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EA Sports PGA Tour Review - Hit The Links

• First Released Apr 4, 2023 released

EA returns to the world of golf with a challenging and rewarding title that's let down by a couple of inconsistencies and an underwhelming swing mechanic.

By Richard Wakeling on April 12, 2023 at 10:55AM PDT

EA Sports PGA Tour is unlike any other golf game I've played. It still features familiar elements from the series' past--back when Tiger Woods was front and center--such as slow-motion heartbeat moments and climactic power shots. But after an eight-year hiatus from the world of golf simulation, EA has returned to the fairway with a more demanding recreation of the sport that's as much about feel as it is mastering the game's robust mechanics. With 30 courses covering all four majors--including The Masters at Augusta National--EA Sports PGA Tour has a plethora of golfing action to sink your teeth into. It's just a shame there are a few notable issues in critical areas that hold it back from greatness.

The first of these is the game's swing mechanic. If you've played a golf game before, the actual act of swinging a driver or 5-iron will be familiar. You pull down on the analog stick to bring the club back, then push forward again to unleash your shot. This has been a staple in golf games for a number of years now, and there aren't any alternatives at the moment--not until a three-click system is implemented in a later update. The issue with EA Sports PGA Tour is that there's a slight delay between your input and the on-screen visual. Your swing isn't 1:1, so there's an uneasy disconnect where you never quite feel like you're in total control. The general malaise of each swing doesn't help matters either, with the slow, clunky pacing and frustrating lag making it difficult to nail the timing and power of each shot. I eventually grew accustomed to these idiosyncrasies over time, but it never feels quite right and fails to capture the satisfaction that hitting a 300-yard tee shot should achieve.

To compound the issue, EA Sports PGA Tour also lacks any sort of meaningful tutorial. There are tooltips that pop up and cover the basics the first time you play, but these brief snippets barely scratch the surface of everything going on under the hood. Instead, the game has a suite of challenges that happen to include a Coaching Academy. This is the best place to start, even if these challenges still neglect to offer any tips or feedback to help you along the way. What you get is a variety of contextual situations covering different aspects of the sport, from putting downhill to dealing with elevation changes and the multitude of shot types on offer. There's a lot of trial and error involved, but the repetition of replaying each situation does give you a greater understanding of how everything works. It's not a very user-friendly approach, but it sets expectations and is genuinely helpful in an unconventional way, even if it might prove frustrating for some. Plus, completing these challenges also earns you XP that can be used to improve your created character.

EA Sports PGA Tour's career mode sits front and center, starting off with your no-name golfer competing in the qualifying school before moving on to the amateur Korn Ferry Tour. The ultimate goal is to reach the PGA Tour, which can be done either by winning one of the many four-round courses or by placing highly enough in the Korn Ferry rankings come season's end. You can expedite this process by opting for a quick play mode where you only need to play a few holes rather than an entire round, but I think playing full rounds is the way to go. That's mostly because it gives you ample time to fine-tune your skills, learn the courses, and gain a better understanding of the game's mechanics. There's also a palpable sense of progression that comes from leveling up your golfer. Earning XP lets you build your skills in driving, approach play, short game, and putting, while progressing each attribute also unlocks more shot types, giving you additional options when preparing to send the ball careening toward the green.

Fortunately, the Coaching Academy includes challenges for each of the game's myriad shot types, giving you the opportunity to see how each one functions before playing competitively. There's value in understanding the differences between a runner, spinner, or knock-down shot, but knowing when to utilize each one essentially comes down to a matter of feel. In this respect, EA Sports PGA Tour resembles the sport of golf more accurately than any other game. There are a number of variables at play for every single shot, to the point where there's a real thought process behind each swing. You have to choose the right shot type and club for each situation, adjust for wind and elevation, judge how much power you need to put into the swing, and account for the distinct ways each course plays--tweaking your shot shape depending on the shape of the fairway and lie of the bunkers. The game helps to some degree by displaying relevant information such as wind speed and distance, but then you're left to your own devices. This can be frustrating, particularly early on when you're still learning the ropes and your golfer's attributes aren't up to snuff, but once everything clicks, EA Sports PGA Tour plays an engrossing game of golf that can be incredibly rewarding.

Much of this is down to the courses themselves. Every single one of the 30 officially licensed courses is staggeringly beautiful and offers an authentic attention to detail, whether it's Liberty National and its view of the Manhattan skyline, the waves crashing against the sand at Pebble Beach, or the alligators lurking in the water at TPC Sawgrass. Almost every course is iconic on some level, and they've all been faithfully rendered and recreated, right down to individual blades of grass. The absence of a course designer is a tad disappointing, but unlike PGA Tour 2K23, it's not something that feels like a necessity because there are already so many 18-hole delights. The courses are the game's main character, providing the kind of variety and depth to stave off any tedium. Mastering a golf game's mechanics is usually the key to success, but EA Sports PGA Tour's courses demand much more from you. Each one plays differently, whether it's the roll of the green or the width of the fairway impacting your decision-making. It genuinely feels like you're playing against the course rather than the shot meter.

The physics model, which is built around the official TrackMan data for ball tracking and swing analysis, is excellent for the most part. However, there are some inconsistencies when it comes to ball rollout. On The Old Course at St Andrews, for instance, the rollout is overly extreme to the point where the ball will roll uphill at pace, even through heavy rough. This forces you to account for situations that shouldn't really occur. Once you land on the green, putting is also equally aggravating for different reasons. Each green contains a grid that uses moving beads to show you the direction of the break. The problem is that sometimes this data is inaccurate and the break is opposite to what the beads are showing. The putt reader alleviates this somewhat by showing the ideal path to the hole, but this is also misleading at times. With no reliable way to gauge the breaks, putting is a lesson in irritation that will only be rectified if these issues are fixed in future updates.

Outside of career mode, EA Sports PGA Tour also features various tournament options for use in online matches against the community. If you want to play against friends, however, stroke play is the only option, and there's a disappointing lack of alternating play for those who want to see each other tee off. A range of daily, weekly, and seasonal tournaments give you another chance to earn XP and items like club specs and in-game cash for a limited time before they're refreshed, so there's an incentive to keep coming back. That in-game cash can be spent in a store of rotating items including various cosmetics, which holds some appeal because the character creator is extremely barebones. Outfitting your golfer in branded clothing can be fairly costly, though, which is explained by the inclusion of microtransactions for those who would rather buy the in-game currency with real money. This isn't a surprising move, but it doesn't exactly vibe with the serene mood.

After almost a decade away from the sport, EA's return to the golf course is a promising one. The range of shot types, courses, and tangible variables make for a methodical and tactical game of golf that's both challenging and rewarding. It stumbles by barely introducing players to its robust mechanics, while a laggy swing and inconsistent putting are notable flaws on what is otherwise a fantastic golf sim. EA Sports PGA Tour represents a solid re-entry for the series and lays down a sturdy foundation for an auspicious future.

• Leave Blank
• Each shot must be carefully considered, taking into account a number of variables
• All 30 courses are wonderfully recreated and each one feels distinct
• Offers a tough but satisfying simulation of golf that's close to the real thing
• The lack of tutorials makes for a rocky start
• Swing mechanics are delayed and create a disconnect
• Putting information is frequently misleading

About the Author

Richard Wakeling

• @richardwakeling

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EA Sports PGA Tour 2023 review – serious players have much to master in EA’s return to the virtual fairway

Electronic Arts; PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S The controls can be tough to get the hang of, but the visuals are stunning, the commentary impressive and the play itself gives you all the challenge and realism you could want

A fter an eight-year hiatus from the world of golf simulation, Electronic Arts is back on the fairway, bringing its considerable licensing power and slick sports TV presentation skills with it. Featuring 30 courses, a large roster of current professionals, and a physics model built around the official TrackMan data for authentic ball flight measurement and swing analysis, this game is exactly what you’d expect from EA Sports – comprehensive, packed with options and deadly serious about the sport.

Those hoping for an accessible knockabout are going to be quickly disappointed. The new swing mechanic, which requires you to pull down on the analogue stick to bring the club back, then forward again to unleash your shot, takes considerable time and effort to master. There’s a slight lag between your input and the onscreen swing visual, which makes timing tricky, especially when you’re not going for a full-power shot. Consequently, you spend a lot of matches over-hitting wildly, and this isn’t helped by the fact that the transition on the stick from pull-back to forward has to be precise or your golfer just pulls a practice swing. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that there’s no real tutorial mode. Instead you get a Coaching Academy section in the Challenge mode, which has lots of little mini-games based around various elements of the sport – but these don’t provide tips or feedback, so it’s all trial and a lot of error.

In the main Career mode, which lets you create a player then guide them through a competitive year (hopefully ending with a shot at the Masters), you start with hopeless stats and need to earn XP points to build your skills in driving, approach play, short game and putting before you have any chance of winning cups. It’s an RPG element that feels kind of weird within this very serious simulation, and it forces you to spend hours entering lesser tournaments and trying the hundreds of skill challenges to build up your XP and raise your stats. There’s a quick game mode that lets you jump into a round on any course with any player, so you do get to experience high level play from the outset – but if you want to beat Career get ready for a real golfing grind.

When you do start to get the hang of the controls, PGA Tour 2023 becomes an enjoyable and engrossing sim. The visuals are beautiful, with lusciously detailed courses, from Liberty National with its view of the Manhattan skyline to Pebble Beach where the holes edge along rugged cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. These courses don’t simply provide aesthetic contrast – they play very differently and require planning. Each hole demands that you tweak your swing, club and shot shaping depending on the shape of the fairway, the lie of the bunkers and myriad other factors. The commentary is also extremely good, with genuinely interesting and helpful observations, and excellent reactions to your play – I managed to land an incredible shot from a bunker 30ft from the flag and there was notable surprise in Rich Lerner’s voice. Together with the slick UI and swooping overhead cameras, EA has done a superb job of simulating modern sports broadcasting.

Alongside the Career, Challenge and Quick Play modes there are also various tournament options, including online matches against friends or the wider community. A range of daily, weekly and seasonal tournaments also allow you to earn XP and items for a limited period before they’re refreshed, so you’ve got lots of reasons to keep coming back. Unfortunately, the game features a loot box mechanic, rewarding in-game achievement with random packages of cosmetic goods and XP boosts. You can also earn in-game money to spend in the game’s outfit store, but those who can’t wait can buy the currency with real cash. Considering the money the Fifa series has made from micro transactions this is hardly surprising, but it sits uneasily in the more austere atmosphere of a golf sim.

This is a promising return to golf for EA Sports. It’s slow of pace, it’s tough to get into, and it’s a little staid and fuddy-duddy at times (most of the background music makes you feel like you’re on hold to a financial service call centre), but the accuracy of the ball physics, the huge range of shots and the highly tactical nature of the play gives serious players the challenge and realism they want. I wish there was a smoother on-ramp for beginners, or a much more basic arcade mode for those who want to thrash through a few holes with pals, but this is a sim after all and when it comes to sport, EA does not mess around.

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Ea sports pga tour initial review: hands-off with ea's golfing return.

We've been given a tour around some of the Tour. Here's what we've learned so far.

