Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
Posted June 8, 2007
Driven by the success of the EA franchise, it’s only natural to bring Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 onto the Wii after the rampant popularity of Wii Sports. Similar to the majority of the EA Sports lineup, the presentation of the game effectively captures the essence of the sport, ideally from Tiger’s point of view in the opening montage. The menu system is a breeze to navigate but still offers a vast variety of options to modify the game per your whims. 
Gameplay:
Completely different from golf within Wii Sports, the amount of game modes and courses offered up in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is vastly more impressive. Players have the option of starting the standard match, skins, or stroke play to kick off a competitive match. Additionally, EA included a variety of mini-games that are more likely to be enjoyable when you have a real life person to compete against. For instance, One-shot pits each player against one another with one ball to see who has the best final shot. Often, it’s more fun to make a bad shot to put your opposition in a horrific position for their shot. It adds a slice of strategy that usually isn’t seen in the game of golf.
The 18 courses are standard fair for a Tiger Woods game, but a welcome change from the course in Wii Sports. The main U.S. courses on the tour have made the cut as well as a few imaginary courses. The player has a choice of 35 characters to use, most of which are the top pros in the sport. Additionally, an incredibly thorough character creation mode is provided to start a character from scratch. The player’s imagination is the only limitation in the type of character that can be created.
A player created character can be imported into the main season or just into exhibition play. Each match will increase the player’s overall stats and performance. Similar to pervious renditions of Tiger, the game almost takes on a bit of an RPG element in molding the character to your specifications. If you love to drive the ball off the tee, then upgrade the power and club strength. Alternatively, a finesse player can focus on accuracy and putting capability.
Motion Control:
Adapting to the control can be difficult, especially for those used to Wii Sports. The simulation side of Tiger shines through in the control scheme which may turn away some novices to the game of golf. That being said, it’s a fantastic layout that only becomes more useful as you spend time knocking that little ball down the course.
As the player approaches the tee, you have the option of lining up the shot by pressing the B button and moving around the beacon at the opposite end of the course. After the shot is lined up to your specification, it’s ready to be smacked. Interestingly, the way you hold the Wii-mote will determine the direction of the shot, a.k.a. a slice or hook. This may frustrate folks unfamiliar with golf, but will delight those with the knowledge of the game. Spin can also be added to the end of the shot by hitting the directional pad.
Unlike golf in Wii Sports, the power meter is less effective early on in the game. Until you spend several hours with the controls, it’s incredibly tough to gage the force in each shot. I prefer this method as it certainly plays in the simulation qualities. Putting can be just as difficult to grasp, but practice makes perfect. Judging the amount of force to apply with the Wii-mote is a science that needs to be carefully learned from trial and error, just like real-life golf.
Graphics:
Sadly, the ugliest version of Tiger resides on the Wii. Without high definition graphics capabilities of the 360 or PS3, running Tiger in widescreen at 480p on component cables still looks fairly brutal. The textures are blurry and the character models are slightly blocky. Taking a visual scan of the layout on each hole offers up a desolate background of reflection-less water holes, carpeted grass, and misshapen foliage. The only bright spot of the graphics engine emanates from the character animations. The motion capture technology shines through in each player’s swing and stance.
Audio:
With a couple of high quality speakers, the ambient sound effects within this golf game are top notch. Tiger offers a huge leap in auditory emanations over the golf section within Wii Sports. Listening to the wind blow, ocean waves undulating, or the murmurs of nature is a divine quality of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 that deserves to be carefully listened to.
McCord and Feherty perform the voice commentary; the duo that’s offered up pithy remarks for the past few years. Much of the recorded lines have been recycled from past games and doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Unless you are new to the series, commentary will feel ancient a few minutes into your first round. Thankfully, it can be muted in the options menu.
Overall:
Is Tiger Woods Golf 07 worth picking up for the control functions alone? Despite the steep learning curve, I’d have to say yes. While Wii Golf was an excellent launching point for golf games on the Wii, the sheer amount of courses, players, and game modes in EA’s offering sets a new bar for the genre on this console. With an appropriate amount of development time, it will be exciting to see the graphical power EA can push out of the Wii for the 2008 version. For the time being, all golf fanatics and fans of the sports genre should feel confident in purchasing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for the Nintendo Wii.
