Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

Up to par?

Tiger Woods is the perfect match for MotionPlus, Nintendo's latest extension to their disruptive Wiimote. The fine control required for Golf is now perfectly possible with the extra fidelity provided by the much touted plug-in.

Before we get into the successes of this year's game though, you should be aware that this has been a long time coming. Way back in 2007 we saw the first Tiger Woods golf game on the Wii. Much like Grand Slam Tennis this year, it proved how possible and how compelling the sport is with just motion control. With prolonged play however it was evident that Iron shots were inconsistent and had a forced timing, while the putting was incredibly twitchy.

Then the following year came Tiger Woods 2008 offering a true swing mechanic that was both more solid and consistent than before. The Irons had been worked on, but although now more consistent were often found to be lacking in distance and were overly effected by wind. Putting was spot on though and offered a full simulation of putting swing, pull back and follow through combining in the pace of the ball.

Expectations were high for Tiger Woods 2009, as all it needed to do was to fix a few niggles and expand the courses. And indeed, driving was refined to enable you to adjust the vertical trajectory of the ball, and a club tuning feature enabled you to refine your hitting style. Chipping was also roundly improved with a more controllable back-swing that enables players to better estimate the power of shots. However, for some reason the putt mechanic was changed and caused all sorts of problems. This was seen not least in the unaccountably reduced power for some putts - frustrating to say the least.

So we come to Tiger Woods 2010, and let's say up front that this is the definitive 'real' swing golf game. To start with the headlines: the game offers a nuanced swing for driving, chipping and putting, it fleshes out the courses and competitions impressively and even offers a surprisingly fun MotionPlus controlled version of Frisbee golf around any of the courses.

Putting first of all, which was the bane of many and the subject of much debate on the forums, is here resolved. The combination of a return to the true swing simulation of the 2008 game with the new MotionPlus technology creates a putting mechanic that is both believable and consistent. The back swing, follow through and club rotation are all taken into account (along with the slope and distance of the putt) to create the simulated result.

Driving also benefits from MotionPlus. Previously the strength of a shot was only determined by the back swing. Now though the follow-through also affects the shot. You can really go for a punched or pulled shot just by the length of your post strike swing. The MotionPlus also enables you to more predictably turn the club-face to draw or fade a shot as required - something that was notoriously hard to pull off consistently in previous versions.

Although this all sounds quite technical, the result is a rounded golfing experience that once experienced could stop anyone wanting to play the game on any other system. Certainly the graphics don't match the PS3 or Xbox 360 (although they are improved this year) but the sheer connection of the player to the game more than makes up for playing on the Wii. Add into this the sheer number of courses and play options - not to mention the great simultaneous online mode - and you have a package that is as convincing as the play mechanic it is built around.

The game still has some limitations in multiplayer. I'd like to be able to play a round with more than four friends, and also take advantage of the great online simultaneous play with a local split-screen mode. But other than this there is little to gripe about here.

I don't often get the chance to say this, but here we have the combination of a development team at the top of their game, a technology that matches their requirements and a console in the perfect demographic. Out of this perfect storm comes the first game on the Wii I can whole heartedly endorse to anyone regardless of their age or gaming persuasion.

92%

By Paul Govan