E3 2008: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 All-Play Hands-On

It's probably more difficult to remember the title of EA Sports' new Wii-specific golf game than to actually play it. Although "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 All-Play" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, the ball will likely be coming off of your virtual club quite easily in the game thanks to the All-Play control scheme, which looks set to even out the playing field on the course a bit. We had a chance to try out a few rounds of the game at EA's recent pre-E3 event in Los Angeles to see what the "All-Play" moniker means to Tiger 09.

Though Tiger 09 producers say that the swing in Tiger has been revamped, it feels very similar to last year's game, especially when you're using a draw or fade in your swing. Like last year, you twist your wrist to put draw or fade on your shot as you swing, though you can also choose to add draw or fade before your shot begins. According to producers, the swing in Tiger 09 has been changed to reflect more of a one-on-one relationship between the swing that you perform with the Wii Remote and what you see onscreen. From our experience with the game, it seems to work decently. There is the slightest lag between your motion and that of your virtual golfer's, but ultimately it feels pretty good.

Although the swing mechanic will work fine for experienced golf gamers, the All-Play control system is specifically designed to take all of the guesswork out of your swing. Here, the exact arc of your shot will be drawn out onscreen; as long as you hit the ball hard enough, you'll know exactly where your ball will end up after you've made contact. Obviously, you won't be able to use All-Play controls when playing online because...well, because that would be ridiculous. There's also a slightly revamped putting meter that will let you more easily dial in your power.

Five new courses will make their way into Tiger 09, including Wentworth, Bay Hill, Sun City Country Club, Sheshan, and our personal favorite new course, Wolf Creek. Several of these will be found in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, and though they obviously won't look as sharp as those high-definition versions, they should still be fun to play. Like the other console versions, the game will have the virtual presence of Tiger's real-life golf coach, Hank Haney, who will be offering you tips on how to improve your game as you play. The club-tuning feature will also be in there, letting you adjust specific aspects of the various clubs in your bag, such as power, loft, draw and fade, and bias. Making adjustments will be a trade-off; for example, when adding power to your shot, you'll take away from the "sweet spot." In other words, you might hit farther but you have a better chance of hitting an errant shot.

Like most of the other Wii games from EA Sports, Tiger 09 will have a multiplayer party mode that will include a number of minigames for up to four players to compete in. We tried a couple of these minigames during our time with the game. In one, you had to guide carts around a small course, picking up range balls in a timed round, and the winner is the player who collects the most range balls. Another game played a bit like a golfing version of Go: You aim your shots at circular islands laid out in a grid, and if you hit an island, then you take control of it. As in Go, if you take control of two islands, you'll automatically convert all of the islands in-between to your side, with the ultimate aim being to control all of the real estate in the game.

The All-Play control scheme in Tiger 09 should make it more appealing to golf-game rookies, but experienced hackers might also appreciate the controls, which do something that even the 360 and PS3 versions of the game can't do: emulate a real golf swing. Look for more on Tiger 09 during GameSpot's live coverage of E3 beginning next week.