I picked up the new Tiger Woods Golf for Wii yesterday at Game Crazy. I had some birthday money and also traded in Tramua Center: New Blood; a game that did not live up to my expectations. I really enjoyed doing cooperative surgeries but after the second they get pretty hard and after the third the game turns into a sci-fi plot where you have to kill aliens in the bloodstream using mystic time-stopping powers. Really? All I wanted to do was realistic surgeries with no sight of blood. There were only so many times I could play the first 2 missions and fix the broken arm or take out the tumors before they got old. But I digress...
The
Wii version of Tiger Woods should theoretically obsolete golf games on any other platform. With any level of realism, physically swinging the club should be more attractive than pushing buttons to start and end swing
any day. However, the
Wiimote just hasn't quite had the
sensitivity to detect
nuances in your swing from start to finish. Although they have gotten progressively better, the previous iterations of Tiger Woods have been more of a "click where you want to shoot, then we'll gauge your swing power" type of activity.
I owned the first Tiger Woods on Wii (07), thought I was upgrading and got 08, sold both, and then just rented 09. They were better than Wii Sports Golf but not better enough to justify me owning them. If the kids wanted to play golf on Wii, they wanted to use their Miis; and we didn't play enough for them to get bored of the course selection.
The new Tiger Woods 10 supports (and comes bundled with) the new Wii Motion Plus add-on. You plug it into your Wiimote and (for games that support it) it becomes many times more sensitive to movement. It definitely feels different- it feels real. Typically in golf video games there are all sorts of meters and indicators showing how powerful your swing is, where you are aiming, etc. There are a few of those in this game but you don't need to use any of them. If you can get over the simulated depth perception and visually judge how far your target is, you can physically get it there. Nowhere is this more true than putting which finally registers the subtle movements enough to make small putts (makes me want a mini-golf game).
Also included is disk golf - which truthfully I might play as much as the traditional golf. The Motion Plus add-on is sensitive enough to pick up any movement in the wrist in your throw. I foresee my kids relating to this one more as well, since throwing a Frisbee is something they can go outside and do anytime.
You can get the game by itself (don't) or bundled with the Wii Motion Plus add-on. I figured I would get Wii Sports resort with the Motion Plus add-on in July, at which point we'll have two of them (2 of any of the add-ons is usually enough). I'll have to see if the added physical realism makes any impression on my kids but I sure am enjoying the experience.
