Reviews

As with previous Tiger games, and Wii Sports too, hitting the ball involves holding down a button to get into shot mode, and then swinging the Wii remote to mimic the motion of a golf club. The motions aren't quite 1:1, but are still fairly accurate. Obviously the bigger and faster your swing, the more likely you are to get a powerful shot, though it's important to remember that full power isn't always necessary. Twisting your wrist on the swing allows you to add draw and fade to the shot, though on certain control schemes you can add this manually before your make your shot.

You can also set whether you'll be swinging with a right or left-handed stance, so as to ensure that you're as comfortable as possible. Either way, these methods are designed to be used by a standing player, stood a decent distance back from the TV. If you'd prefer to sit, or are in too small a room to use the motion controls effectively (or simply don't want to use them), you can simply plug the nunchuck into your remote, and use the control stick for swinging instead.

Must be 11am, as it's time for tee! *groan*

Even those willing to stand may feel tempted to switch to the nunchuck on occasion, as it can sometimes be difficult judging the right swing power on the remote, especially when putting. Also, there are occasions when the game appears to lose track of the fact that you're holding the swing button, which can throw your focus completely. Of course, with a bit of practice and tuning, most of this can be rectified, but some people simply don't have the time or inclination to go through that.

The Golf Party feature is your main port of call for local multiplayer fun. Between 2 and 4 players can participate in 15 different mini-game challenges, which can be simple stuff like Longest Drive contests, or silly things like juggling balls on a club or driving a golf buggy around. Sadly, you can't play these games on your own, so if you're a Tiger-No-Mates, then you'll have to miss out.

Standing in the way of the ball? Surely that's a health and safety violation!

You can always just head online and enjoy the new simultaneous online play mode, where you can play rounds with friends and strangers, where each participant plays their shots at the same time, instead of being forced to wait their turn..

Graphically, Tiger Woods is rather impressive, certainly a game that shows off what strengths the Wii can have, so kudos to EA on that note. It's also a very substantial game, with the amount of modes and tournaments, plus the level of commitment you need to master the career likely to keep you going until the new game comes out in late 2009. However, the occasionally erratic nature of the swing does cause the game to be marked down somewhat. Sure, the nunchuck option is there, but it does rather defeat the object of getting it on Wii! Still, if that's your only console option, then you could do a lot worse than this title.

More beautiful landscapes, spoiled only by those irritating hazards!