Interactive gaming
In PGA Tour 07 you grip the wii-mote as it were your trusty 9 iron, keep your head down, settle your feet into position and then move through your backswing and begin your downswing by mirroring the motion in the opposite direction. In essence, it’s like your playing golf, so if you don’t move through the swing in a fluid motion you’ll invariably see the ball veer off course; the basics will be fairly obvious to anyone who has ever donned those Rupert the Bear trousers and spoilt a good walk. But, there are also a number of other factors to take into account, such as the wind speed, whether you wish to spin the ball, adjusting your aim and most importantly judging the right amount of backswing for your approach shots.
In many ways the movement needed to ensure accuracy both on the green and on the fairways is far better and more reactive than golf on Wii sports, but one thing the game is lacking is a power bar, which means that judging shots, particularly approach shots, can be extremely difficult. Off the tee, it’s not a problem; you hold down the B button in order to begin the shot and draw the wii-mote back to your shoulder and swing it forward in a smooth motion, ensuring that you keep the wii-mote totally level. This motion is identical to how you’d tee-off if you were playing golf for real and it does almost feel as if you did just hit that 300 yard drive (I’ve been getting that same arm-pit ache that I normally get from playing for real). A slight twisting movement of the controller means that your shot may go out of bounds, land in a group of trees or hit that dreaded bunker, so full concentration is needed on each and every strike. In addition to whacking the ball as far as you possible can, you’re able to control the ball’s spin by selecting the required direction on the control pad and shaking the wii-mote like a one armed epileptic playing the maracas.
The true aiming function that appeared in the Xbox 360 version also comes into play, allowing you to zoom across the fairway or green and place a circle where you wish the ball to land. As your golfer’s ability improves over time, the aiming circle shrinks in size making for more accurate shots, so this is where boosting your skill points comes in really handy. In my first few rounds the targeting circle almost covered the whole green, meaning that it required far more effort with spin, draw and fade in order to get close to the flag, but as I progressed this became far easier.