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Good: Decent motion controls some of the time:..

Bad: :..but not all of the time

The Tiger Woods series is basically the Madden of golf games, which means we get a new installment each year with minimal upgrades. It needed a shot in the arm something different, something fresh. Many gamers were hoping the Wii remote would be exactly what the series needs. After all, golf seems to be a natural choice for a motion-controlled videogame.

Unfortunately, this first Wii attempt is highly erratic in its execution. Everyone I played with seemed to have some issue with the motion control. Sometimes the onscreen player would hit the ball during the gamer's backswing. Sometimes the ball would travel ridiculously far when the player just attempted a slight hit (Lee Carvello's Putting Challenge from The Simpsons comes to mind). More often than not, the ball would sail to the left or right, even when the Wiimote was obviously swung straight.

This doesn't happen with every swing, but it's enough to be detrimental to the experience. With some practice, you'll begin to hit straight shots more often, but there's still the occasional motion hiccup. It would have also been nice for the game to feature one-to-one control, but this isn't the case. You just swing the Wiimote and watch the pre-packaged animation.

Perhaps my favorite addition is the new stats building system, also seen in the PS3 and 360 versions. Instead of earning money during Tiger Challenge and tournaments to buy stats, you must earn them. Like in Oblivion, it upgrades your abilities as you use them. If you successfully perform a huge power boost and spin, you'll upgrade abilities in those areas. If you're lacking in a specific area, you can play a variety of training modes to get them up to speed.

Flaws in the motion control are fairly frequent, but you'll also find them in the form of A.I. From time to time, your CPU opponent will get caught in a seemingly endless cycle of hitting the ball out of bounds. In once instance, Mike Weir hit the ball directly into a tree seven times in a row, even though it was directly in front of him.

Thankfully, it runs in 16:9 widescreen and supports 480p. Despite this, it's still noticeably jaggy and doesn't look any better than the past-gen Tigers. It gets the job done, but you won't be wowed by the ultra-realistic faces and animations like you would on the 360 and PS3 versions. The audio is passable, but it's pretty par for the course in terms of golf games (dammit:.I didn't even mean to use a golf pun there).

Tiger Woods for the Wii isn't the massive upgrade some hoped it would be, but it has potential if they improve the motion next year. It's still fun, especially with four players, but it's just not enough to pry me away from its 360 counterpart.

Graphics: 6.5

Sound: 7.0

First Play: 7.5

Replay Value: 7.0

Gameplay: 7.0

Overall: 7.0