It's been a fair old while since Electronic Arts dabbled with golf. Even though it was the gaming home of the PGA Tour since the start of the 90s, we've not had a new game from EA Sports since 2015's Rory McIlroy.

In the meantime, HB Studios and 2K Games have capably filled the gap, first with The Golf Club and snagging their own PGA Tour licensing in latter days.

Now though, EA is about to return to the fairway with a new addition to the franchise. And, it's looking like it'll carry on exactly where it left off, albeit with a fair few modern bells and whistles thrown in for good measure.

We've been privy to a hands-off demo of the game and a walkthrough of its features by some of the developers. Here's how it's looking so far.

EA Sports PGA Tour

With 30 courses planned for launch and all the major tournaments, including the Masters at Augusta, EA Sports PGA Tour is shaping up to be a thorough title for enthusiasts and casual gamers alike. From what we've seen so far, it's also looking superb thanks to the adoption of the Frostbite Engine. We can't wait to get our own hands on it soon to see if it's up to par.

• Stunning course mapping
• Great attention to detail
• 30 PGA Tour courses to play on
• All the majors
• Too soon to tell

EA Sports PGA Tour is the publisher's biggest golf game yet. It is exclusive to current-generation consoles - PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S - and PC, which means there have been few compromises on graphical fidelity. From what we saw streamed in an online demonstration, anyway.

The development team has switched to Frostbite for the graphics, which not only renders player models (real-world and created) in great fidelity - much like the latest FIFA, Madden and NHL games - but it presents the 30 included courses in sometimes photo-realistic detail.

That's because every course was mapped using multiple methods - by helicopter using LiDAR technology, through high-resolution camera drones too, and by taking thousands of photos on the ground. Augusta even gave the developer access to its tree health system, which accurately maps every flowerbed, tree and other types of flora to ensure they are placed in exactly the same position in the game as in real life.

Impressively, this level of minute detail doesn't just help the look of the game but the feel. The bumps on the ground are in the exact same spot - as are the imperfections on the fairways and greens. And so, we were told, that when a ball interacts with the course, it will move across these minor spots in the same way it would for real.

That is further improved through the use from two other third-party data sources - the PGA Tour's ShotLink and TrackMan - which not only gave the team real-world mechanics for ball movement, thanks to storing many thousands of shots from the PGA Tour itself, but also player motion and behaviour that has provided the animation specifics for each licenced professional in the game.

EA calls its new stroke engine Pure Strike and it enables gamers to take shots in a more fluid, natural way.

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing

The gameplay that we viewed showed a new swing arc that is used for the accuracy and power of a shot. The power is determined by a small line on the arc that you meet during the backswing (using a thumbstick). The speed of the follow-through is important too and reminds us a little of the mechanics in PGA Tour 2K23. However, EA hasn't gone full simulation with its effort. There is still the option for boost and other gamified elements of its previous titles in the series.

One major new feature is that, as well as club selection, you also get the choice between types of shot each time - from a pool of 20. And each club in your bag will have their own assigned shot types that you can customise. In previous years, the clubs from different manufacturers would have their own stats - this is gone, but the shot types can still make one driver feel different to another, say. You can adjust depending on your play style, therefore, which is inspired by the pro golfers and their experiences on the real Tour.

It's this mix of realism and fun that we're looking forward to testing more when we get our own hands on the game.

We were also told that the old three-click shot method of yesteryear will make a return as a playable option, but wasn't active for our demo.

Putting has changed a bit this time around - perhaps even more so than the main shot system. You get a suggested line to give you a decent read of a green (although that can be turned off in settings) but the putting meter is certainly different to before. You have a smaller swing overlay that suggests power and works more like the main shot arc. Again, it's something we have to try for ourselves before we can give you more on how it works.

Licenced to thrill

Perhaps the most impressive part of EA Sports PGA Tour for us so far is the amount of licenced content in the game. The 30 courses, the clothes, clubs and shoes, the different tournaments, including all the majors, and a healthy selection of PGA and LPGA professionals to play as and against. There is also a great cast of commentators that use dynamic phrasing to make the presentation feel just like a TV broadcast. They've even recorded unique voice clips for points of interest on course that you may never hear - such as if you bounce a ball off a specific fence, which cues a sentence about that actual event.

As well as the licenced players, you can also create your own, of course, with an in-depth editor and the choice to set him onto the path of greatness by either entering amateur tournaments first, the Korn Ferry Tour, or the PGA Tour itself. And, if you want to play as a woman, the Amundi Evian Championship is there for the taking too.

In short, EA is ensuring that while it has taken a seven-year leave of absence from golf, it is coming back with its most expansive offering yet. It's certainly not doing things by half.

First impressions

It's hard to give a genuine opinion on a game we've not physically played ourselves, but everything we've heard and seen so far shows much potential. We've really enjoyed 2K's rival title (and still do), but can't help admitting that we've missed the traditional EA Sports PGA Tour games over the last few years. Plus, we're really looking forward to playing in The Masters at Augusta and this will provide the only opportunity to do so. We await it with bated breath.

EA Sports PGA Tour will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC from 24 March 2023.

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EA Sports PGA Tour Review (Xbox Series X|S)

Ea sports pga tour review: on the comeback trail.

Much has happened since EA Sports last released a new golf game in 2015; two different Presidential elections; a new console generation; the chicken sandwich wars. It almost feels like a different world than when we last had these games coming out on a yearly basis. EA Sports PGA Tour is a bold attempt to revive the series, now without a headlining star. EA found out in that last release that there’s just no replacing Tiger Woods. Can they move on from his shadow, though?

A New Generation

In trying to bring golf to a new generation, the team at EA Sports left the last generation of consoles behind, and after looking at how spectacular this game looks, it’s not hard to see why they made that choice. This is a gorgeous game with beautifully crafted courses that truly look like what they’re trying to recreate. I know it’s hyperbolic to say that you could glance at an image of this game and think you were looking at the real thing, but a lot of the time, that’s simply true. The amount of detail put into each hole, from the foliage to the environment around things, is incredibly impressive. The one thing that maybe isn’t quite up to par graphically is the golfers themselves. Or, more specifically, their faces. They’re currently stuck in a bit of an uncanny valley situation where they don’t look quite real, but they aren’t stylized enough to overcome it.

That comes up more than you’d think because EA has invested a lot of time into the presentation, between voiceovers celebrating the 30 courses included here and camera angles designed to capture the feeling of watching golf on TV. It’s mostly effective, though there were times I wished for the option to just skip through it. Golfing is slow-paced enough that I didn’t always want to take another few seconds before hitting my next shot, but it’s clear this was an area of focus for the development team, and the presentation leaves PGA Tour 2K23 in the dust.

Swing For The Stars

If EA Sports PGA Tour’s gameplay blew the competition away as far in the dust as its presentation does, we’d be breaking out a green jacket, but that’s where this year’s release is a lot less of a triumph. There’s definitely a foundation here to build upon, but I had a number of issues with actually playing the game, some of which are hard to overlook.

Many of the issues start with the game’s swing mechanics, which are done entirely using your analog stick. While you can move your swing between the left and right stick, it controls the same either way. While this is certainly more intuitive for casual players than something like a three-click mechanic found in many other golf games, the precision the game expects of players is far from intuitive. This can be a real problem, especially since the swing mechanics themselves don’t account for things like wind or how the terrain or momentum of your ball will react after its initial landing. This makes it incredibly difficult to land precise shots. Rarely an issue on an opening drive, but when you’re approaching the green and trying to hit a shot close, it can be a real problem. The PGA Tour series has always been a more arcade-style golf experience, but while a wealth of options allow you to tweak all manner of things, I never found an option that felt genuinely intuitive.

Over time you definitely start to get used to it, but I never felt like I could stick shots as consistently as I would have liked to, even after advancing well into my created golfer’s career on the Tour. RPG Mechanics, which allow you to improve your stats over time, definitely do help, though, and eventually, I felt like I was able to at least be consistently competitive. Also, it helped when I turned off the default option, which just has you play a selection of holes from each tournament. While this is a good idea in theory, especially with 18 holes taking a long time, I was rarely happy with the results. I’d get through nine holes under par only to have the game decide to put me four over on the back nine, leaving me in a bad position.

You can work around that issue, though. What I couldn’t work around was the game’s UI which has significant issues which sometimes simply made advancing impossible. There were times when my ball was close enough to an item or where a structure was near me that the camera would choose truly bizarre angles, which left me completely unable to see my golfer or even the swing mechanics on screen. That didn’t happen that frequently, but it was frequent enough that it bothered me.

What happened more often was the white swing mechanics blending into the background of the beautiful courses, making them difficult to see. While I could usually squint and make things out, that’s simply not the experience players want while trying to enjoy a relaxing golf game. UI design that stands out against backgrounds is basic-level game design, and I find it surprising that the game shipped without getting that right. While it feels like something that could be tweaked over time, it also feels like something that should have been done already.

Outside of a solid career mode, there are many different gameplay options. Hundreds of challenges are available for you to test your skills on, including some training challenges, which don’t really feel like they do much to teach you the game’s mechanics. Still, I really enjoyed these more bite-sized bits of gameplay, and sometimes doing is the best way to learn. There’s a lot you can do online as well, whether it be playing in large groups, taking on daily challenges, or competing in tournaments, so those who want to play with friends will find a lot to keep them busy.

EA Sports PGA Tour lays the foundation for what could be a really strong golf game, with a lot of content, deep mechanics, and excellent presentation. Its UI issues, though, are a significant problem that shouldn’t have made it into the final release, and its swing mechanics, while easy to pick up, never feel particularly comfortable. In future years there’s definitely potential to win the tour, but for the moment, I still think the competition offers a more compelling experience.

Final Verdict: 3/5

Available on: Xbox Series X|S(Reviewed), PS5, PC; Publisher: Electronic Arts; Developer: Electronic Arts – Tiburon; Players: 16; Released: April 7th, 2023; ESRB: E for Everyone; MSRP: $69.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of EA Sports PGA Tour provided by the publisher.

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EA SPORTS PGA TOUR Review

Many video game developers could learn a thing or two from the phrase ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’.

Ubisoft did it with Assassin’s Creed and now the series is in the best shape it has possibly ever been. The same could be said for why we’ve waited over six years for another mainline Final Fantasy title. Then there is the almost eight year wait for a new golf title from EA SPORTS. And with EA SPORTS PGA TOUR, it looks like that time away has been spent very, very wisely indeed.

After the lofty heights of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 – 2006, the series had been heading out of bounds until Rory McIlroy PGA Tour seemingly put the final nail in the coffin. Not the player associated with the title though, it has to be said. Poor Rory cannot be blamed for anything.

The headline of EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is undoubtedly having the licence for Augusta National once again, a course not featured in a golf game of any shape or size since 2014. Heck, the game even suffered one final delay to make sure it released during the week of The Masters tournament, played at the same venue.

But there are also twenty-nine other courses bundled in, with more to be added over time. It’s a decent amount to start off with, especially considering some of the additional courses that feature. St Andrews, TPC Sawgrass, Pebble Beach and personal favourite Wolf Creek are all included, alongside a couple of fantasy courses from past EA games.

