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Tiger Woods 10 Wii MotionPlus Review

11/07/2009 Specialist Sports Gamer Review
Guest author: Edward Sanders
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Tiger Woods 10 Nintendo Wii

Tiger Woods 10

Format:
Nintendo Wii

Genre:
Sporting

Further reading:
Edward Sanders

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Other GamePeople columnists have reviewed this from their perspective - huh?:
Family Guide Gamer (Wii)

Canadian gamers are often quieter than they should be about their national video gaming achievements. Here we find the Tiger Woods team on form and delivering their best game to date, completed with the first and only opportunity to play on Alberta's Banff Springs Golf Club.

The first play of a new Tiger Woods game on the Wii is always a little nerve wracking. So many times (three in fact) EA have come agonizingly close to delivering the quintessential video golfing experience, but fallen at the last hurdle. But from the first rush of that real swing in 2007, the perfect putting of 2008, to the agonizingly close attempt in 2009 it has always been clear that herein lies the future of video game golf.

This year it all comes good, and we breathe a sigh of relief, or jubilation even. The added controls on offer from the MotionPlus add on make driving more consistent and putting more accurate. In one fail swoop this recolves the two main issues from the previous games.

This is particularly interesting for us Canadian gamers as this is the only place you can play Alberta's Banff Springs Golf Club.

But this isn't a game to rest on its technological achievements. Alongside the superb play mechanics are a whole raft of new features and ideas. Most significant perhaps is the inclusion of frisbee golf. This not only give a not to the Tiger Woods community who have been asking for this for years, but also to their more casual audience.

My kids for instance (four and six) struggled to get to grips with even the All-Play swing of the main game, but could instantly connect with and control the simple Frisbee throwing. This version of the game replaces the ball with said plastic disc and then sets you loose in any of the games courses - genius.

The game also expands on the character customization features in both clothing and physical appearance so you can now more accurately craft your on-screen self. The number of courses has been upped as well. This is particularly interesting for us Canadian gamers as Tiger Woods 10 on the Wii, as we mentioned above, this is the only place you can play Alberta's Banff Springs Golf Club.

Now to flesh out some more of those mechanics. Putting, which has been a problem in previous Tiger Woods games ont he Wii 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 put) to create the simulated result.

Not only the quintessential golfing experience, but one that had the large open Canadian spaces running right through it.

Driving also benefits from MotionPlus. Previously the strength of shot was only determined by the back swing. Now 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.

But more than just physics and technology this is an experience that brings all these elements together that creates a real sense of place and atmosphere to each game. There is as much skill involved in this balancing as there is in the number crunching required to turn my jerky motions into believable ball strikes.

For Canadians gamers, this is not only the quintessential golfing experience, but one that has large open Canadian spaces running right through it - not only in Alberta's Banff Springs course, but through each and every impressive vista.

Guest review by Edward Sanders


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Edward Sanders wrote this Sports Gamer article under the watchful eye of David Kenson.

"I bring twenty or so years of enthusiasm for, and experience of, sports to bear on my reviews of all sorts of sporting games. I've usually got what John Virgo would call the 'commentators eye' because I've played in the real world."

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