DP Challenge Part 12/100 – Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

Game: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

Ranking: 13/100

Score: 89.14%

Another sport game is up for analysis, this time a golfing one with Tiger Woods’ endorsement. Sadly, it isn’t like the version South Park imagined where you got to play his wife and trash his car. Happily, there’s lots of golf and golf-themed games for you to enjoy. Does this game soar like an eagle, or will players simply get teed off? Let’s find out*.

*and let’s also find out how many golfing puns I can stuff into the captions.

'Press 'X' to lie! Press 'X' to lie!' No, seriously. Tiger's just pleased he got his balls into that hole...

Intro

You get a bunch of video shots of Tiger Woods winning things, and that's all for setting the scene. What's good is that you have multiple difficulty settings, and the ability to play right or left handed. There's also a handy promo screen that shows you what features have differed from the previous version, so players who have the prior game can see at a glance what's different. An important feature is that you can skip the promo of the new features, as you can the tutorial; you don't have to get bogged down with this stuff if you don't want to and can just get on with the game.

The manual is functional but uninspiring, design wise. It does at least tell you what gameplay options are available, which is more than the game does upon first loading. You get no real sense of what you can do in the game before you actually start playing (assuming you start with the tutorial).

It's a little thing, but I'd like to see what options are available before I start the tutorial; a little teaser to make me excited to get a handle on the controls would make things a little more exciting.

See? See? They've got real courses. Players of this game won't be getting shafted...

Getting Going

The tutorial is voiced by Hank Haney, a professional golf instructor who I in no way had to look up because I have very little knowledge of professional golf. It's a nice touch which adds a bit of kudos to the experience. He at least does read out the controls for each section and not just the intro part. The tutorial gives you a good chance to try out each move and get a handle on the basics - it employs a goal system where you have to achieve certain tasks before you can move on. Oh, and you play as a model of Tiger Woods; I suppose even pro golfers have to practice the basics now and then.

Even at the tutorial level, you have to know golf. The tutorial shows you how to do draw/fade, and I had absolutely no idea what that meant, and the game didn't want to tell me. Also, the game doesn't actually tell you where you're going wrong if you fail an objective. I spent ages on one of them and only managed to progress by chance - I still have no idea what I did on that shot that meant I passed.

Show us where we're going wrong on a tutorial; a little diagram showing where the ball should have ended up versus where it actually did end up would give the player a clue and help them to actually master the controls, not just guess and be no better off when the game starts properly. If you're going to use golfing terms, it would be nice if there was an option to get a definition of what they mean. For example, pressing an additional button to read a quick description would be useful for players who know little of golf and easily ignored by those who do.

Tiger grips his club and aims for the hole...

Fun

The game is very good at giving you enough hints to help you make decent shots, and enough control that you can mess up! This makes you feel as though you are actually making gameplay decisions and that when you manage to get under par, it's your achievement, not just you doing what the computer tells you. It is noticeably frustrating when you just miss a hole, just like in real life. The fact that in order to play the game properly you do really need to stand up adds a level of authenticity. Once you get into it, the game is very enjoyable and has a good learning curve. You also have the choice of carving out a fully-fledged golfing career with your own customised character, simply knocking about a mini golf course or just playing casual full golf rounds. There's also the option to choose specific clubs to pay with, but at the same time the game automatically sets you up with appropriate ones so you don't have to concern yourself with that level of detail unless you want to.

You can speed up the animated displays of your shot a little once you've made the drive, but even then they can go on a bit too slowly. The fact that you are restricted to eighteen holes or nine is a bit of a shame; there doesn't seem to be any option for just playing a couple of holes. This means the game doesn't lend itself to being fired up for a quick half hour or so - you have to be committed to finding time to play.

Why not have a single or three hole option for quick practice games? I'd like to be able to really speed up the animations of your shots, as they can take a long time - especially when you have to play eighteen holes without being able to save in between. Also, two words: Crazy Golf. What a mini game that would be, knocking balls through windmills and the like. There are other slightly silly mini games so it wouldn't be out of place.

