Alongside Wii Sports Resort, PGA Tour 10 was intended as one of the main showcases of the Wii's new MotionPlus remote add-on, which offers heightened sensitivity and better interpretation of the movements you perform with the remote. Wii Sports Resort was a good demonstration of how the MotionPlus could better recognise subtle movements in the hands and wrist and replicate them on-screen. Tiger Woods takes it one step further in PGA Tour 10. Unlike Wii Sports Resort, the MotionPlus peripheral isn't vital in order to play, but it would be highly recommended that you use one in order to get the most out of the game, given that the boost in control it provides is significant.
Tiger Woods: He's really freaking good at golf.
As you might expect by now from an EA Sports game, the devotion to the details of the sport throughout the game is endless. It's also the first in the Tiger Woods series of golf titles to include the US Open. As you might also expect, it's incredibly dry in its approach, which means casual players will likely find the tone of the game to be bland, but this serious approach will definitely help legitimise the game to golf fans.
As a golf simulator, PGA Tour 10 is a winner. Swinging and hitting the ball with MotionPlus feels fluid and natural. Putting is especially fun because it genuinely feels as if how you swing is critical to the result, rather than the player merely performing an unrelated action to initiate the gameplay. The simple and pure enjoyment of being able to perform a golf swing that is reasonably replicated in game is the core of this title's appeal.
On any shot you can press A to zoom to the approximate area the ball will end up, and you can manually tweak your aim and distance. This works fairly well, the problem with it being that the d-pad simply isn't sensitive enough to make minute adjustments, which can be frustrating when you're trying to line up that perfect shot. The other issue with this is that you'll want to manually adjust your shot quite often, as the default arc is rarely ideal. Even putting two metres from the hole, the game will often have you set up to send the ball wide until you adjust it. The MotionPlus also allows for the ability to draw and fade manually (essentially swing it through the air to the left or right) by adjusting the Wii remote's angle. You can also try to get more distance in the air by giving the ball spin, which is done by pressing the remote's d-pad and waggling. The biggest fault to be found with the controls is that the velocity detection isn't always perfect,
There are plenty of things to do in PGA Tour 10. The meat of the game is found in the virtually endless Career mode. You can create your own golfer in what is a reasonable but fairly limited character builder, give them a starting set of statistics and adjust the clubs to your own preference. From here you can follow the calendar through the entire PGA Tour season, as well as the FedEx Cup. There's also a Tournament Challenge mode that sees you re-enacting historic moments from real life tournaments. Playing events earns you statistical boosts and cash. You'll earn cash not only for winning events, but also for pulling off different skills in-game, like strong approach shots or hitting the pin. Cash can go towards buying more items to customise your golfer, and more importantly to cover the entry fee of events. Of course there are also a range of professional golfers that can be used in the game which include Tiger himself, and Australians Michael Campbell and Adam Scott. One really neat little feature is that you can synchronise your Wii Weather Channel with the game, so that when you play a few holes on, for example, Hazeltine National, the weather on the course in-game will match whatever the weather happens to be on the real life Hazeltine National course at the time.
Frisbees! YAY!
If you feel like something a little less dense than the career mode, there are also a several decent minigames on offer, the best of which by far is Disc Golf, which for those unfamiliar is pretty much golf with frisbees. Like Frisbee Golf on Wii Sports Resort, it's a fun distraction when you want a break from the very involving Career mode, and definitely the mode to bust out with friends over.
The online functionality reveals another array of features that will be mouth-watering for golf fans. Live Tournaments allow you to compete in regular online tournaments. You can also play against real life statistics generated by real life golf tournaments more or less as they happen, which is rather mind-blowing when you think about it. There's also a four-player online mode
Visually PGA Tour 10 is a mixed bag. The presentation is very strong, with clear, sensibly laid out menus. The 27 courses offered in the game would seem to be accurate representations of their real-life counterparts, and the golfers are reasonably well animated. There's a satisfying closeness between the actions of the golfer on screen and the movements of the remote. Unfortunately, PGA Tour 10 does suffer from the kind of visual drabness we've come to expect from most Wii games. It does a sufficient job, and the weather effects come across reasonably well, but one does sometimes dream of a world where the Wii's motion detection and the superior visuals on offer from its two big brothers could come together. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2013 Super Natal Special perhaps?
Phallic imagery abounds.
The sound does a reasonable job, with some satisfying thwacks to be heard among the sound effects. The commentary is fairly droll and unexciting, but it does contribute suitably to the atmosphere. One slight annoyance is that commentators will more or less forecast the result of your shot as soon as you make it, which in a way spoils the surprise of where the ball will end up. If you swing and they immediately say 'This one is headed for the green' you know you're fine before the ball has even reached its apex in the air. As with all sports game commentary, it will become increasingly repetitive the more you play the game.
In the end, golf fans are going to adore this title. It's a strong representation of the sport and there's a huge amount of content to keep them going until the inevitable PGA Tour 11. For those less enamoured with golf, PGA Tour 10 still has a lot to offer, particularly in the level of tangible physical interaction it offers the player.
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