And they all look absolutely stunning. The decision to launch on current-gen consoles only has paid off somewhat, but more on that later. But yes, the courses are absolutely gorgeous. Each one has its own unique style and personality that EA has done a fantastic job of replicating. And you can see them visually change too over time; shadows lengthen, the wind dynamically changes and the crowds swell.

You can feel the difference in the way they play too. Each course has been extensively recreated using a combination of photogrammetry, GPS and even helicopters equipped with LiDAR technology. That technology is typically used to map mines and underground caves, so using it on the surface of the golf course means that every seemingly insignificant bump and mound has been meticulously and faithfully recreated here.

Because they are so well recreated, you cannot approach them the same way. For example, I kickstarted the Career mode by winning The American Express at PGA West by four shots. That aggressive play caught me out massively in the next event at Torrey Pines and I was in three bunkers in sequential holes and barely made the cut. Lesson learned after that.

That Career mode is where you will spend most of your time with EA SPORTS PGA TOUR. It isn’t a game that bloats out the package with tons of similar modes. Even Career mode does away with sponsorship goals like PGA Tour 2K23 does, and lumps them into a Challenge mode. Here you can unlock unique clothing and equipment by completing one of literally hundreds of challenges. More are added based on what is happening in the real-world of golf; a boat load more have just been added after The Masters. Though thankfully there are no falling trees in the digital version.

Then there are the standard online modes for competitive and social games. Competitive has a disappointing two match types at launch – Amen Corner at Augusta and a random nine holes – but more should be added in soon. Along with a more stable online portion, having tried to join a game I have been kicked back to the Xbox dashboard a couple of times.

You can also create your own golfer, but options here are limited. It’s a minor issue but a more robust creator would have been nice.

More frustrating is the levelling system. It follows the traditional method of awarding skill points as you level up, but certain shot types are hidden behind specific attributes until you level them up. I am someone that prefers to putt off the green where possible rather than chip towards the hole. However I had to pump several skill points into my putting skill before I unlocked that shot type. I wanted to be levelling up my approach accuracy instead but was forced to essentially waste these points on an attribute I am fairly competent with.

Sometimes that approach accuracy goes out of the window completely. At the moment, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR simply cannot cope when you are taking a shot in front of an obstacle. Whether that be a tree, a gallery stand or something else, if you cannot see your player, the swing meter imposed around them will be missing too. And if you cannot see that, it is complete guesswork as to how much power you are putting on your shot. This has been stated as an incoming improvement to the game, but it arguably should have been noticed before launch.

Something else that could potentially be patched in later on are the performance settings. It is what I was alluding to earlier, despite launching on current-gen only, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is locked at 30fps. It’s not a major issue for a slower paced sport such as golf, but we can only assume it is down to wanting to make these games look as gorgeous as possible. There is however, mention of a performance setting on the website. But currently, there is no sign of it in-game.

Also set to be added in a later patch is the old-school method of a three-click swing. As it stands, the only way to play is by using the analog sticks to replicate a swing. It’s a method that’s been around for a few years now, but newcomers may struggle with it at first. It makes EA SPORTS a more simulation sports title, but one that still retains certain arcade features. You can increase the power of your shots by spamming the A button during your backswing, and you add spin whilst the ball is in-flight. Some would argue that EA SPORTS PGA TOUR suffers from a lack of identity but honestly, this healthy mix elevates it way above anything 2K have released whilst EA has been quiet.

And then there are the Heartbeat Moments.

Making a return are these extra special moments that make those crucial shots even more impressive. Hit a shot from distance that is heading straight for the hole and the screen will focus in, the action slows down and a heartbeat begins pumping out of the speakers. They don’t happen all that often, but they are something you will never tire of.

Not that it is recommended on a golf course, but EA have knocked it out of the park with EA SPORTS PGA TOUR. It is a welcome return for a series that no longer needs a golfing legend to grace the cover. And long overdue it has been too. The 2K PGA games have had us covered in recent years but there will only be room for one golf franchise going forward. Welcome back to the club, EA. 

Walk the road to The Masters in EA SPORTS PGA TOUR on the Xbox Store

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PGA Tour 2K23 is Elden Ring for golf, somehow

Thrilling golf marred by frustrating swinging mechanics and career progression

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I don’t spend much time playing video games whose difficulty is a selling point; if it’s anything like a Soulslike, I’m likely to avoid it. So it’s been a long time since a game has made me swear as much as PGA Tour 2K23 has. I’m not proud that one of those instances occurred when my wife came downstairs to see how things were going, just as I shanked a tee shot — for perhaps the 50th time? I’ve lost count at this point — into a thicket of trees on the left side of the fairway.

From wayward drives that end up in the drink to gimme putts that somehow don’t drop, the analog stick swing mechanic is my greatest frustration in PGA Tour 2K23 . After all, swinging is the main thing you do in this game; it takes 60 to 80 shots, on average, to complete a full 18-hole round.

But after taking thousands of swings across hundreds of holes of golf, I still don’t feel like I have a great handle on my virtual clubs in PGA Tour 2K23 . In other words, I don’t feel like I’m improving — an issue that is compounded because I’m also not getting a meaningful sense of progression for my created golfer in the game’s MyCareer mode.

PGA Tour 2K23 defaults to a control scheme that’s common in golf video games: To swing, you pull down on the right stick and then flick it upward. Here, though, the timing of the second motion (the downswing) is crucial — you’ll pull the shot to the left if you flick too quickly, and push it to the right if you’re too slow.

Downswing timing is the bane of my existence. I’ve enabled many of the assists available in the game’s settings, and have been hoping I’d eventually be able to wrap my head around the swing system. But even on the second-easiest difficulty setting, swinging feels like something of a crapshoot. No matter how many practice cuts I take, I’m liable to hook a shot when I swing for real.

There’s another option now: Fulfilling a long-standing request, developer HB Studios has added a traditional three-click system in PGA Tour 2K23 . It’s much less analogous to a real-life golf swing than, well, the analog stick scheme, but it’s good that an alternative is available.

This is HB Studios’ second effort under 2K Sports, a mass-market publisher. As such, I’m surprised that PGA Tour 2K23 doesn’t feel substantively more accessible than its predecessor, 2020’s PGA Tour 2K21 . Even the three-click swinging is implemented in a way that feels like it’s different for the sake of being different. Rather than simply pressing the button three times, you first hold it down to determine power, and then tap it twice to fine-tune the accuracy. I tried this system and quickly reverted to analog controls, despite my issues with them.

PGA Tour 2K23 ’s MyCareer mode also ends up feeling overcomplicated, although its foundation is solid. When creating your MyPlayer character, you choose one of five archetypes. For instance, Powerhouse players can drive the ball farther than anyone else, but they struggle with accuracy and putting. I’ve stuck with Woodsman because, frankly, I miss so many fairways and greens that I need all the help I can get when recovering from a bad lie in the rough. It’s nice that I can change my archetype if I ever want to, at no cost.

Here, HB Studios’ design works beautifully: The archetypes are meant to offer packages of strengths and weaknesses to support and complement your personal play style. My shots may often land on pine straw or in a fairway bunker, but thanks to the Woodsman archetype and its shot-shaping benefits, I don’t feel like all is lost when they do — and in fact, I’ve managed to save par in many of those cases.

The same customization-based design philosophy applies throughout MyCareer, but it’s less successful outside the realm of archetypes. The experience points you earn by playing tournaments aren’t used to directly upgrade your player’s attributes, like in a typical role-playing game (or in, say, a standard career mode in a sports game). Instead, you get a single skill point every time you level up, and you use the points to unlock and upgrade skills.

To avoid getting too far into the weeds (or woods) here, I’ll just say that almost all of the skills take effect only on a situational basis: They’ll either activate when you’re struggling and deactivate once you regain your form, or activate when you’re doing well and deactivate if you don’t keep it up. And as you level up a skill, it activates more easily and stays active for longer.

While the concept is sound, this setup makes the entire skill system feel inert. The first skill for hybrid clubs, Gusto, seems eminently valuable: When you’re mired in heavy rough, your shots will fly farther. But at level 1 of the skill, it only takes effect if you happen to be hitting into a headwind of at least 15 mph — an exceedingly rare combination of circumstances, in my experience. Because it takes a while to earn skill points, I’m not inclined to waste my precious few points on a skill that I don’t expect to get much use out of, even if there are more desirable ones locked farther along that branch of the tree.

Personalization is also the driving force behind club fittings, the most significant (and concrete) method of improving your performance in PGA Tour 2K23 . Fittings are parts of a golf club — head, shaft, or grip — that you can equip to magnify its attributes. Each one has a level of rarity attached to it, as with loot in a game like Destiny 2 ; the more rare it is, the stronger its effects. Attaching an “uncommon” head to a wedge might boost its power rating by 6 points while also dropping its timing attribute by 2.

Unlike in PGA Tour 2K23 ’s basketball sibling, NBA 2K, you can’t spend real-world money to power up your athlete, thankfully — at least not by buying fittings, since you receive them only as random drops. Virtual Currency, 2K Sports’ real-money currency (called “coins” here), is used primarily to purchase items like licensed clothes and gear from companies such as Adidas and Mizuno, none of which affect gameplay.

However, a pay-to-win element does creep into the game with respect to fittings: It costs coins to equip them to each club. The charge for attaching a legendary shaft to an iron is 150 coins, so I had to spend 900 coins to outfit all six of the irons in my bag. Considering the slow rate at which you earn coins through play — something like 250 coins if you can manage to finish in one of the top spots of a tournament — you may end up staring longingly at a collection of fittings that you’ve unlocked but can’t afford to equip.

The real bummer here is that I’ve had to spend so many words analyzing all that ancillary stuff, because once I’m playing a hole in PGA Tour 2K23 , most of those nuisances fade away. This is a true-playing golf game — I had a devil of a time with the steep greens at Los Angeles’ Riviera Country Club, and I’ve found it tremendously satisfying to craft and execute shots . The unforgiving difficulty of the swing mechanics, coupled with the game’s complicated system of fittings and skills, can lead to more frustration than fun. But when it all comes together, and I manage to pull out a birdie just when I need one to hold off a challenger on the leaderboard, it makes for thrilling moments of fist-pumping glory.

Perhaps I’m just too much of a casual gamer for the PGA Tour 2K series. To wit: I played many hours of PGA Tour 2K21 and didn’t remember having trouble with its swing mechanics — but when I booted up that game to check the options, I realized that I had disabled the downswing timing setting. At some point, I must’ve gotten frustrated enough to give up on the challenge (and the associated boost to the rate at which you earn XP). I’d also love to be able to save-scum, but that’s not an option: Due to the integration of VC, this is an always-online game by default, so it saves your progress with each stroke, with no allowances for mulligans.

It seems like my best bet — if I want to more fully enjoy my time with PGA Tour 2K23 — would be to turn off downswing timing. Either that, or it might be time to put this franchise on my personal “I don’t need this stress in my life” list, right next to Elden Ring .

PGA Tour 2K23 was released Oct. 14 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed using on PS5 using a pre-release download code provided by 2K Sports. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here .

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EA Sports PGA Tour game review

Published: 26 June 2023

After eight years out of the game, EA Sports are back on the virtual fairways with the visually stunning PGA Tour 2023 game.

