for Wii has attempted to make the most realistic golf
video game even more realistic with the console’s unique control functionality.
There are a few glitches which can really do damage to your course performance.
But there is so much added content for gamers to enjoy compared to Wii Golf, any
golf enthusiast will appreciate what this game has to offer.