Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08

Published by EA, Developed by EA

Genres: Sports (4 players)

US release date: Aug 28th, 2007 | EU release date: Aug 31st, 2007

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 review

EA goes fore the hole.

SeanTaylor4ever wrote this game review.

Review written by
SeanTaylor4ever

Winter is coming, which means that turning those golf scores in will be put on hold until Spring. Luckily, people can still enjoy a lifelike golfing by playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08. Not only does it deliver an innovative golf experience, but is also one of the most advantageous uses of the wii-mote. Even better, golfers are treated to familiar players and courses that most die-hard PGA fans will instantly recognize.

For many avid golfers (like myself), golf on Wii Sports was a major disappointment as it did not allow for full swings. Not only does Tiger Woods accommodate this, but the overall velocity and position of the wiimote-imitating-club are taken into account too. People with limited golf experience may struggle in this game, because it partly simulates real-life. My grandpa, who hardly ever plays video games, played decently as he's had golf training during the last few years.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 screenshotPutting is also similar to putting in real golf, despite a few helpful tools that make the experience easier. While most games allow you to scan the slope of the putting green, Tiger Woods 08 includes a putt preview which gives you a practice shot at the hole with your current measurements. Although you're only given a limited period of time, it could be the difference when tabulating your scorecard.

The controls are very simplistic, since golf itself is also a very basic game. Players point the wii-mote toward the floor, hold B, and let it rip. In addition to swinging, players can choose from a sundry of golf clubs through the top button of the directional pad. Unfortunately, golfers can accidentally tap the directional pad and hit a pitch shot when teeing off. Pressing the A button will show you the approximate distance of the ball when hit, and allows you to shift your position to adapt in the courses' landscape. Once the ball is in midair, players even have the option of shaking the wii-mote in their preferred direction to put spin on the ball.

Tiger Woods 08 features many PGA players, however only a few are available from the start. While players like Chris Dimarco, Retief Goosen and the man himself can be played, many others have to be unlocked through challenge modes. I was disappointed that I could not play as my favorite player, Adam Scott (who has the best natural swing in the game), as it was requisite to play farther in the game. In addition to the PGA players, you can create a very in-depth, lifelike player model of yourself, originally found in the 2005 version of the game.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 screenshotFor user-created players, a confidence meter is attached to bring out the weaker areas in your player (or technically yourself). For example, continuous miscues at chipping will result in a descent in confidence when facing that area of your game. This causes your stats to drop and the trademark heart-beating sound to blare off. Elements like these put added pressure on the golfer to succeed.

The game also features numerous courses, such as Pebble Peach, St. Andrews and Harbour Town. However, newer courses come at the expense of past courses, as the exotic and unique Troon was removed. The courses are more realistic than those in Wii Sports, but the graphics are too similar in style to the PS2, as they were probably taken from the now defunct console.

Graphics are not the only component that seem the same. It still seems to have the redundant commentating and crowd sounds it had in the past. Amusingly, they occasionally give a quick jibe at you in your most miserable moments, such as proclaiming you didn't know which way the green was.

Many will argue whether Tiger Woods 08 can be considered a video game. The intricate and well rounded game mechanics manifest what the Nintendo Wii can do. It shows the potential Wii has for pushing the games closer to real life sports and experiences. All EA Sports has left to do is take the time to put in all features the other consoles are equipped with. If you are looking for a more in-depth experience than that in Wii Sports, Tiger Woods 08 is for you.

72%

Gameplay: Gameplay score: 8

Graphics: Graphics score: 6

Sound: Sound score: 7

Lifespan: Lifespan score: 8

User comments

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SeanTaylor4ever said:

Hey, I just saw a tumbleweed get blown past the golf course.

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SeanTaylor4ever said:

Gee, thanks for the positive feedback guys.

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Craig said:

Good review- I bought this game and it truly plays right into the Wii's strengths.

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SeanTaylor4ever said:

Thank you, you're absolute right.

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JOrdan said:

Tiger woods is the man and so is this game.

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Bryan said:

Thanks for the review, I have been wondering how the game plays and I have not been able to find a decent review yet. Well one without an opinion that didn't seem biased.

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bongo said:

Yeah, except I can't even advance past the training stage. I can't understand how to do the "over the tree onto the green" session and therefore haven't been able to actually play yet. This game frustrates me.

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777 said:

If they can improve the graphics in Tiger 2009, I will buy it. A golf game needs very good graphics (and control, which the Wii has).

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Wastedyuthe said:

This game has both great weaknesses and strengths. On the plus side, it plays VERY well when taking your shot, even when using draw or fade (you can twist the remote to the left or right for this), which is what you need to do Bongo to get past the training. It actually feels better than Wii Sports Golf. There are also loads of courses to choose from etc. However there is a downside. The menu system for a start is VERY poorly implemented. Usually with a Wii game, you can select something by moving your cursor over it, then press A. Here, you press A to go to the next screen. For selecting how many players then, instead of clicking on the right arrow to increase the amount, you highlight the number of players, then press right on the d-pad? This applies to most options. You also use the plus and minus buttons to navigate menus. It is nowhere near as user-friendly as it should be for a Wii game, and causes frustration before you've even played your first hole. Secondly, the graphics are extremely poor in places. The buildings look like lego. And where are the crowd? I thought the days had gone where we would hear the crowd cheer a good putt and not see a living soul other than the golfer. Stupid. Overall, if you don't have 07, then 08 is a good buy as long as you don't mind it's weaknesses. The swing mechanics are spot on and it feels great. EA just needs to stop porting PS2 graphics and work on the menu system for 09.

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babygirl1to3 said:

My husband & I are trying to figure this game out. All these positive reviews, ya right! We're with "bongo" on this one; we can't get past the training stage either! Anybody have any suggestions?

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DTunnecl said:

I just got this and it plays well. HOWEVER, I am a lefty and when you select left handed player it plays left until you get to the green. THEN you need to put right handed. To get out of the training just quit the game and go to the menu and select play now.

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WiiBoy said:

What's up with the Out of Bounds areas? On older versions it was difficult to hit one out, unless you did it on purpose. In PGA rules, there are no out of bounds areas inside the boundaries of a course. This game, they are all over the place, and not far off the greens either.

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Tbizz said:

Good review! I've been playing this game quite a bit and it's great. If you've got a friend or two that can hang it's great for betting. The menus aren't that difficult. In most cases if you don't point at the screen you can use the d-pad (held vertically) to change whatever settings you want. The gameplay is good, you can fine tune your shots and do 0-110% swings accurately once you get used to it. Now for my gripes. 1) Even on a 32" Trinitron most text is very small and almost unreadable. And my biggest issue with this game. 2) There needs to be a way to drop a single player out of the game. I can't count how many times I've started 18 holes with friends only to have one of them do bad and not want to finish. So you're stuck with playing that person or restarting a game.

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mikey 1967 said:

Wow. I think this game rocks, but do I have to win 4 amateur tours to play in the pga tour?

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