EA Sports have spent nearly a decade away from the game of golf, which left many gamers and golf lovers skeptical of what the 2023 PGA Tour game would bring to the table. Since 2015 it seems EA Sports have had their thinking caps on, finding new tech to innovate their game, including real-life golf data and shot tracing analysis.

The challenging, realistic gameplay is thanks to a range of game mechanics that set PGA Tour 2023 apart from the rest of the field. ShotLink data, which has tracked and recorded every professional golf shot since 2001, partners up with Trackman and innovative Pure Strike gameplay to give players more than 20 shot types to personalize how they play the game.

With full customization, players will get the chance to make their very own mini-me before nurturing them to success and enhancing the crucial skills needed to win on the PGA Tour. They’ll take on the best golfers in the world in the bid to become a Major champion, sliding the Green Jacket over their shoulders, or lifting the Claret Jug aloft on the 18th green at the Home of Golf.

EA Sports PGA Tour: Key Gameplay Features

• Home of the Majors

PGA Tour 2023 is the exclusive home of the Majors, including the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship, the US Open, and The Open. You’re able to compete in the PGA Tour’s best events in the season-long chase for the FedExCup and conquer the top Amateur Championships around the world.

The world’s most exclusive courses

The tee is yours at 30 courses, including some of the world’s most exclusive, designed in stunning fidelity with Frostbite so you can immerse yourself in visual beauty and more of golf’s finer details than ever before.

Pure Strike powered by ShotLink

Powered by official PGA Tour ShotLink and TrackMan data, Pure Strike gives golf fans all the tools they need to realistically attack every hole on every course the same way the pros do. It incorporates the three parts of every golf swing which is highly accurate to a player’s backswing length and speed of follow-through.

True-to-Life Course Visuals

EA Sports PGA Tour presents the most realistic visuals in any golf game thanks to state-of-the-art equipment, depicting courses exactly as they appear in real life. Creating precise renderings of clubhouses, iconic vegetation, bridges, tee markers, rock formations, and other on-course elements offering players life-like visual experiences of their favorite courses.

The Players Championship and FedExCup Playoffs

The Players Championship and all three events of the FedExCup Playoffs will be in the game, and players can earn in-game FedExCup points in Career Mode for the opportunity to compete in the playoff events. As part of the career mode, top golfers at the end of the year will be given the opportunity to win the FedExCup.

Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and The Amundi Evian Championship

In partnership with the LPGA, players can compete at The Amundi Evian Championship, one of the LPGA Tour’s five Major Championships, and have the opportunity to play as several female athletes. TG columnist Iona Stephen is part of the EA commentary team as the first female on-course announcer in the game, bringing her experienced insights from both playing professionally and working in golf broadcasting. 

Your career, your way

Create and customize a golfer, then develop your skills so you can master each course and learn to attack every hole like a pro. Enhance your skill set for driving, approach, short game, or putting, depending on your style, then compete to become a Major champion, and take on the PGA Tour’s best events in the season-long chase for the FedEx Cup. 

• Course Dynamics

‘Unique Course Dynamics’ backed by a rigorous course tuning process from tee to green ensures no two golf courses play the same. Every fairway, green, and rough is meticulously scanned, handcrafted, and uniquely tuned to simulate the individual nuances of different courses and terrain variables like undulations, ground cover, and grass type.

• Ball Behavior

‘Revolutionized Ball Behavior’ delivers next-gen responsiveness so once your shot lands, the golf ball spins, bounces, dribbles, and rolls as it would in real life.

Utilizing ShotLink powered by CDW, the PGA Tour’s proprietary real-time scoring system since 2001, golfers will authentically be replicated with accurate player ratings, skills, and magnified true-to-life in-game events. 

TrackMan Data

Insights implemented by TrackMan, a world leader in 3D ball flight measurement and swing analysis, is a critical component to authentic gameplay utilizing a myriad of stats including club tuning, flight trajectory, landing position, and much more.

EA Sports PGA Tour 2023 Game

PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X | S, PC

Best Golf Video Game

The gameplay is crisp and the new ball mechanics, which see the ball react to the clubface, and roll differently depending on spin and landing areas on the course, really are impressive. Hard and mistimed low golf shots will bounce fast and run through the fairways or greens, with high soft shots landing and spinning.

As in real life, putting can be the most frustrating and unforgiving thing in the game. With little to no help, reading putts can be so difficult, especially when the putting guide doesn’t always seem accurate to the hole!

Having a game that is so realistic is fantastic but a bit of leeway for beginners in an easier game mode would be great. You have the challenge section, which I love, but when it comes to quick play, there are no real arcade modes for someone wanting to relax with mates. All of that said, when you do master the game it becomes a lot easier and more enjoyable!

What EA Sports have achieved is a game that’s perfect for gamers and golfers who love career modes and are in it for the long haul. You’re able to use your pro in every game mode, whether you’re competing against the pros to win a Major or trying to beat challenges from The Masters, which makes the experience unique.

The customization feature makes the game very personal to each player which I found great, but there could be more skin, hair, and facial feature options. Customized players’ on-course reactions are also a little static when compared to the already available players.

Overall, this is a great return to the world of golf games for EA and after a few updates/patches I’m sure the game will be even better. If they can add another mode aimed at beginners and casual gamers with some more guidance and faster-paced arcade modes, it would bump the rating up further.

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About the author

Will Shreeve-Peacock Golf Equipment Writer

Will Shreeve-Peacock is a golf equipment writer for todays-golfer.com, specializing in golf shoes, GPS watches, rangefinders, and training aids.

He has a degree in journalism from Sheffield Hallam university and four years of experience working in golf retail with  American Golf.  Will was part of the sales and fitting team, making him the perfect man to review golf equipment.

Trained by a range of manufacturers, including  Titleist  and  TaylorMade , to enhance his product knowledge, Will has all of the skills required to recommend the perfect equipment for amateur golfers.

Will started playing golf more than a decade ago at Thorney Lakes Golf Club, Cambridgeshire and is now a member at Burghley Park Golf Club in Stamford, Lincolnshire. His handicap index is 5.8, largely thanks to his scratch-standard short game.

Away from golf, Will enjoys going to the gym, cooking, spending time with his friends, and watching his beloved Manchester United.

Will uses a  Cobra LTDx Driver ,  Cobra LTDx 3-Wood ,  TaylorMade P790 2-iron ,  Callaway X Forged 18 Irons (4-PW) ,  Wilson Staff Model Wedges (52°, 58°) ,  TaylorMade White smoke IN-12 Blade putter  and the  TaylorMade TP5x Golf ball .

When he’s not testing golf shoes, he chooses to wear FootJoy Hyperflex or Under Armour Charged Phantom. He uses a Shotscope Pro L2 rangefinder and his favorite ever training aid is the PuttOut Pressure Putt Trainer and mat.

You can contact Will via  email  or follow him on  Twitter  here.

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EA Sports PGA Tour Reviews

Slick, high-tech, and impeccably well designed; this is the best golf game of the modern era and the new standard for others to aspire to.

Read full review

EA Sports PGA Tour captures the intricate nuance of golfing. However, the systems struggle with what a user can reasonably decipher from a mere analog stick, leading to a frustrating experience. EA Sports PGA Tour is a game at odds with whether it wants to compete with rival 2K’s realism or veer closer to its own more arcade roots, and in the process, lands its first drive on this new round in the rough.

EA returns to the world of golf with a challenging and rewarding title that's let down by a couple of inconsistencies and an underwhelming swing mechanic.

As a comeback, EA Sports PGA Tour performs well enough to compete with PGA 2K23 on fairly even footing. The inclusion of all four majors, the solid ball physics, the wider arsenal of shots, and the long list of official courses are impressive, though the presentation can be flat, laggy, and rough. If EA decides to turn this into an annualized sports franchise, the next installment will need to revamp the character creator and rework the user interfaces. Despite the game's flaws, though, I can still see myself casually playing it throughout the year alongside other sports games like MLB The Show 23. It’s been a while since we’ve seen two established developers battle each other within the same sport, and I’m all for it. At the very least, golf games will be made all the better from the competition.

EA Sports PGA Tour is a good golf simulation that marks the return of the series after years of absence from the green, even if EA Tiburon hasn't managed to make a "hole in one" despite offering satisfying gameplay. The realization of the courses and the physics of the ball is truly remarkable, while the pleasant visual appearance clashes with some technical defects linked to an imperfect use of Frostbite. Overall, EA Sports PGA Tour is an enjoyable gaming experience, designed primarily for golf enthusiasts.

Review in Italian | Read full review

EA dazzles with its re-entry onto the fairways with EA Sports PGA Tour, which is comfortably the best golf game in years.

EA's return to the course is a surprisingly understated and supremely accomplished golf sim

The controls can be tough to get the hang of, but the visuals are stunning, the commentary impressive and the play itself gives you all the challenge and realism you could want

A technically solid game that has some pretty glaring issues with presentation, I still found myself going back to play round after round. It's challenging and rewarding, even if it's not the best entry in the long history of golf titles.

As golf games go, this is the most fun I have had in a while. It's a massive improvement over recent years' titles. The career mode is both addictive and rewarding, it's full of contact and the presentation is both cinematic and beautiful. A few issues will not get in the way of what I think is the best golf sim around at the moment. Let's hit the greens, people!

I wanted to love EA Sports PGA Tour. Though I find myself as disappointed as Bart Simpson was when he got Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge for Christmas. The initial gameplay showcase had me as excited as a kid in a candy store. There’s no denying it’s a gorgeous game. Course flyovers and commentary are also superb. But these fleeting moments of brilliance make PGA Tour’s missteps all the more frustrating. Until EA gets under the hood and performs the mountain of work required to get it up to snuff, I’ll be sticking to PGA Tour 2K23. At least that game works.

EA Sports PGA Tour is a game that fails to unleash its full potential. It offers a considerable amount of content and a rather realistic game structure, with some graphical bugs and some ques-tionable choices in the game modes (especially in the Career) that slow down its race to success. This is a good starting point which that could improve along the way.

EA Sports PGA Tour proves what the publisher is capable of at its pomp: this is a jaw-droppingly beautiful sports game, with a sublime selection of licensed courses and a surprising amount of depth. Its demanding swing mechanic is slightly let down by a sluggish frame rate, but its single player is boosted by a strong sense of progression – and in multiplayer there's tons to do. This is an impressively strong effort overall, and a sign of good things to come ahead of the company's other anticipated comeback, EA Sports College Football.

EA Sports PGA Tour bring you to the field again after a long stand by, but now it's time to come back to try to be the best Golf player around the world. With impressive physics and amazing modes to get fun and a bunch of content. The king of the Golf is back.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

EA Sports returns to virtual courts with a visually stunning PGA Tour.

Golf – and therefore EA Sports PGA Tour – is not a simple game, but my feelings towards it can be expressed simply. It feels like playing the sport, and it’s hard to ask for much more than that.

Despite competition from PGA Tour 2K23, EA Sports PGA Tour manages to set itself apart with polished presentation, tight mechanics, and impressive visuals. While a shortage of customisation options is disappointing, there's no arguing with the overall quality that EA's return to video game golf has to offer.

