Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07

To catalogue Tiger Woods' professional accomplishments here would take more column inches than I have to spare. For the sake of brevity, let's just say that his performance since joining the PGA Tour in 1996 has made him one of the most dominating athletes in sports history. Of course, there are some people out there who scoff at the idea of mentioning Tiger in the same breath as Lawrence Taylor or Bill Russell, saying that a golfer isn't a real athlete. Wherever you stand on this particular debate, stand somewhere. While games like Wii Sports and WarioWare: Smooth Moves can be made immensely more enjoyable by standing up to play, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 on Wii is the first game that requires you to do so.

The first time you boot up the game, you are brought to a tutorial (after an annoyingly long loading screen) that tells you "the first thing you need to know is how to hit a full, straight shot." Unfortunately, the game doesn't do a good job of telling you how to do that. There's a rather unhelpful text box - nowhere near as informative as similar tutorial windows found in Madden NFL 07 or SSX Blur - and then you are left at the tee to grip it and rip it using new TrueSwing Controls.

It's not "Play like a Tiger"; it's "Play like a Tiger or else fail to get
your ball over those waterfalls."

The basic idea is, as one might expect, to hold the Wii Remote like a golf club. How well the controller actually manages to feel like your trusty driver is still undecided at this point. To begin, players hold the Wii Remote in both hands, with the d-pad facing up. After assuming the proper stance, the object is to swing the Wii Remote back and follow through like you would to complete a normal golf swing. This must be done while holding the B trigger. The power of your shot is determined by how high the backswing is, how hard the follow-through is, and how fluid a motion it is altogether. In this sense, swinging the Wii Remote is very much like swinging a golf club.

However, while any good golf coach will tell you to keep your head down and focus on making smooth movements, players simply don't have the luxury to do that in this game. Players must constantly keep an eye on the television, as the on-screen golfer initiates his or her backswing at the same time they do. Proper shot timing isn't based so much on the player's swing and the mechanics of one's real-life motion, but by how well players can sync their motion to the on-screen golfer's canned animation. While players can start, stop and delay it, they cannot change it. As such, there's a specific motion players must complete to have any chance at hitting a successful shot. Each in-game golfer's swing is different, so depending on the player's body size and natural motions, changing one's natural golf swing to match the on-screen golfer's can be an incredibly awkward experience.

As if the basic backswing and follow-through weren't hard enough, there are more complexities that can be added to one's shot. Players can add draws and fades to their shots based on the angle of the Wii Remote at the end of their follow-through (keep it perfectly straight if you intend to hit a straight ball!). Spin can be added while the ball is in flight by holding down a direction on the d-pad and shaking the Wii Remote. Here, Tiger 07 shows its biggest advantage over Wii Sports Golf. While the latter features much more accessible (and to this point, more enjoyable) controls, Tiger 07 allows for precise shots that really play to the hidden complexities of golf. But casual golfers will likely be so frustrated by the awkward swing motion that they'll never experiment with the advanced controls. Furthermore, whatever frustrations players encounter on the fairways will only be multiplied on the greens. Stay tuned for more on putting during Stage 2. Suffice it to say that so far it is not a pleasant task.

For those that can cope with the gameplay, they will be able to enjoy it over dozens of different single- and multiplayer modes. Multiplayer modes are for two-to-four players in both competitive and cooperative gameplay that feature some truly unique and exciting twists. On the single-player side of things, the most comprehensive mode is the PGA Tour Season, which involves players using a created golfer that they can digitally sculpt using the most powerful character-creation tool in video games today. If you ever wanted to take your Miis and realize them in complex polygons, now's your chance.

Aside from the player models, the rest of the game's presentation is rather poor. In fairness, the game's 18 courses are modeled clearly and accurately, which is the most important visual aspect of any golf game, but they just don't look good. Low polygon counts, pixilated trees, and ugly textures for water and other surroundings give this game a look that is positively last-generation. The game's audio fares only a little bit better. The sound effects are emphatic and clear, with the satisfying ping of iron-on-ball coming nicely through the Wii Remote speaker. David Feherty and Gary McCord again provide in-game commentary. If you're new to the series, you're likely to be impressed by this duo. They have a natural chemistry and a wry sense of humor that, at its best, could almost trick listeners into thinking there's actually two people in your Wii calling the game. Veterans of the Tiger Woods games, however, will notice that a lot of their dialogue is recycled.

Oh, Tiger, you're so last generation.

The poor presentation would be forgivable if only the gameplay was as tight as EA's other sports offerings on Wii - to say nothing of the highly intuitive and precise method of dual analog control the series has nearly perfected on other consoles. Unfortunately, the motion-sensitive swing mechanics just don't work at this stage. For the record, the game does allow players to use the Nunchuk and its single analog stick as a means of replicating the more traditional control. Whether it is ultimately more useful for this game than the motion controls has yet to be determined, but players should know that it is seemingly impossible to add a power boost to their shots using the Nunchuk.

Regrettably, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 on Wii makes an underwhelming, frustrating, and ultimately disappointing first impression. Hopefully its wealth of game modes and remarkable attention to the physics and feel of golf can rescue the initially clunky TrueSwing Controls. Then again, maybe my golf swing simply needs work. Stay tuned for Stage 2!

Next