It's a Golf Party... and everyone's invited! After three rude golf puns in a row, I'm allowed a break.

Visuals

The courses look reasonably realistic for the Wii and are unique; they also match the designs of the real-life courses they are based on, and you can tell when courses are set in different countries. The art design is done in such a way that you can easily tell your fairway from your rough, and in-game graphics such as gradients and putting distances are shown in an intuitive and eye-catching way. They've also neatly got around the potential for embarrassing action animations by showing real life footage of golfing tournaments wherever possible. Your playable characters also have fun little animations when they do well or badly, and even when they're lining up to take a shot; it makes them come alive a little.

I know it's a Tiger Woods game and thus you want to show him as often as possible, but sticking pictures of him over the options screen is obtrusive. Granted, it doesn't restrict the options as his many celebratory photos do not obscure the text, but it feels very in the way.

Could we have a gap between the options lists so Tiger has a bit of space? It's a tiny thing, but he's in the way!

What are you doing, Tiger? Shift! I'm trying to click on stuff!

Intelligence

There aren't really any visible opponents in this game, but the difficulty seems to be pitched well; on my first attempt at a tournament on beginner mode I scored highly, and then sat just above the middle of the leaderboard. Nobody seems to get ridiculously unfair scores.

You never see anyone, however. You just assume they're off playing their holes.

Perhaps it would be nice to just pass another player, to be able to put a face to the many names you find yourself up against. It's not necessary, but it would be a nice touch.

They're what got you into trouble in the first place... Ooh, snap!

Immersion

The games are full on eighteen holes, so they feel an authentic length but without the annoyance of having to trundle across to the ball after each shot. There's enough in the way of commentaries and crowd reactions to keep things interesting while you wait to take your shot. The mini games offer a different game play style such as a 'golf disc' game (which is a lot like Frisbee but with a target) and mini golf courses, but even these will be a minimum of nine holes.

As is natural with a game like this that is deliberately slow-paced and thoughtful, you have a lot of time to notice how long you've been playing. I did become increasingly conscious that I'd been playing for a while and was still nowhere near completing a game; even with the mini-games.

The option to play short practise holes, or even to save mid-game (for example, after every third hole) would be good, just so you could play a few holes instead of having to commit to a full game. I think that once you take away the necessity to lock people in for a whole 18 rounds, it would reduce that clock-watching element that pulls you out of the game.

A bird's eye view of the beautiful course. Well, it's more of an eagle's eye view...

Cameras

The camera basically follows your ball, but you can press the 'A' button to view the predicted trajectory and amend it in a few ways. This allows you control and also gives you a view of the course without getting in the way of the game.

Sometimes there are shots you need to take where the hole is obscured by trees or is off screen; this makes it difficult to see where you might want the ball to land, and the only way you might be able to slightly change your view is to use the Wii Remote directional pad to change your well-planned out trajectory route. Oh, and no matter what setting I put my TV on, there were occasions where the percentage power figure (a value which you want to match with your swing to get the best results) was simply cut off the screen. Not good.

A simple free camera option with a reset would allow you to take a look around the course to get your bearings. If you could toggle it with the trajectory controls, that would be fine; sometimes you just want to see what's a few metres ahead or to the left.

Tiger gripping his club. If only real life had those handy grid lines.

Controls

The controls are simple and have been chosen to make it feel as close to the real thing as possible; you swing your Wii Remote like a golf club and you can control the power behind it by how hard you swing.

I did find the controls sometimes weren't very responsive. I had to skip the draw and fade elements where you controlled them with a flick of the Wii Remote because no matter how slavishly I followed the instructions, it just didn't do it. I managed to occasionally get a draw, but it was sheer fluke and not a repeatable event. The main tournament was fine, but the mini games were a bit of a chore at times. I can see that some of them were designed not to have the same level of precision control over your trajectory and power as the proper game controls, but often I found they simply refused to acknowledge the placement of my Wii Remote (which has to be in a downwards position to initiate a club swing). Oh, and good luck if you have a non-Nintendo Wii Remote; I switched to one of those when my Nintendo one needed recharging and it was almost unplayable.