EA Sports PGA Tour is somewhat, par for the course, in many ways what I expected, retaining much of the previous few entries while adding more gameplay options and better simulation than ever before.

It has its fair share of issues, but there's more than enough in EA Sports PGA Tour to keep newcomers and golf pros occupied. It's a solid step forward for the EA Sports golf titles, and a welcome return to the course.

With so many ways to test your skills and so many gorgeous courses to explore, EA has bounced back with a long-awaited PGA installment that seems entirely focused on pleasing the fans. There's so much to do and so many challenges to conquer that any golf fan should be preoccupied and satisfied with this game for quite some time. And when courses look this gorgeous, playing a virtual 18 holes at your favorite location will never get old. I'd say EA is more than deserving of a resounding golf clap.

EA Sports PGA Tour Review

EA Sports PGA Tour Review: It may have a lot of great strokes, but still has a lot of things it has to improve on.

Franz Christian Irorita

EA Sports did themselves a great favor when they decided to drop EA Sports PGA Tour just as we head to Masters in real life, as it positions their game as the ideal companion for the Four Majors in the coming months. However, does the game provide an enjoyable experience comparable to watching the Majors? We find out in this EA Sports PGA Tour Review.

EA Sports PGA Tour Review: What is EA Sports PGA Tour?

With the title EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters, Electronic Arts returns to the fairway after a seven-year absence. Aptly named Road to the Masters, the game gives players a career mode that truly gives them the full Masters experience on the golf course. Developed by EA Orlando and EA Madrid and published by EA Sports, the game came out on Early Access on April 4, 2023, and launched globally on PC , PS5 , and Xbox Series X on April 7, 2023, just in time for the first Major of the year, the Augusta Masters , which itself plays a huge role in the game. And that's exactly the identity that EA Sports is trying to hit: it's the home of the Majors – but is this synchronicity with the real-life events enough to make this a good golf game?

EA Sports PGA Tour boasts deep, unique, fluid, and strategic gameplay, using realism as a vessel for making the game feel like playing real golf as much as possible. To do this, EA Sports PGA Tour utilizes a stick swing system that lets you control the swing of your golf club with one of your sticks (or mouse, if you're playing with a mouse and keyboard setup). This is, at least on a surface level, similar to the control scheme that was utilized in PGA Tour 2K23, so many players who are moving from that game to this might find this as the more familiar control scheme. Unlike PGA Tour 2K23, though, EA Sports only has this control scheme available at launch, with a button press-timed control scheme coming out later as a post-launch update. Although I personally liked using the stick swing system, it still is disappointing not to have the option to switch between control schemes at launch.

Admittedly, EA Sports PGA Tour is very disadvantaged when it came out just months after the release of PGA Tour 2K23 . Comparisons are bound to be made, and although EA Sports PGA Tour does shine in many aspects, a lot of its weak points are highlighted because of this. For example, many players would end up frustrated by the stick swing system. Naturally, players who have experienced the 2K control scheme would be conditioned to time their swings the way they did in 2K. EA Sports PGA Tour has a lot of factors playing into their swings and the results of their swings, and many would easily dismiss the control scheme as simply being inaccurate and erratic. It also doesn't help that the learning curve for this is very high, and I can imagine many fans being turned off by the difficulty of the game at first. Even the touted “Gameplay Innovations Powered by Pure Strike” does not make itself felt so much. But give it some time and get used to EA Sports PGA Tour's controls, and you'd actually have a deeper, much more strategic gameplay compared to 2K.

That being said, EA Sports PGA Tour also boasts a deeper career mode, which is this game's main game mode. While there are a lot of other game modes available for offline play, the options available for online play are very limited and sparse. In our PGA Tour 2K23 review, we noted how shallow the game modes are, and EA Sports PGA Tour itself, except for its career mode, offers even fewer ways to play. That being said, if you like more player customization options, a skill tree-based progression system, and course creators, then you're better off sticking with PGA Tour 2K23, as EA Sports either don't have these or are sorely lacking in these aspects. But if you love the grind and climbing the rungs of the golf sport's ladder, then EA Sports PGA Tour is the meatier game.

All of this, however, is bogged down by the game's sluggish and confusing menus. The UI for this game is all over the place, and many menu options and settings feel like they're in places they shouldn't be in. For example, the player's customization options can be accessed only through the main menu. That means, if you're playing through your career and you level up and have some skill points you could spend for your character, you actually have to quit Career Mode and return to the main menu to make your upgrades. It's frustrating because it would have been easy to integrate the upgrades menu right into the Career Mode screen, but somehow the developers missed out on this. The entire game feels slow in general as well, which you'd also experience when you play against the AI. Not only can you not skip their turns, but they also take forever to do their turns. On top of it, it's also weird that the fast-forward buttons for the ball follow-up and the fast-forward button for the player reaction that follows right after are assigned to different buttons. This wouldn't be a big problem normally, but for some reason again, EA Sports PGA Tour doesn't have remappable controls.

It also doesn't help that the game has horrendous performance on PC. While our time playing the game with the PS5 was met with very few bugs and glitches (we did experience a crash exactly once, though), the PC port is bogged down even more with slowdowns, screen tears, and frame drops. You'd just be unlucky when that happens during your swings. So, until EA Sports releases a patch, you might want to stick with the console versions for the time being.

Apart from that, EA Sports PGA Tour will have more content coming to it post-launch, so there are definitely a lot of things players could look forward to as we go along the Majors this year. Players can look forward to more licensed pro golfers, more licensed courses, and of course, more Majors-related events for online game modes.

One part that both EA Sports PGA Tour and PGA Tour 2K23 have in common is their lack of a compelling story. There's a lot of potential here. Almost all of the other sports games have their own story mode with, albeit cheesy and sometimes campy, narratives. I believe that in this part, it's still better to have something rather than nothing at all, and it could help hook in more players and get them more invested in the careers of their created characters.

One thing that EA Sports PGA Tour is undoubtedly better compared to PGA Tour 2K23 is in the graphics department. Developing solely for the next-gen consoles definitely helped EA Sports create a game that has a higher tolerance on graphical load. This probably is the cause for the performance issues we've been experiencing on PC, but on the PS5, the game looks fantastic. The foliage, the courses, and the presentation all come together for a fantastic package that really drives home the point that this is the Home of the Majors. This makes all of the course overviews at the start of each hole feel even more special, as everything looks really good and it almost always feels like a waste to skip.

However, one odd weakness that the game has is its character models. For some reason, the characters don't really resemble their pro-player models. This gives me the feeling that 2K has really been just good at making these models, and that EA Sports is playing a little bit of catch-up. In any case, it's not that the characters look horrendous. Not at all. They do look good, but some characters just have faces that don't 100% capture the look of their models. In some cases, the models look really old compared to their real-life counterparts.

In everything else, even if the UI design is bad in terms of where things are located, everything does look pristine and look clean, giving the overall presentation a good look.

Music and Sound Design

Michael Corvo · 1 hour ago

Andrew Meyers · 10 hours ago

Michael Corvo · 1 day ago

Another aspect that makes the overall presentation of EA Sports PGA Tour shine is its music and sound design. While music in itself isn't that big of a deal for a game like this, the sound design is perfect, with every swing and every finish feeling much more satisfying. Add to that the amazing commentary that does keep track of what everyone's doing in your game and makes references to past events, and you've got a game that is worth listening to.

There really isn't a lot to add to this, EA Sports PGA Tour's sound design just works, and the best way to know that is by not having many comments about it.

Verdict: Is EA Sports PGA Tour Good? Is It Worth Your Time and Money?

EA Sports PGA Tour hands down is the better game when comparing it to PGA Tour 2K23. Standing on its own feet, it has a lot of holes filled and it is great on many strokes, but not by any account a perfect game. Its unforgiving difficulty could have been much more manageable if the game offers more support to new players apart from its tutorial message windows, which appear to be something you can't view again once you've seen them once. It takes a long time before EA Sports PGA Tour becomes good, and its slow pace all over makes it hard to recommend to just anyone. But those who are willing to spend time getting to know the ins and outs of the game's more complex systems will have a good time. If player customization, online matches, communities, and custom courses aren't that big of a deal to you, and if you're one of the people who exclusively plays career mode, then this is exactly for you. But a lot of mishaps, both in technical performance and game design, shows that while EA Sports PGA Tour is a good comeback for the series, there is still a lot of work to be done before we have in our hands the perfect golf game.

Score: 7/10

Editor’s Note: ClutchPoints received PC and PS5 review copies to allow us to cover this game. These copies did not, in any way, affect this EA Sports PGA Tour Review’s final score and verdict.

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EA Sports PGA Tour Review

EA returns to the PGA with an inconsistent, frustrating simulation, struggling with its identity. While gorgeous, with pro golf’s best interactive presentation, the on-the-course action delivers inconsistent results.

In licensing, EA wins, scoring the Masters and key courses like Pebble Beach. Presentation counts, like the Masters’ first day showing opening tee shots from Jack Nicklaus and others. Quiet commentary meaningfully discusses each hole during flybys. Gorgeous vistas line the courses, and every individually rendered blade of grass is visible, even on the fairway. Each hole is lined with realistic-looking spectators, but their lack of reaction when struck with a ball removes the immersion.

Prestige comes with a cost – this is a daunting golf sim. Fairways and greens seem stuck on their hardest/fastest setting. The analog stick swing functions logically, but results vary, with little feedback on what sent a tee shot slicing toward trees. Each stroke accounts for forward and backswing speed, length, loft, and wind. That’s true to the sport, as any one of those can cause a botched shot, yet EA’s PGA Tour doesn’t allow a sense of what’s going wrong at the moment.

With the ball airborne, a small window shows the analog stick’s motion, and any left/right deviation (no matter how small) means a drastic gaffe. This becomes more forgiving when leveling, however marginal the gain. Greens present a useless guide showing the best ball track but no indication of what that line represents to help aim. Even on easy, if the swing is a smidgen off in power or straightness, it misses, short putt or not.

Elements from EA’s retired Tiger Woods series remain. Notably returning is the chance to jam a button for power during the backswing and add spin as the ball goes skyward, a wholly unrealistic option. That’s the crisis facing EA Sports PGA Tour, trapped with the studio’s arcade-esque legacy while competing with golf-sim rival 2K Sports. 

Setting up a career (the only long-term single-player mode), the disappointing character creator limits your options. Only generic heads and an abysmally small line of clothes fill the menus, the latter widening via the in-game shop.

From there, it’s a matter of entering tournaments, playing majors, and leveling up. Earning XP happens quickly at first, but the final stages in each stat take way too long, and the currency accumulates just as slowly. Meanwhile, PGA Tour pesters players to spend between $5 to $50 on in-game cash for new shirts or a +3 club power boost to speed up this process. When combined with the slow progress, the pressure to spend feels overt.

Training challenges offer sponsorships and XP, but it’s clumsy and tedious. Each typically lasts for a few swings – say, a driving accuracy test – then back to a loading screen, then the menu.

Graphical beauty can occasionally create problems. Before a crucial Masters tee shot, a fan’s body blocked the swing meter. Tall grass does the same, even if it’s translucent. Power becomes a guess because the meter doesn’t show, making the already-brutal difficulty unfair.

