Name: Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09
Genre: Sports Simulation - Golf
Platform: Nintendo Wii



Beginning in 1999, EA teamed up with a then up-and-coming star of the PGA, a fellow by the name of Tiger Woods, hoping he could do for golf video game branding what John Madden did for football. The results were better than anyone could have expected; Tiger Woods PGA took off as a gaming franchise, with each year’s iteration being better than the year before. The release of the Wii gave EA an opportunity to bring to a Tiger game something that the series had never seen before: motion controls. Many gamers believed that there were few sports that would be as natural a fit for the Wii as golf. Sadly, last year’s version was disappointing to say the least, with shoddy motion controls, lackluster visuals, and putting that was borderline broken. I held out hope that some of the problems that plagued the ’08 version would be fixed for ’09. Although there are some shiny new features and game modes, overall Tiger Woods ’09 feels like ’08 redux. 

The game starts with EA’s new favorite feature: the training/test mode. Like in this year’s NHL, the first thing you’ll do is create a new golfer. As is quickly becoming the model for EA character creations, the amount of customization you’ll be able to put into the character borders on the unnecessary. Does anyone really need four different sliders for cheeks? Personally, I’d say no. Then the game introduces Hank Haney, Woods’ real-life golf coach, for some club tuning and training drills. As is normally the case with sports-games tutorials, this all goes on for far too long. Fortunately, one can opt out of the creation and get right to the main menu. There are the standard match and stroke play modes, as well as 15 mini-games that can be played alone or with friends.

Graphically, Tiger ’09 on the Wii looks surprisingly good. Considering the limitations of the console’s output, the courses and players are rendered with an amount of detail that Wii games normally lack. In fact, it’s fair to say that the courses themselves are more detailed than anything we’ve seen to date on the Wii. Granted, the previous title holder might well be Mario Galaxy, so I may be comparing apples to oranges. But I found myself impressed with how good each course looks. However, the visuals don’t always hold up on close-up examination, as many of the terrains surrounding fairways blend into amorphous brownish-tannish ground-shaped blobs, and trees aren’t much more than masses of brown and green pixels in the sky. While the sound design in the game isn’t expected to deliver THX-quality reproduction, it certainly sounds like golf. And I still love the sound of an iron connecting with a golf ball coming out of my Wiimote.



As good as Tiger ’09 looks on the Wii, the way that it plays highlights the continuing problems developers are having with the console. Although the swing controls have been improved since last year’s version, they are not quite matched at 1:1 (despite EA’s claims to the contrary). Driving, approach shots and chip shots all work as well as one can hope. However , putting with the Wiimote is, in a word, broken. Often times I would find myself getting onto the green in a position for birdie or even an eagle, only to have the putting system completely rob the game of any fun. On more than one occassion, it would take 6 or 7 shots to put the ball in the hole once on the green. The problem is tied into the approach shot controls; full swings on the fairway deliver expected results. However, that all changes on the green. The swing meter seems to fill up randomly, and often times, the shot will reset when the ball should have been hit. It is beyond frustrating. Gameplay is where every game lives and dies, and for Wii games it is especially crucial. Much more than with other consoles, problems with control schemes can make a good game mediocre, and a mediocre game terrible. Tiger ‘09’s Wii control issues aren’t bad enough to stain the entire game as broken, but neither are they a shining example of what can be accomplished with the Wii’s motion controls. It’s a damning indictment of this full-priced release that after my first 18 holes, I found myself longing for golfing in Wii Sports.

In a move that bodes well for the future of the system, EA has incorporated a fairly robust online element to Tiger ’09 for the Wii, Along with friends’ leaderboards, there is also the ability to play a full match with up to four people online. Instead of having to watch every shot and wait for turns, each player goes through the 18-holes at his or her own pace. Friends’ progress is represented by colored on-screen ball trail visuals, and the scorecards at the end of each hole show leaders. Clearly, the Wii’s online capabilities are nowhere near the 360’s, nor the PS3’s; but it is refreshing to see a Wii game that at least attempts something new.



Considering that Tiger Woods ’09 is being hailed as the greatest golf game ever released for the 360 and PS3, it is truly depressing that the Wii port is such a mess. Approaching the green is handled as well as last year’s version, but the short game simply does not work. The addition of a few new game modes, on-line features, and a tutor go a long way to setting ’09 apart from ’08, but it’s still not the experience golf fans are longing for on the Wii.



 

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