Assignment: Evaluate the new Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 golf game for the new Nintendo Wii game console. …Tough gig.

The Nintendo Wii Game Console

The first thing I need to cover is the Nintendo Wii game console itself. The Wii is the latest console with some very cool features. The unit itself has a very elegant and small footprint. It’s about the size of a one dozen golf ball box. The unit can lay flat or on it’s side with the included mount.

Cool Wireless Controllers Mimic Your Actions On Screen

Rather than having controllers which are tethered to the console with cables, the Wii’s controllers are wireless. There’s an antenna which connects to the main unit and is placed either above or below your screen. The wireless controller’s movement is picked up by the antenna resulting in the moving of cursors, rackets, clubs, fists or whatever on screen object you are controlling in the Wii environment. In short, you move the controller and a corresponding action happens on the screen.

The game which comes with the Wii has baseball, golf, bowling, tennis etc. In bowling for example, you hold down a button and actually swing your arm like you are throwing a bowling ball. In the Wii tennis game, you swing the controller like a tennis racket. This is very cool!

There’s a funny warning when you turn the Wii on. They suggest you use the wrist strap with comes with the remote (or as they call it “Wiimote”). If you take a big swing trying to hit a home run in the baseball game and lose your grip, the remote may fly right into your plasma screen.

The Wii Concept

Another neat part of the Wii is that you set up your own profile or identity. You literally create a virtual version of yourself within the Wii. You set up your hair color, eyes, head shape, body shape, gender and much more and the person you create is rendered withing the games you play. So the virtual Mediaguru played bowling, tennis etc. With the Wii’s networking capabilities you can play against players all over the world with an internet connection. Very fun.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour Non Wii Version

I own several versions of Tiger Woods PGA Tour for other consoles. I have fun playing them but strangely enough I play better golf on a real course than I do with the push button, two hand controllers. To swing the club with the controllers you select the club, push a button for the back swing and release the button at the right time for the down swing. This is nothing like a real golf swing.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour Wii Version - Swing the remote and swing the club!

THE best part of the Wii version of TW PGA ‘07 is the wireless controller. You hold the controller just like a golf club and swing it just like a golf club. So your physical actions are almost exactly like a true golf swing. Putting and chipping are the same as well. The harder you swing the remote, the farther the ball goes. If you use an off plane swing (like outside-in) you’ll hit a slice or a hook. This is the coolest thing I’ve seen come down the video game console line for a long time.

Custom Setup

You aren’t able to use your Wii profile in TW PGA ‘07 Wii. But just like previous versions of this game on other consoles, you can do a complete custom setup of your player profile. You can set up your appearance, clothes, game strengths, equipment etc.

Graphics And Sound

The graphics for TW PGA ‘07 Wii are decent. It’s no Doom 3 or anything but they’re more than adequate. The sounds are great, including commentary by Gary McCord and David Feherty.

Courses

TW ‘07 Wii comes with 18 courses including Pebble Beach Golf Links, St Andrews, The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island and more. Unfortunately no game will ever have the one course I’d die to play, Augusta National.

Players

There are 35 special players included in the game including John Daly, Vijay Singh, and Annika Sorenstam. The digital version of John Daly looks much better than the real thing.

Games

The are many different games you can play. You can simply play practice rounds and shots, match play, stroke play, PGA Tour Season, The Tiger Challenge and much more. You’ll be busy for a long time configuring all the options and playing all the games.

Critic’s Corner

I found playing the game quite fun. Occasionally I’d have issues with the shorter shots, namely putting. I found that you had to put a very large swing on the putts, even short ones. So while the full swing is pretty accurate, I found some inconsistencies in the short shots.

My only other critique is the lack of being able to use your Wii profile as your player in TW, rather than having to set up another one. I realize there are many more details in TW (clubs, clothes, game strengths etc) but it would be cool to at least start with your Wii identity as a template.

Conclusion

This is by far the funnest version of any Tiger Woods PGA Tour game for any console. Thanks to the Wii hardware it’s the most realistic.

For more images go to the HOG Tiger Woods PGA 2007 Nintendo Wii Photo Gallery.