Leveling allows additional swing types, like power drives, to ease the challenge. These fit EA’s brand, akin to Madden’s X-Factors, but like the backswing button mashing, they seem like misfits in a game true to golf. While some shot types make sense, it’s illogical that many of these need to be unlocked in the first place; imagine going to the PGA without basic skills.

EA Sports PGA Tour captures the intricate nuance of golfing. However, the systems struggle with what a user can reasonably decipher from a mere analog stick, leading to a frustrating experience. EA Sports PGA Tour is a game at odds with whether it wants to compete with rival 2K’s realism or veer closer to its own more arcade roots, and in the process, lands its first drive on this new round in the rough.

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EA Sports PGA Tour

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Pinehurst #10 opened last week. Want to play it?

EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters is a golf game unlike any other

EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters is out now.

Didn’t score Masters tickets this year? Still trying to cope with the fact you might never peg it at Augusta National? Those things might not change, but you can still visit Augusta … virtually.

For the first time since 2013, Augusta National is back in video game form with the latest release of EA Sports PGA Tour.

EA Sports, known for its popular Madden NFL and FIFA titles, is relaunching its popular golf series in 2023 for the first time since 2015 — and it’s bringing back the home of the Masters as part of it all.

Augusta National hasn’t been in the game since 2014, the last time the series was released under the “Tiger Woods” name. Augusta is one of 30 different courses now available on the new game, with more courses — like major hosts Oak Hill and Los Angeles Country Club — coming online as those majors get underway.

EA’s return to the golf world means that golf gamers have the option between two PGA Tour-licensed golf games for the first time. 2K Sports released its third PGA Tour-licensed game, PGA Tour 2K23 with Tiger Woods, last fall.

The EA game was officially launched on Masters Friday, and we at GOLF have been putting it through the wringer to see if it’s a worthy golf simulation game. Here’s what we learned.

What we liked

Graphics and Aesthetics: In the run-up to the release of the game, the EA Development Team credited significant advancements in video game visual technology with bringing the series back from its nearly decade-long hiatus.

They weren’t kidding. Not only do the courses look stunning — EA producer Ben Ramsour told GOLF a screenshot of Augusta’s 13th green was mistaken for a photograph — but also the swing animations have finally started to appear lifelike.

You can really see EA’s attention to detail with the equipment highlighted in the game. From Callaway and TaylorMade drivers to Scotty Cameron putters, most of the game’s most modern offerings are available to users. And it all looks like the real thing. EA even brought insane detail into recreations of the trophies from golf’s majors, which brings us to the next item…

The four majors : Unlike the 2K games, EA Sports PGA Tour features exclusive rights to all four of the men’s major championships, meaning that the majors are now playable in career mode. That also goes for the U.S. Amateur, as well as the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. You can also play in the LPGA’s Evian Championship .

Each major has a unique broadcast package, with specific lines of dialogue from the broadcast team — a solid grouping that reunites Rich Lerner with Frank Nobilo, Notah Begay III and Iona Stephen. Nick Faldo even handles a spine-tingling intro for the Masters.

Career mode : You have three options of where to start your career: as an amateur in either the U.S. Am or the ANWA, a pro playing on the Korn Ferry Tour or by skipping those steps and heading straight to the PGA Tour.

I chose to start as an amateur, winning the U.S. Amateur to qualify for both the Masters and U.S. Open. My player made the cut on the number at Augusta (I have yet to break 71 there, more on that in a bit) and then earned a solid top 10 at the U.S. Open. Eventually, I’ll have to tackle Korn Ferry Tour Q-School before advancing up the ranks into the world of the PGA Tour.

As you play rounds or challenges, which can range from easy to very difficult, you earn XP to level up your golfer and earn skill points to improve your ratings and add shot selections to your repertoire.

Gameplay and shot types: Finally, a golf game has done justice to the stinger and the knockdown, two of my favorite shots. You have to level up your golfer enough to unlock these speciality shots — at which point you need to learn how to use them — but it’s fun to see a game actually delve into shot-making.

I’ve been playing on a custom difficulty in between the two most-difficult settings, “Tour” and “Simulation.” This means my shots are penalized or rewarded for timing, my clubs are recommended to me by carry distance, not total yardage, and I don’t get putt previews or shot trails. In the past, I’ve found golf video games were too easy in the mid-difficulty levels and far too difficult at the harder settings. With the latest EA offering, I’ve found a balance that allows me to shoot some “normal” scores that a pro would shoot on a real course.

The actual swing mechanic works nicely into the user interface. Some people have noticed some lagging in the timing, but it rarely impacts me significantly.

That said, Augusta National is hard. I mean, seriously hard, especially around the greens. I have yet to break 71 there and it’s mostly due to the crazy slope in the greens. That makes not only putting difficult but also chipping and approach shots.

Thanks to new ball flight and ball behavior settings, shots seem to react like they would at ANGC. Miss the tiny plateau in the upper right corner of 6 green? You’re going all the way back to the front left corner. Come up short on 9? You’ll be rewarded with a fun 50-yard pitch. Go long of the Sunday pin on 18? Good luck with that putt.

As expected, you also won’t get the same kind of spin at say, Bandon Dunes or St. Andrews, where the ball bounces and bounds like a true links course. These tendencies are independent of what the course setting is too. “Tournament” conditions at St. Andrews will naturally be firmer than at Augusta, but green speeds in Georgia will be quicker.

What could be better

I’m no video game expert (I only ever buy golf and basketball games at this point) but here’s what I, as a golfer, would like to see.

Short game: Short shots have always been the toughest to replicate in video games for some reason. Thanks to the new ball behavior, putting from off the green is finally reasonably accurate. The game also added a spinner shot, basically a lower pitch that checks, which I found myself using most of the time once I unlocked it. However, I still find myself using the flop shot at times I wouldn’t in relief simply because it spins way more than it should, even out of the rough. Also, where the spinner checks a little, the regular pitch and chip shots don’t. It would be very hard to recreate Tiger’s chip-in from the 2005 Masters.

Real-world weather : I believe the previous EA games had access to real-world weather that would allow you to play courses in real-time conditions. I would love to see that again as the tournaments I’ve played had random wind directions and speeds each day. Plus, the PGA is in May now — no way there’s perfect weather all the time!

Parting thoughts

The graphics and actual shot types make this game a must-have for any golf-loving video gamer or a video game-loving golfer. But then again, a golf game with Augusta National might be enough to earn “must-have” status alone.

After Tiger Woods’ 2K23 game came out around the same time this one was teased, I thought more people would gravitate toward 2K thanks to Tiger’s name (which was part of the success of EA’s previous games ).

But EA deserves a big chunk of the market share with this game. They knocked it out of the park with a vastly superior experience both from a visuals and gameplay standpoint. Would I love to play with Tiger in this game? Yes — but I’d argue having access to some of the best venues in golf is more important. I’d also love to figure out how to use EA’s graphics on a golf simulator, because the game has some of the best golf visuals I’ve ever seen.

EA Sports PGA Tour is out now for PlayStation 5, Xbox S|X and PC; the standard edition costs $69.99 and the deluxe edition costs $84.99.

EA Sports PGA Tour

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Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at [email protected] .

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PGA Tour 2K21 Review

Links awakening..

PGA Tour 2K is the new name for The Golf Club series, which could have just as easily been rebranded as Dark Holes for its uncompromisingly hardcore simulation of the sport. In its previous incarnation, it showed its players all the forgiveness of a FromSoftware game. But with its latest evolution under the 2K sports banner, PGA Tour 2K21 has layered a raft of more traditional videogame guides and aids on top of that focus on realism in order to make it more approachable to a wider audience. As a result, PGA Tour 2K21 facilitates a members club that anyone can join, yet like all good golf courses there’s still some rough around its edges.

What is the force of your golf swing? May I suggest "Feather Touch"?

Screens - pga tour 2k21.

Both the sponsorships and the Rivals systems just exist in the background while you focus on racking up birdies, so they certainly don’t do any harm to the career mode overall. But I wish they did a better job of rewarding my achievements in more meaningful ways, or accentuating the drama of each tournament. Speaking of which, while the commentary from Rich Beem and Luke Elvy is generally of a high standard, there’s a real lack of pageantry surrounding the events out on the greens. If you manage to take home the main prize there aren’t any presentations or press conferences that follow, just a splash screen with a picture of your trophy to blink at for a few moments before you move on to the next course. You know the dinky little pop-up overlay you get for earning in-game achievements? It’s like getting one of those after winning one of the most prestigious tournaments in world sport.

Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden

PGA Tour 2K21 is the most flexible and enjoyable golf game since EA’s Tiger Woods series was at its peak. While its career mode could have done with some spit and polish to its presentation and featured more meaningful rewards, it nonetheless serves as a solid 20-hour straightaway to what could prove to be the most thriving part of PGA Tour 2K21’s dance floor in the long term; the online societies. As far as establishing a new sports franchise goes (on the shoulders of the three Golf Club games that came before) this might not be the strongest shot off the tee, but it’s ended up in a very playable lie.

More Reviews by Tristan Ogilvie

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EA Sports PGA Tour – Road to the Masters Review | A Master in the Making?

EA Sports PGA Tour Road to the Masters – the golf game presumed to make a strong comeback after being MIA for the last eight years. Speculations were that this title was meant to come in, use the latest tech, come up with new initiatives, and knock its competitors out of the park. So, did it exceed expectations?

Features such as the Puke Strike, Ball Behavior, the long list of Pros, exclusive golf courses, game modes, and more were all meant to set this one apart following its worldwide release on April 7. Adding pressure to the release of Road to the Masters was the brave decision to make the game exclusive to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC, while excluding the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. From this, you have to ask… Did they accomplish what they set out to do by excluding other platforms?

With this review, Prima Games will discuss the gameplay, graphics, pros and cons, and more. The discussion will also cover if EA Sports PGA Tour is a game changer in the golfing simulation world; if it perfectly stroked past its counterparts; if it’s worthwhile investing all your time in; or if it’s none of the sorts.

Sit back, grab a coffee, and enjoy the read. Hopefully, it’s not like the suffocating silence you experience before making a long 40ft putt, and it’s more like the release of cheers around the golf course after a long successful drive for a Greens In Regulation.

EA Sports PGA Tour Gameplay and Features

EA Sports PGA Tour Gameplay has a few clean swings and missed hits. EA’s hit-and-miss involves the in-game experience, what to make of the user interface and many other factors. 

Let’s start with playing golf. 

Playing Golf

Yes, many out there feel the new swing mechanics of Road to the Masters left EA in the rough. However, I liked it more than I hated it and quickly became accustomed. With the developers ready to introduce the 3-Click Swing mechanics soon with their next major update, there’s an option for all, making the game more enticing.

To find out more about EA’s latest update, you can read: EA Scores a Hole-in-One With Latest PGA Tour Fixes and Additions .

The gameplay is fantastic if you enjoy being a professional athlete. However, the UI is lacking in-game, and there’s a need for more assistance and tutorials. Once your first tutorial’s done, you’re on your own. It’s like swinging closed eyes and hoping for the best. 

