Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (Wii) Review
When Tiger Woods 07 launched earlier out of sync with its other console counterparts, it was a bit strange and the game had that “its an early game, it’ll be better next year” type stigma attached to it. Tiger 07 was by no means a bad game it just had a few problems, looked very plain, lacked online and we are sad to report that Tiger 08 is pretty much the same. The gameplay has had a few tweaks, some new modes have been added but the game still looks like a late PS2 game, has no online (where as Madden and FIFA do) and its short development time shines through. Tiger 07 sold a ton and all indications look the same for Tiger 08, so while EA wins regardless, if they had held off and put all their effort into one game it could of been much better but that isnt the case, so lets see what we got.
First up, game modes. There are a ton of new modes, well, new to the Wii version that is. Regular golf type modes like stroke play, match play, stable-ford and best ball are present and there are also mini game modes, which feature less serious modes like mini-putt, target modes and target2target among others. Of course there are the 5 game modes for arcade or multiplayer type games which are Elimination, Skills 18, Battle golf, one-ball and team and one-ball. All of these modes are basically golf even though its mixed up. Playing single player is great but of course these extra modes shine in multiplayer, especially the more serious ones. Pity none of these modes are online, but then again with the Wiis current online setup or the problems Madden had, maybe its for the better this year.
Its all not just arcade modes and minigames though; there is a deep and meaningful career mode where you can play through the tour along with the Fed Ex and non-linear Tiger challenges. After you win an event you can choose where to go next and along the way you will improve your characters stats. The character creator is quite extensive and nearly every little bit of the human anatomy can be pulled, changed, tweaked or shaped to look like you or anyone you want.
The amount of golfers and courses has increased since the last game but they have removed some of last years golfers and added new ones. Speaking of courses, there are 18 of them now and more real life ones but these come at the expense of some fantasy ones.
When the Wiimote was revealed golf games were some of the first games that came to mind for use with the Wiimote and the first years of the Wii has seen a ton of Wii golf games and all of them has had similar swinging mechanisms but have always been at least a little bit different from each other. The 6 or so month gap between Tiger 07 and 08 has let the developer fiddle with the swinging mechanic and even though its close to being the same, they tweaked it enough to be an improvement.
Your typical swing controls for a Golf game on Wii ring true on Tiger 08. Lean down like you would in real life and hold B. Yes, this will require you to stand up, so lazy people will probably just use the lazy method of just flicking the Wii Remote in any direction or using the analogue stick like its other console cousins but if you use that style to play, that then what is the point of playing the Wii one? You can add fade and draw by twisting the controller during its swing which like in real life which can be good and bad. Putting improves with a preview shot that allows you to see where the shot is going to go without penalty but there is a time limit to govern how often you can do this but if youre quick enough you should have enough time for every putt. Another improvement is the ability to skip through the AIs turn, especially good when playing by yourself. So while controls are better, they still arent am exact replication of a real golf swing but is easily one of the most immersive ways to play a golf game next to actually playing it on a real course.
The sound in Tiger 08 is pretty much as you would expect for a golf game and sadly its mainly rehashed from the 07 iteration including the commentators and crowd, possibly along with more I couldnt pick up. EA Trax is there of course but good luck knowing what you are listening too, as the text for the Trax pop up listing is really small. Normally small is ok, but on the Wii when you dont have the clarity of HD, its just a blurry mess.
One thing I want to talk about one of the things that have been lifted from the old games which is the graphics. The game seriously looks like exactly the same game from the previous year with a few little details and its even got PAL borders. Now, while golf games don’t have to be arty or look excellent, looking better then a PS2 game would be nice. One part of the “Graphics” so to speak that has been updated it the GUI though the whole menus have a nice honeycomb type menu and its easy to select options and all nicely laid out and the HUD in game is slightly changed too for the better.
Tiger Woods 08 is still the best representation of Golf of the Wii thus far but even though it is improved from its 07 version, we feel that Tiger 07 shouldnt have been released in the first place and 08 had that extra development time. Of course, EAs bank manager would disagree with this but if you bought 07, its not yet worth the upgrade to 08 as its more of the same just different. Yeah, youre probably sick of me saying that but that, but I cant stress it enough. With Tiger Woods on Wii, I would say its a case of wait another year for Tiger 09 to be released with improved graphics and menus that you can read. If you didnt purchase 07, I would recommended picking up 08 or simply wait till 09 if you can bear to go with out a golf simulator.
