Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf 10 (Wii) Review

It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing!
Yes you read it right I’ve broken away from my more traditional 7 or 8 grades one of the very few games to ever get a 10/10 on BG; here is why:-

So golf eh, well why not! Get out on the green and slap some balls around whilst the weather is so good… oh yeah thats right, UKweather sucks donkey parts. So instead why not grab your WiiMote and give it a waggle! Tiger Woods is here to ease your summertime golfing woes like never before.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 takes golf fans inside-the-ropes to experience the drama and emotion of tournament golf. In addition, the U.S. Open, a USGA championship, and the USGAs Rules of Golf is available in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 for the first time in franchise history. As you hear the roar of the crowd from the next hole over, can you handle the mounting pressure while you stand over your tournament-winning putt? Expanded crowds surround every hole; adding to the tension and excitement of each shot. A first for the franchise, real-time weather is reflected on every course, ensuring the in-game experience matches that of the current weather conditions. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 also features a television broadcast style presentation, which include instantaneous updates and a new announcer team of ESPNs Scott Van Pelt and the Golf Channels Kelly Tilghman.

Graphically Tiger 10 on Wii has improved over last years offering. It still lacks the punch of the Xbox 360 or PS3 but that is what you would of expected to hear anyway. At times the courses look lushious, but you have to be a distance away from the TV and not look too hard. The age old problem of jagged edges and lower resolution textures dog the title, but this is a Wii issuenot an EA one. This is one of the best looking Wii sports titles. Some of the animation is a little clunky and the crowd look like cardboard cutouts taken from a PS2 game but on the whole you will find your trips around the 27 courses on offer to be a pleasant one.

Whilst we are talking about the courses, the 27 included courses are – New for Banff Springs, Bethpage, Hazeltine National C.C, Oakmont C.C, Pinehurst, Torrey Pines G.C, Turnberry, Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Cog Hill Golf & CC, Doral, East Lake C.C, Fancourt, Firestone C.C, Gary Player C.C, Harbor Town Golf Links, The K Club Golf Resort, Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Riviera C.C, Sheshan Golf Club, St Andrews Links, TPC Boston, TPC Sawgrass, TPC Scottsdale, Wentworth, Westchester C.C, Wolf Creek G.C.

Sound wise the usual gallery of EA trax titles are present and add something to the overall presentation. As to the track selections then I will leave that down to your mind if they are the kind of tunes you like to listen too whilst you golf for me I was kind of meh, but music is subjectively person so you may love it either way you can turn it off if needs be. The crowd noise is a little canned and flat like the PSP version, but has slightly more sparkto it that helps complete the being there sensation. The in game commentary once againdoes a good job. This is an area that EA seem to be getting right more often than not now. The double act of Scott Can Pelt & Kelly Tilghman work well together and the comments are, more often than not, relevant and inject another layer of atmosphere & authenticity to the proceedings.

Gameplay here can be split in to two categorys : With WiiMotion Plus (WM+) and Without WiiMotion Plus it really makes such a difference. The main issues with TW09 on the Wii was that the stroke play was good fun for the most part but actually trying precision play when putting was piss poor so much so it lost at least one if not two score points due to it. It was such a frustrating experience that I gave up playing not long after the review was finished. Now, in TW 10 the putting and stroke play are greatly improved without WM+ but you only truly appreciate how limited the game is without WM+ when you actually try playing WITH WM+. OH such a sweet difference. The implementation of WM+ by EA so far has been spot on. EA have boasted a 1-2-1 movement in the swing of the WM+ in relation to the swing of your onscreen golfer and I can tell you that is it isnt then it is real damn close! It just works perfectly, as you implement real world play dynamic like Fade and Draw as you would on a real golf course. The only gameelement left to the swing is the addition of Spin which still requires a waggle of the WiiMote.

What about putting then? The real Achilles Heal of TW09. In a word fixed! Before if you had to make a close range shot or do a finessed putt you left the fate of the ball in the lap of your particular god. This has eased without WM+ but is greatly improved with WM+. This is down to what EA have entitled Putter Precision. This means that the game seems to ramp up the sensitivity when you get on the green. The putting action is now smooth and responds to the lightest touches. You can now really just tap in a 1m putt or curve in a beautiful 35 footer it all works and with WM+ it is almost identical to a real world putting dynamic.

Tiger 10 offers a lot of the features. These features include PGA Tour Career, and some new online and Tournament Challenge modes. The tour mode is that same as it ever was, the same as an other tour/career mode so I am not going to bore you with the details you know what to expect, you make a character and make your way up the ranks to become the world number 1 etc.

The new entry here is the Tournament Challenge mode. You undertake varying challenges themed around real world events. The events are split in to Bronze, Silver and Gold challenges available on each of the game’s fifteen courses. You then have a certain parameter to complete a challenge in. So sink a birdie on course X etc. This adds a nice distraction to the full round of golf offered in the career mode.

Finally the last element of Tiger 10 is the multiplayer and what a chunk of loveleyness it is! Online play modes include both simultaneous play & real time tournaments, daily and weekly. Other competitive modesinclude the likes of Quick Play, PGA Tour, Fed-X Cup, Tournament Challenge, Stroke Play, Match Play, Bloodsome, Greensome, Skins, Stableford, Alternate Shot, Best Ball. Then there are the Arcademodes like Disc Golf (fantastic on its own!), Rings, Elimination Mode, One-Ball, Team One-Ball, Battle Golf Mini Games, Mini Putt (Putt Putt), Target, T-I-G-E-R, Capture the Flag, Target2Target. As you can see the listis very extensive. The online match-ups work well and I managed to get several games very easily. The local multiplayer works well and adds great party dynamics to the game. Playing some Disc Golf with some friends is a riot.

The implementation of online does not stop there though. This year sees the introduction of real-time weather to the franchise. So basically if it is raining at Wentworth then it start raining in your game all courtesy of The Weather Channel. This adds a nice dynamic but has little impact on the gameplay. For instance if it has been raining for the past 2 hours then stops, the course returns to normal play pretty quickly. It would have been nice for the effects of the previous weather to of been carried over for instance the ground would remain moist and spongy and puddles would be retained.

Another great online aspect is playing live tournaments; this allows you to take part then and there with gamers around the world in ranked matches. The real draw to this mode though is that you can play against the pros as it happens. So if Tiger is playing a competition at Wolf Creek you can play against him, or at least his stats which are fed back in close to real-time. This is a compelling feature to say the least.

Final Thoughts:
Oh Tiger how I love thee! This really has to be the pinnacle of golfing games. If you dont have WM+ then GET IT. This game scores around 2 extra points for the implementation of WM+ alone it really makes that much difference! Sure this version looks nowhere near as good as the lavish Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, but is spanks them with a 9 Iron in the gameplay department. Sure there are still frustrations in the gameplayand WM+ takes a little getting used too. The club and ball do seem to take on a life of their own at times, but this is few and far between. When it comes down to it TW10 offers great value for money for golfing fans, the offline stuff will keep you amused for a long time to come and the multiplayer is robust enough to add longevity to the product the Live aspects add the icing, cherry and sugar dusting to the best golf game on ANY platform. TW 10 get a 10 not because it is the best game ever, but because there is no other golf game out at the moment that can touch it.

Find more Tiger Woods PGA Tour Gold ’10 for the Nintendo Wii over at Test Freaks!

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