The same can be said for the grid and guide for putting. There should have been an added feature: darkened areas where there are huge slopes and lightened areas with less slope. It would help you fare better in the short game, and having this as a map addition in the game would have been nifty. It would help eliminate using the putting guide and assist all players in identifying slopes better — a quicker way to get accustomed to all of the courses, allowing you to work on your strengths and weaknesses.

The lack of assistance does, however, influence practicing more by doing all the game’s challenges. One has to admit, rehearsing shot after shot gets your game going which, in turn, is a tremendous positive for the game. If you’re fresh to golfing and any golfing simulator, the Coaching Academy in the Challenges game mode will be your best friend and where you need to head first.

To sum it all up, playing golf in EA Sports PGA Tour is not user-friendly, but you can master your craft quite quickly to swing like a pro.

Related: All EA Sports PGA Tour – Road to the Masters Shot Types Listed

Something to Celebrate and Something to Improve on

The main hub is clear, straightforward, and easy to navigate around. Despite some glitches that occurred because of bugs in the early days of its release, it was pretty easy to maneuver around — a great UI experience, hands down.

Upgrading Your Player in Road to the Masters

Probably the most straightforward upgrading system I’ve ever used. Plain and simple describes it best. The upgrading points could use some improvements, though. With only two points for levelling up, I’ll be 65 by the time I win the Master with a fully upgraded self-created Pro.

“ Where there is an unquestionable shortage in one area, another area weighs in heavily and comes to save the day. “

The biggest letdown is the editing and player creation. A high flop by the dev team here. Limited options, no face scan, and nothing new. For a team like EA, this is a department where they excel and usually deliver.

Apparel Equals Fire In EA Sports PGA Tour

Where there is an unquestionable shortage in one area, another area weighs in heavily and comes to save the day. The apparel in the game lifted my mood on the editing front, and honestly, all the options you have for equipment and clothing to choose from are fire.

A big ups to EA for including such an incredible catalogue of exclusive drip. Supposing you can’t play like a pro, at least you can dress up and look the part! 

Exclusive Courses In-Game

From Augusta National to Teeth of The Dog, the 30 courses in EA Sports PGA Tour are winners. The attention to detail of the grass, water, bunkers, and trees makes for a fantastic view. Playing in 4K certainly has its touch of realism in the PGA Tour.

For decades, we’ve seen EA triumph over their rivals in many, if not all, sports titles in one crucial area. That is, having all the licences and agreements for players, stadiums, courses, etc. Having the rights to the exclusive courses in Road to the Masters sets the bar high for all of their counterparts. It’s, again, a winning factor for them.

The courses will also make or break you, asking different questions and making each hit, stroke, drive, and putt a unique situation. Brilliant!

Related: EA Sports PGA Tour – Road to the Masters: All Golf Courses Listed

EA Sports PGA Tour Graphics

Other than a few moments where the ball is missing just before you swing, the audio playing at the wrong time, and other minor glitches with the fans and delay, the EA Sports PGA Tour graphics are phenomenal.

Playing Road to the Masters on PS5 has been a great experience and something I enjoyed, but only once I started getting used to the game’s mechanics. The massive downfall is the Pro players who look “similar” rather than like-for-like to their real-life figures. It’s not the end product just yet, and work needs to be done.

The cutscenes overview of the courses is the best way to admire the precise detail of all the golf courses and structures. The TrackMan data, Fluid Swing Mechanics, Ball Behavior, many Shot Types, and Course Dynamics all aid the graphics and make for a better and smoother golfing game experience.

Related: EA Sports PGA Tour – Road to the Masters Pure Strike Explained

Concluding Thoughts on EA Sports PGA Tour

With this one, if I were to sum up EA Sports PGA Road to the Masters into one analogy, I would say: If this were an 18-hole round of golf, EA got an excellent few birders, one or two eagles, but there were undoubtedly bogeys. 

Was the comeback strong? Yes, It indeed was. The Pure Striker, Flued Swing Mechanics, and Ball Behavior make for a real-life golf experience. The courses are fantastic to play on, and their abundance in the game makes for a timeless title. The online modes make the game even more timeless, something many are happy about, not just me. Without it, golf can be a lonely place.

“ You restart, restart, restart, you get a bogey, you’re disappointed with yourself, and you restart again. You make a top, top shot; you‘re running around the house celebrating and thanking the crowd for their support. “

Though, much work must be done on making the title more story-driven and following something like FIFA when you play as Alex Hunter, the fictional character, on a journey to become a professional footballer. Or when you sit in on negotiations during transfers. These ideas could be implemented into the game for a more simulated experience, maybe by separating this from Career Mode and giving it its own title: Story Mode.

To find out more about the various game modes in Road to the Masters, you can read:  All EA Sports PGA Tour – Road to the Masters Game Modes

It’s Just Straight-Up Golfing

This is where EA Sports PGA Tour does excel over its counterparts. The swinging, response to the joystick, bounce of the ball, how you can manipulate the shot, the many shot types, immersion, everything seems to be in tuned and seamless. That alone sanctifies a strong comeback for EA into the golfing gaming world. 

Believe it or not, the game has an alluring feel about it. You want to get all the stars in each challenge. You restart, restart, restart, you get a bogey, you’re disappointed with yourself, and you restart again. You make a top, top shot; you‘re running around the house celebrating and thanking the crowd for their support. You consider your strategy every step of the way. It is all definitely “ In the Game!” in this one.

If you’re into sports games that allow you to live the thrills, chills, disappointment and excitement of a professional sportsman, I highly recommend this game. If you’re an action-packed junky that enjoys end-to-end action, this game is way too quiet and passive for you. The true meaning of the gentleman’s game comes to mind when playing EA Sports PGA Tour Road to the Masters.

• Looks incredible realistic
• User-friendly HUD
• Limited editing options when creating a pro
• Little golfing aid and assistance
• Slow upgrade system

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review. Reviewed on PlayStation 5.

EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™

Cloud enabled game while in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Learn more

+Offers in-app purchases.

Game requires online multiplayer subscription to play on console (Game Pass Core or Ultimate, sold separately).

Description

Tee off at Augusta National where you can compete for a Green Jacket. - Play unique challenges and complete quests inspired by the Masters. - Access exciting new content, golf gear drops to customize your golfer, and online tournaments to test your skills on the course. The exclusive home of the Majors, EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ features Pure Strike for superior golf gameplay powered by ShotLink®, and unrivaled access to the world’s most exclusive golf courses. Home of the Majors EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ is the exclusive home of the Majors, including the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open Championship, and The Open Championship. Pure Strike powered by ShotLink® Powered by official PGA TOUR ShotLink® and TrackMan data, Pure Strike provides unique golf swings with a fluid feel, and realistic outcomes on every golf shot. Pure Strike combines golfer-specific tendencies with unique Course Dynamics and revolutionized Ball Behavior for the premier golf gameplay experience. Your career, your way As your golf game improves, so does your path to becoming a Major champion. Create and customize a golfer, develop your skill set with new Shot Types, gain deeper course knowledge as you play, and learn to attack every hole like a pro. The world’s most exclusive courses The tee is yours at 30 courses, including some of the world’s most exclusive, designed in stunning quality with Frostbite™ so you can enjoy more of golf’s finer details than ever before. Conditions & restrictions apply. See ea.com/legal for details.

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• Xbox Series X|S

Capabilities

• Xbox local co-op (2-2)
• Online co-op (2-2)
• Xbox local multiplayer (2-4)
• Online multiplayer (2-16)
• 4K Ultra HD
• Single player
• Spatial Sound
• Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
• Xbox achievements
• Xbox presence
• Xbox cloud saves

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• 10-hour game trials
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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Adds 2 New Games, One With Amazing Reviews

The latest Xbox Game Pass update adds one critically acclaimed game inspired by The Legend of Zelda, as well as an Ultimate-tier title.

• EA Sports PGA Tour is now available for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
• Xbox Game Pass has also added Lil Gator Game, a critically acclaimed action adventure inspired by the open-world Zelda games.
• The final April 4 change to Microsoft's subscription catalog concerns Turbo Golf Racing, which is about to receive a massive content update that will officially mark its departure from the Game Preview program.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate has added Lil Gator Game and EA Sports PGA Tour to its content library. Aside from this pair of arrivals, another Xbox Game Pass title is leaving the Game Preview program today, meaning it's about to receive a rather substantial 1.0 update.

EA Sports PGA Tour and Lil Gator Game bring the total number of April 2024 additions to Microsoft's subscription service up to six. Xbox Game Pass has already added LEGO 2K Drive , Superhot: Mind Control Delete , F1 23 , and Ark: Survival Ascended since the turn of the month.

April 15 Is Going to Be a Sad Day for Xbox Game Pass Horror Fans

Of the new releases at hand, only Lil Gator Game is available across all tiers of the service bar Xbox Game Pass Core. Meanwhile, EA Sports PGA Tour requires the EA Play add-on, which is an exclusive perk of the Ultimate-tier subscription. That said, the more widely available of the two titles also happens to be the more critically acclaimed one, as Lil Gator Game presently boasts Metacritic Metascores ranging from 80 to 84, while EA Sports PGA Tour 's ratings are in the mid-70s. Likewise, while EA's golf sim has "Mixed" user reviews on Steam, Lil Gator Game 's player impressions on Valve's platform are in the "Overwhelmingly Positive" territory, with many fans proclaiming it to be one of the best open-world action platformers in recent memory.

New Xbox Game Pass Games in April 2024

Although Lil Gator Game has clearly been designed with the youngest audiences in mind, it still promises an adventure that can be enjoyed by all ages. That's partially because this MegaWobble-developed title takes a lot of inspiration from The Legend of Zelda series, especially its recent open-world entries. So, while the ultimate goal of the game is to decorate a cozy island and find some friends to play with, those fairly low stakes are still charmingly framed like an epic adventure, as if viewed through the eyes of a child.

Xbox Game Pass Game Turbo Golf Racing Leaves Early Access Today

Besides Lil Gator Game and EA Sports PGA Tour , the April 4 Xbox Game Pass catalog update is also adding the 1.0 version of Turbo Golf Racing . First released in August 2022 as an early access title, this hectic experience is finally ready to leave the XGP Game Preview program, with its 1.0 patch being set to kick off Season 4: Launch Party. The new season offers 40 rewards, ten extra levels, and a new version of golf mode for eight players, among other novelties. Although Turbo Golf Racing is reminiscent of Rocket League , its core gameplay actually revolves around conventional racing instead of arena-based shenanigans.

Moving forward, at least seven more titles will reach Xbox Game Pass before the end of the month. The first of those arrivals will be Kona and Botany Manor , both of which are scheduled to be added to Microsoft's game library on April 9.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft's flagship game subscription service that offers over 100 game titles that you can play with a single purchase, making it one of the most outstanding value propositions of the Xbox ecosystem to date.

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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: Play Shadow of the Tomb Raider Now and More Soon

You can play these titles and more than 400 others with a Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate , a CNET Editors' Choice award pick , offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X or Series S , Xbox One or PC for $17 a month . With a subscription, you get new games every month (like NBA 2K24 ) and other benefits, like online multiplayer and deals on non-Game Pass titles.

Microsoft added Diablo 4 to Game Pass in March, and these are the latest titles you can play now or soon  on the service.

