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For the longest time, those of us who played “Tiger Woods” on the Nintendo Wii felt short-changed. Even after last year when Tiburon took the reins, the limited swing mechanics limited the game overall. Using the new “Wii Motion Plus,” Tiburon has delivered the first real golf experience in a video game. The swing mechanics are one for one.

For those of you who haven’t heard of the “Wii Motion Plus,” it is a small add-on for your Wii Remote that adds a new level of control to the device. You can now rotate the controller left and right, permitting you to hit the perfect fade shot. (Or in my case, slice the ball even more directly into the trees.)

If you find the new swing mechanics too hard to control or you have child players in the house, you can dial back the difficulty. You have a choice of classic controls or the all-play mode for the youngest of players.

Besides the new control scheme, several more features have been added to the mix to make this one of the best “Tiger Woods” games ever. For example, the addition of real-time weather conditions is amazing.

Thanks to the forecast channel already on your Wii, the game updates the weather in real-time. That means that you can play a PGA tour event with the same weather conditions that the pros played in. While there is a small delay to upload scores, you can even play a PGA event the same day as the actual event, and test your skills up against the actual pros.

The single-player mode is very deep. You can create your own character and move him up in the ranks, just like any other “Tiger Woods” game previously made. The swing anaylisis has received a major overhaul. The “Wii Motion Plus” can really show you what you are doing (correctly or incorrectly) with your swing.

This allows you to tailor your clubs to suit your swing. The tutorial and the swing analysis really gets you ready for the career mode. There is a ton of content, and, after creating your character, you will have several weeks, if not several months, worth of play. Add to that a ton of mini-games, and you could easily be playing “Tiger Woods 10” until the next version is ready.

While it is not necessary to play the game with the “Wii Motion Plus” device, it is highly recommended. By that I mean, spend the extra $10 and pick up the bundle. Not only are you getting a great game with an amazing peripheral, but you are saving money buying them togther.

The “Wii Motion Plus” usually sells for between $19.99 and $24.99. Your best bet is to try a “Play ‘n’ Trade” or “Best Buy” and save $5 if you want to pick up an additional “Wii Motion Plus.”

The online play is some of the best seen on the Wii. All you need to do is setup an EA account, and you’re ready to play online. For once, you don’t need a friend code to play with someone online. You can sort through your friends or randomly pick someone to play against.

This is the simple online interaction that you usually don’t see in a Wii multi-player game. The only downside is that there is no support for WiiSpeak. That is good and bad, but as a player myself, I really wish I could trash talk my opponent. As a parent, I can see where those with children are happier without this option. Your kids are probably safer without it. That being said, it is very easy to unplug the WiiSpeak microphone if you choose not to use that option, so I would hope EA will add this feature soon.

“Tiger Woods PGA 10” is one of the best golf games I have ever played. The addition of the “Wii Motion Plus” makes the Wii version of “Tiger Woods” the must-have version.

While you can play the game without the “Wii Motion Plus,” keep in mind you lose a lot of depth to the game. It also helps that the “Wii Motion Plus” comes with the game. As more and more games are released using the technology, you’ll be happy you picked one up now, (for less).

James Treacy is a lifelong gamer, across all platforms of the gaming community. His opinion is in no way the opinion of this paper, and is instead offered to give its readers more information on games and trends available in today’s market. To contact him with any questions about the gaming world, e-mail jtreacy@phillynews.com.