I've played the golf game on Wii Sports, so I know the Wii Remote can handle this sort of movement. I'm at a loss as to why this game struggles with it. Perhaps it's to do with how far I stand near the sensor bar, or what direction I point the Wii Remote? Am I supposed to swing it like a golf club towards the screen, or from side-to-side? The tutorials don't even make this clear - I tried both and both seemed to get some semblance of results. Perhaps just giving us more information, or describing and displaying the moves better would help; for example, show the Wii Remote actions in reference to where the TV screen would be. Also, at least try and make it work with one other Nintendo-compatible Wii Remote.

Be careful you don't hit your balls too hard. It can end badly...

Ideas

For a game that's effectively a golfing simulator, there's an incredible amount of variety here. You can play single rounds on multiple courses across the world, you can play by yourself or with friends in party-style mini games such as Disc Golf and target aiming. If you want a meatier gaming experience, you can enter the career stage, where you play several tournaments and try to make a name for yourself. This includes gaining sponsorship, earning money to buy equipment and clothing, and creating a highly customisable avatar. I spent a good half an hour going through every single option, from eye colour to body weight distribution. It's perfectly feasible you could create a character that looks approximately like you (well, okay, when I tried my avatar ended up looking like Carla Gugino - chance would be a fine thing). You can even give your character unique winning and losing animations that they use in the game, and even specify a golf swing animation. The addition of in-game commentators is nice (and mercifully, you can turn them off if they start to annoy you), and I both smiled and made rude hand gestures at the telly, depending on the sorts of things they were saying about my technique.

Sadly, there doesn't seem to be any option to play practise rounds; when you want to play anything - even a mini game - you are tied into the eighteen hole or nine hole structure. The only game I found which didn't adhere to this rule was the target aiming (you get money depending on how many targets you hit versus how many hazards you hit), but that was still a twenty ball game.

I think the option to play a single or three hole practice game on your unlocked tournaments would be nice; you'd be able to play a quick game when you don't have much time spare, and you'd also be able to practice your technique without messing up your career status. One other potentially more important detail for me would be the addition of a crazy golf stage. This game has mini golf, so why not crazy golf?

When you first start the game, some of the tournaments are locked. Par for the course, really...

Memory

There a lot to like about this as a golfing game. The career element is well-crafted and has a lot of attention to detail and customisation options to really make you feel a part of the experience. The mini-games and arcade game elements are a nice change of pace and allow for quicker game play; the fact you can play mini-golf or Disc Golf add different styles of gameplay while still retaining the golf theme. The Tiger Woods motif can be enjoyed if you're a fan - you can play as him, for example - but equally it isn't a compulsory part of the experience. Additions such as pertinent in-game commentary and the ability to obtain sponsorship and buy kit are nice touches that elevate it from being a standard golfing game; again if those kind of adornments annoy you, there is an option to switch them off.

My main gripe is the lack of short game options. Why can't I just play a single hole? Why is there not a practise section? Sure, you can return to the tutorial any time you want, but if you just want to play a couple of holes, or the same one multiple times to try out some new techniques, there doesn't seem to be an option for this beyond exiting the game and starting a new one. I certainly couldn't find anything in either the manual or the on-screen options.

I can't see how it would be difficult to create a practice round option. All the elements have already been created; you just need to repeat the same one or three holes. That, in my mind, would help enormously in both keeping players coming back to the game when they don't have much time to play, and also in allowing players to experiment with different techniques on the same hole to see what gives them the best results.

Spectators huddle together in the rain, hoping the hole doesn't get too... You know what? Even I'm not stooping that low.

Overall, this game is fun and absorbing; it allows you to play casual games of golf or absorb yourself into a fully-fledged career with a highly customisable avatar. However, if you want a quick fifteen-minute no-frills game, or you have a non-Nintendo Wii Remote; you’ll probably need to look elsewhere.