Lego 2K Drive (cloud and console)

Available now.

If racing sims like Forza Horizon 5 is too serious for you -- or, in my case, too difficult -- maybe try this brick-tastic game. In this open-world racing game, you can build your dream ride and race against a cast of kooky rivals with names like Clutch Racington. And if you drive into a lake, no worries! Your car can turn into a boat because of Lego.

Lil Gator Game

Take a bite out of a cute little quest as a young gator in this adorable game. You play as the titular character as you climb, swim and explore the world around you while making friends with all the other critters and characters you run into along the way.

EA Sports PGA Tour

Not everyone can tee off at historic courses like Augusta National and St. Andrews, but you can with this golf game. You can play against PGA and LPGA pros, like Scottie Scheffler and Lexi Thompson, as you climb the ladder to become a Masters Tournament champion.

Kona (cloud and console)

Kona is returning to Game Pass about three years after it left the service. In this title, you play a private investigator in the 1970s who arrives at a small Canadian village to find it abandoned. You have to explore the village, investigate the supernatural and survive the northern winds. This game will surely send a chill down your spine.

Botany Manor

Calling all plant enthusiasts: If you've ever gotten into an argument over whether a snake plant is part of the Sansevieria or Dracaena genus, this game is for you. In this puzzle game, you play as a botanist in the 1890s completing your botanical research book, and you research and grow rare plant specimens from seed in an idyllic English manor. Don't be afraid to stop and smell the roses while you play.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition

This is the final chapter in the story of how Lara Croft took up the mantle of Tomb Raider. You take the role of Croft as she travels to South America in order to uncover an artifact that could save the world. With the Definitive Edition, you get all seven DLC challenge tombs, and more ways to tackle each challenge with additional downloadable weapons, outfits and skills.

Harold Halibut

Available: April 16

This Day 1 release is a narrative game focused on friendship. You play as Harold as he explores a retro-futuristic world under an alien ocean. Harold's world is full of weird, wonderful and diverse people and fish, each with a unique story. While exploring Harold's claymation world, you learn more about its inhabitants as you try to find the meaning of "home."

Titles leaving Game Pass

While Xbox is adding the above titles to Game Pass Ultimate, it's also removing six games on April 15. So you have some time to finish any side quests before you have to buy these separately. 

• Amnesia Collection
• Amnesia: Rebirth
• Back 4 Blood
• Phantom Abyss
• Research and Destroy

For more on Xbox, here's what Diablo 4 on Game Pass likely means for the service, other titles available on Game Pass Ultimate now and everything to know about the gaming service .

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• Category: Xbox Game Pass

Coming to Xbox Game Pass: LEGO 2K Drive, EA Sports PGA Tour, Harold Halibut, and More

• Megan Spurr, Community Lead, Xbox Game Pass

My favorite part about “coming soon” to Game Pass is that it quickly turns into “available today” messaging. From driving to golfing to tomb raiding, there’s plenty here that’s going to be available sooner rather than later. Let’s take a look at the games that are mere moments away from your download queue!

Available Today

Superhot: Mind Control Delete (Cloud, Console, and PC) Returning to the Game Pass library today, Superhot: Mind Control Delete gives you more insight into the signature power fantasy world of Superhot with more story, more signature gameplay, more action, more guns. Keep dancing the slow-motion ballet of destruction for much longer than ever before.

Coming Soon

LEGO 2K Drive (Cloud and Console) – April 3 Welcome to Bricklandia, home of a massive open-world LEGO driving adventure. Race anywhere, play with anyone, build your dream rides, and defeat a cast of wild racing rivals for the coveted Sky Trophy!

Lil Gator Game (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 4 Who wouldn’t want to be an adorable Lil Gator? Embark on a cute “lil” quest, discovering new friends, and uncovering everything its island has to offer. Climb, swim, glide, and slide your way into the hearts of the many different characters you meet along the way in this adorable open-world adventure!

EA Sports PGA Tour (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series X|S) EA Play – April 4 EA Sports PGA Tour is coming to The Play List with PC Game Pass and Ultimate via EA Play. Become a Major champion, tee off on the Par 3 Course at Augusta National, along with three new 2024 Major host courses.

Kona (Cloud and Console) – April 9 Another game is making a return to the Game Pass library! A strange blizzard ravages Atamipek Lake. Step into the shoes of a detective to explore the eerie village, investigate surreal events, and battle the elements to survive in this chilly, interactive tale you won’t soon forget.

Botany Manor (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – April 9 Available on day one with Game Pass! Explore the historic manor home of retired botanist Arabella Greene, who has amassed a collection of rare, long-forgotten flora that require special conditions to help them bloom. Unlock new seeds, look for clues in the items scattered around the residence, and solve each gardening puzzle to revive these plants.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 11 Experience the final chapter of Lara’s origin as she is forged into the Tomb Raider she is destined to be. Combining the base game, all seven DLC challenge tombs, as well as all downloadable weapons, outfits, and skills, Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition is the ultimate way to experience Lara’s defining moment.

Harold Halibut (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – April 16 Available on day one with Game Pass! Harold Halibut is a handmade narrative game about friendship and life on a city-sized spaceship submerged in an alien ocean. Join Harold as he explores a vibrant retro-future world in his quest to find the true meaning of ‘home’. You can learn more about Harold Halibut in Xbox Wire’s recent hands-on preview here .

DLC / Game Updates

No Man’s Sky Orbital Update – Available now Dock your fully customized starship in the sleek new space stations of update 4.6, Orbital! Space stations have been completely overhauled internally and externally; new starships can be constructed from salvaged parts; frigate fleets can reach out for guidance with interstellar expeditions; standing and guilds have been improved, trading and system economies have been deepened – and much more! Learn more about No Man’s Sky ’s Orbital update here on Xbox Wire .

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks

Final Fantasy XIV Online: Starter Edition – Available now Join over 30 million adventures worldwide in the critically acclaimed online RPG.  From now through April 19, the Final Fantasy XIV Online – Starter Edition base game is now free for a limited time – including a 30-day free play period for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. Terms apply. You can also learn how to build your Warrior of Light in Final Fantasy XIV Online here on Xbox Wire .

YouTube Premium 3 Month Trial – Available now Watch your favorite YouTube creators without ads, offline, and in the background. Plus, stream the latest songs from your favorite artists with uninterrupted access to YouTube Music. New users only. Monthly subscription fee starts at the end of trial. Cancel anytime. Not available in all regions. Terms apply .

Battlefield 2042 : Season 7 Field Kit – Available now In the iconic all-out warfare first-person shooter of Battlefield 2042 , Game Pass Ultimate and EA Play members can get the Battlefield 2042 Season 7 Field Kit containing a Ride’em Crab Boy Weapon Charm, Rising Tide AM40 Weapon Skin, and Dustproof Specialist Headgear.   Check out the other EA Play member rewards and Perks here on Xbox Wire .

Leaving April 15

Make sure you give the following games a proper farewell before they leave the Game Pass library. As always, you can save up to 20% off your purchase to keep them in your library.

• Amnesia Collection (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Amnesia: Rebirth (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Back 4 Blood (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Phantom Abyss (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Research and Destroy (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Soma (Cloud, Console, and PC)

That wraps us up! Let us know which game you’re planning on playing first over at @Xbox ,  @XboxGamePass or @XboxGamePassPC . Catch you next time!

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Fallout 76, PGA Tour 2K23, and Classified France ‘44 join Xbox Free Play Days this weekend

Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Neowin @LoneWolfSL · Apr 11, 2024 12:32 EDT with 2 comments

Microsoft's Free Play Days promotion is back with another round of titles for Xbox Game Pass Core and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members to try out. While two of the three available games this weekend, PGA Tour 2K23 and Classified France '44, are for those subscription holders , Fallout 76's offer is available to any and all Xbox players for free.

With the Fallout TV series on Amazon Prime Video having just launched, Microsoft is offering the Bethesda multiplayer experience for anyone to try until Tuesday, April 18. Unlike other games in the series, Fallout 76 is a completely multiplayer experience, serving as a prequel to the earlier installments.

You explore the post-apocalyptic lands of West Virginia, referred to as Appalachia in-game, engaging in quests, battling mutated creatures, and diving dungeons with help from other survivors.

Meanwhile, from the regular Free Play Days corner, arrives PGA Tour 2K23 for golfing fans. It features a hefty career mode touting the FedExCup, as well as licensed courses, and iconic pros to compete against. Players can even design their own courses and play with friends in the cross-play enabled multiplayer modes.

At the same time, Classified: France '44 is a recently released tactical strategy game where you take command of an allied special operations team in Nazi-occupied France. XCOM players should feel right at home in this entry.

Discounts are also live for all the games on offer currently, making it a cheaper endeavor to continue any playthroughs following their temporary promotions. Don't forget that progress will carry over. Here are links to the games available, plus what platforms they are playable on:

• PGA TOUR 2K23 - $14.99 (Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S)
• Classified: France '44 - $27.99 (Xbox Series X|S)
• Fallout 76 - $7.99 (Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S)

The standard Free Play Days promotions of the bunch , PGA Tour 2K23 and Classified France '44, will come to an end on Sunday, April 14, at 11:59 pm PT.

• Xbox free play days
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• Pga tour 2k23
• Classified france 44

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Xbox Game Pass free games for April 2024

Play some golf, do some driving, and shoot loads of mercenaries with poison-tipped arrows.

As a reminder, there are separate versions of Game Pass for console and PC, with an Ultimate tier that combines the two and adds cloud streaming options (Game Pass Core is a separate thing).

Arriving today (April 3) is LEGO 2K Drive (cloud, console). This game gives you an open world made of bricks for you to smash up, plenty of vehicles for you to build, and side content for you to dive into.

Related: Persona 3 Reload confirms The Answer is coming as DLC

EA Sports PGA Tour (cloud, Xbox Series X|S, PC) arrives tomorrow (April 4) via PC Game Pass and the Ultimate tier. This is last year's return of the long-running golfing simulator franchise, with the publisher's high production values bringing dozens of courses to life.

The third big-name title included is Shadow of the Tomb Raider (cloud, console, PC), which returns to Game Pass on April 11. This Definitive Edition extends Lara Croft's final reboot adventure with challenge tombs and gives you extra weapons and outfits to play with.

Related: Xbox doesn't rule out Starfield coming to PS5 in the future

Those are the most famous games in this month's first wave, but also coming to Game Pass are:

• April 4: Lil Gator Game (cloud, console, PC)
• April 9: Kona (cloud, console) and Botany Manor (cloud, Xbox Series X|S, PC — day one)
• April 16: Harold Halibut (cloud, Xbox Series X|S, PC — day one)

Meanwhile, Game Pass Ultimate is offering a 30-day free play for Final Fantasy XIV: Starter Edition (until April 19), and three months of YouTube Premium for new users in certain regions.

Xbox Game Pass deal

Gift ideas 3 month xbox game pass ultimate xbox one / pc.

Get your instant download with CDKeys.com

A cheap way to get Game Pass is by buying a subscription from CDKeys , as this is discounted compared to the prices you pay directly from the Xbox Store.

• 1 Month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (Xbox + PC) – £8.99
• 3 Month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (Xbox + PC) – £23.99

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