The reviews on the next title in a franchise will generally consist of the things that have been added and the changes compared to the previous title, and this review will do the same, as well as focus on aspects of the Wii version. However, for those that have never played a golf game on the Wii, let’s quickly go through the basics.
Pick one of the famous golfers or make your own. Take that golfer onto the virtual golf course and, surprise, play golf. The truly excellent part of this game actually comes from the technology provided by the Nintendo Wii. In previous golf games controls used relative motion, with controls not being able to take realistic actions into account. The Wii Motion Plus changes all of that. It recreates a true swing, playing the ball as if there was a golf club in your hand. I’m not just saying that because it sounds nice… it’s true. It’s so realistic that my real-life golf buddies and I post similar scores on real and virtual courses when we play together.
There are some major changes to the new golfing system in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, and these are big steps towards improving the realism of the game. There are new True View and Focus systems. True View lets players look at the ball and shots as if they were on the course.
Moving the Wii remote and Motion Plus in this view gives the player true feeling of how accurate it is, watching the golf club sway and move around the ball. The Focus System is part of the custom character development; the player can select an attribute that their golfer would like to improve… performance in the round determines how much it improves, if at all.
If the player is not up for real golfing and the arcade feel is what they’re after, or if some of the true-to-life features are just a bit too much to take on, then the new difficulty settings will help. Players are able to pick and chose realism levels and what features are to be enabled. These can be changed as the game progresses, to get the player closer to a real game of golf.
When a new golfer is created, the experience levels of that golfer are taken into account in the game. More experience is gained by hitting good shots and scoring well. These experience awards are naturally scaled according to difficulty levels and realism settings. Soon these experience points will take the golfer to the next level and they will receive a reward… maybe even a new sponsorship. The rewards are often skill points that can be applied to the golfer.
Another of the biggest additions to the game is the Ryder Cup, with all the holes faithfully recreated in the game. The player can chose who they would like to play as, representing the countries that those players would in real life. Tiger Woods denotes the U.S. team and Rory McIlroy for the Europeans.
In previous titles there were a range of mini games to break and add more variety to the golf game, like Target, T-I-G-E-R, Capture the Flag and Target2Target. In PGA Tour 11 there are a few more. Shooting Gallery requires the player to hit as many targets as they can before the time runs out. Ball Juggling demands that the player keep the ball in the air as long as possible. Last, but not least, Range Cart Showdown, challenges the player to speed around the range and pick up as many golf balls as possible. The mini games include all the enhancements from the game, so the Motion Plus accessory needs to remain on the Wii remote when playing them.
At A Glance
This is not just the next in the series… it has numerous new features and improvements on offer.
Developer: EA Sports
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Distributor: EA
Platform:
Wii
Xbox 360
PS3
