Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

Don't get any illusions - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 on the Wii isn't the perfect golf game. You're not going to see the next Tiger learn the sport from standing in his living room, and you won't suddenly find yourself lowering your handicap from a couple of weeks indoors. But holy heck, it's definitely the best golf game.

And this is in spite of the game being restricted to just Standard Definition by the Wii. There's no question in anyone's mind that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of this game will look far better, feature better physics, larger draw distances, greater customisation options and better online features. None of it matters though, because the golf in TW10 Wii is bloody fantastic.

The Wii version's dominance is all thanks to the Wii MotionPlus accessory - a small addon for the WiiMote which adds the 1:1 controlling Nintendo promised from day 1 with the console. The gameplay is suddenly quite realisitic - as I said previously it's not perfect, but damn if it isn't close.

The imperfections are in the game's need to continue to be a video game - player stats and abilities affect how your gameplay continues, giving the game an RPG-esque effect. Remember in Fallout 3 when you'd put a bullet in the head of a super mutant from point blank but because your small guns skill was low it would miss? A similar effect is present with TW10. It means that picking Super Tiger will make playing a lot easier than picking say Luke Donald (whoever that dude is).

Driving is fairly simple - you hold your Wiimote like a golf club, press and hold the B button and then swing. The angle of the Wiimote will determine how you strike the ball - slices and hooks will be a common element in your game until you begin to concetrate on your swings. The video game issue rears its head again with swing power - it's determined as it is in the other Tiger Woods games - the height of your backswing combined with the speed of your swing. This means if you're aiming for about 80% power you can draw your club up to around the 80% mark and then simply swing through. Putting follows suit - you draw back with the putter and then follow-through - and it takes some getting used to. Early on it was always either too much or just not enough power to get to the hole - years of Tiger games meant my aim was always on.



All of this is from the perspective of someone who played every shot in the game's most realistic difficulty - TW10 does actually offer a great deal of accessibility should you not be confident with your swing. The All-Play feature of EA Sports Wii range makes the game unbelievably simple - the Wii MotionPlus addon might not exist at all. In fact, the player might not exist at all, as the ball will mostly go directly where you tell it to go. It's certainly not what the game was designed to do, but it is a nice feature to have.

Speaking of nice features - frisbee golf is almost better than normal golf in TW10. It's honestly very, very similar to actually playing frisbee. You hold the Wiimote on it's side, press and hold the B button to pick up the disc and then throw and let go of the B button (not the controller) to throw the disc. Slowly you make your way up the course until you make it to the hole, which has been replaced by a basket. Sand, out of bounds shots and water penalties all cost you an extra stroke - the entire thing becomes just as competitive and just as important as the real game you purchased.

I honestly never thought I'd see the day where I would recommend a game on the Wii above its Hi-Def console counterparts, but it's genuinely here. Grab Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 in a bundle with the Wii Motion Plus accessory and you will have the best golf game on any home console - the most immersive, most accomplished golf game ever. And while it isn't the perfect golf game - it's no replacement for hitting a course - it's still a great way to spend some time. If you're not a golfer, consider getting it anyway for the extra Wii Motion Plus and the Frisbee Golf drinking game... Each stroke over par is a drink!