Gameplay:
Completely different from golf within Wii Sports, the amount of game modes and courses offered up in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is vastly more impressive. Players have the option of starting the standard match, skins, or stroke play to kick off a competitive match. Additionally, EA included a variety of mini-games that are more likely to be enjoyable when you have a real life person to compete against. For instance, One-shot pits each player against one another with one ball to see who has the best final shot. Often, it’s more fun to make a bad shot to put your opposition in a horrific position for their shot. It adds a slice of strategy that usually isn’t seen in the game of golf.
The 18 courses are standard fair for a Tiger Woods game, but a welcome change from the course in Wii Sports. The main U.S. courses on the tour have made the cut as well as a few imaginary courses. The player has a choice of 35 characters to use, most of which are the top pros in the sport. Additionally, an incredibly thorough character creation mode is provided to start a character from scratch. The player’s imagination is the only limitation in the type of character that can be created.
A player created character can be imported into the main season or just into exhibition play. Each match will increase the player’s overall stats and performance. Similar to pervious renditions of Tiger, the game almost takes on a bit of an RPG element in molding the character to your specifications. If you love to drive the ball off the tee, then upgrade the power and club strength. Alternatively, a finesse player can focus on accuracy and putting capability.
Motion Control:
Adapting to the control can be difficult, especially for those used to Wii Sports. The simulation side of Tiger shines through in the control scheme which may turn away some novices to the game of golf. That being said, it’s a fantastic layout that only becomes more useful as you spend time knocking that little ball down the course.
As the player approaches the tee, you have the option of lining up the shot by pressing the B button and moving around the beacon at the opposite end of the course. After the shot is lined up to your specification, it’s ready to be smacked. Interestingly, the way you hold the Wii-mote will determine the direction of the shot, a.k.a. a slice or hook. This may frustrate folks unfamiliar with golf, but will delight those with the knowledge of the game. Spin can also be added to the end of the shot by hitting the directional pad.
Unlike golf in Wii Sports, the power meter is less effective early on in the game. Until you spend several hours with the controls, it’s incredibly tough to gage the force in each shot. I prefer this method as it certainly plays in the simulation qualities. Putting can be just as difficult to grasp, but practice makes perfect. Judging the amount of force to apply with the Wii-mote is a science that needs to be carefully learned from trial and error, just like real-life golf.
Graphics:
Sadly, the ugliest version of Tiger resides on the Wii. Without high definition graphics capabilities of the 360 or PS3, running Tiger in widescreen at 480p on component cables still looks fairly brutal. The textures are blurry and the character models are slightly blocky. Taking a visual scan of the layout on each hole offers up a desolate background of reflection-less water holes, carpeted grass, and misshapen foliage. The only bright spot of the graphics engine emanates from the character animations. The motion capture technology shines through in each player’s swing and stance.
Audio:
With a couple of high quality speakers, the ambient sound effects within this golf game are top notch. Tiger offers a huge leap in auditory emanations over the golf section within Wii Sports. Listening to the wind blow, ocean waves undulating, or the murmurs of nature is a divine quality of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 that deserves to be carefully listened to.
McCord and Feherty perform the voice commentary; the duo that’s offered up pithy remarks for the past few years. Much of the recorded lines have been recycled from past games and doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Unless you are new to the series, commentary will feel ancient a few minutes into your first round. Thankfully, it can be muted in the options menu.
Overall:
Is Tiger Woods Golf 07 worth picking up for the control functions alone? Despite the steep learning curve, I’d have to say yes. While Wii Golf was an excellent launching point for golf games on the Wii, the sheer amount of courses, players, and game modes in EA’s offering sets a new bar for the genre on this console. With an appropriate amount of development time, it will be exciting to see the graphical power EA can push out of the Wii for the 2008 version. For the time being, all golf fanatics and fans of the sports genre should feel confident in purchasing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 for the Nintendo Wii.