PGA Tour 2K21 Review: A Golf game for everybody

Pga Tour 2k1 Header Justin Thomas Source: 2K

PGA Tour 2K21 is a brand new golf game simulator new from HB Studios, the developers of The Golf Club game series. Afterwards teaming up with 2K to create a brand new franchise, PGA Bout 2K21 aims to bring back the professional expect and feel of golf simulators of all, all while giving new players to the globe of golf the chance to learn with ease.

While it may be a bit barebones, HB Studios and 2K's partnership is filled with promise for what the hereafter can concord.

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PGA Tour 2K21 Xbox Cover

PGA Tour 2K21

Bottom line: While it may non be incredibly in-depth, PGA Bout 2K21 is a great showtime attempt for 2K equally they go into the golf, and the future looks incredibly bright.

Pros

Incredibly user friendly
Real-life pros/courses are a huge improver
Rivalry system keeps you playing
Customizable difficulty

Cons

Almost gear/clothing is locked behind in-game currency
Harder difficulties can be very punishing

What you'll beloved about PGA Bout 2K21

Later three successful iterations of games with The Golf Club, HB Studios partnered with 2K Sports to create a brand new franchise, PGA Tour 2K21. The new franchise aims to do something that The Golf Gild couldn't do much of, namely bringing in many real-life aspects of professional golf game into the game. For quite some time, players have been waiting to become their easily on a golf video game that accurately brings many of the real-life aspects of the sport to the digital globe. Thankfully, PGA Tour 2K21 successfully does that, starting with its inclusion of real-life professional golfers.

Category	Spec
Developer	HB Studios
Publisher	2K Sports
Players	Single-Player, Local/Online Multiplayer
Genre	Sports
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia
Cantankerous-play	No
Historic period-rating	Everybody
Toll	$60

Similar to other sports games on the marketplace, PGA Tour 2K21 sports a roster featuring some of the all-time and nearly popular golfers currently on the PGA Bout. While y'all, unfortunately, won't find the likes of legendary golfers similar Tiger Forest and Phil Mickelson in the game, there is a surprisingly large roster, including Justin Thomas, the electric current top-ranked golfer in the earth. All in all, at that place are 12 pros in the game with their full likeness. Hundreds more that are shown in name while you're out on a form.

Non only does including the professionals bring a level of professionalism to the game, but it also makes everything experience that much more real when yous're competing confronting someone. Instead of existence down against random, fictional golfers, you're going neck-and-neck with Justin Thomas or Sergio Garcia, making information technology much easier to lose yourself into the simulation aspect of the game.

Besides just having their likeness in the game, PGA Tour 2K21 too sports a brand new rivalry organisation, which allows y'all to go up against the pros in more than ways than one. In one case y'all climb the ranks and make your way into the PGA Tour, y'all'll be able to create rivalries with other players, which involves beating them in the standings on various courses. Outperforming your rivals will earn y'all additional rewards, including new gear or in-game currency with which to buy accessories.

Pga Tour 2k21 Source: 2K Sports

Aslope their partnership with 2K Sports, PGA Tour 2K21 also sports a feature that nearly every NBA 2K has had for a decade: MyPlayer. Similar to how it operates in the NBA 2K series, y'all'll be able to craft your ain golfer one time you boot upwardly PGA Tour 2K21. Everything from tiptop, weight, gender, and more can exist tweaked, and then the possibilities are near countless when information technology comes to making your desired player. Later on that, y'all'll carry your MyPlayer with you across pretty much all of the game'south modes, including Career Mode and various multiplayer modes.

Speaking of, PGA Tour 2K21 features a somewhat revamped and improved Career Mode, especially when it comes to where y'all'll be playing. Your goal in PGA's career mode is pretty uncomplicated, tasking you lot with ascension through the ranks of the golf globe until you've dominated the PGA Tour and its many championships. Every bit you brand your way through the way, y'all'll be able to play across 15 different, officially licensed courses and tournaments, with two more than coming mail-launch. Alongside the new courses, PGA Tour 2K21 also allows y'all to unlock various Sponsors along the manner, with real-life brands like Adidas and others available to offer yous clothing and gear options should yous encounter specific criteria. While it isn't the almost in-depth career mode a sports game has ever had, it's fantabulous at incorporating many of the new features 2K has brought into the game and serves as a bully await at what can come in the future.

Making a golf game for everybody

Pga Screenshot Source: 2K Sports

Early on on in the PGA Tour 2K21 bike, i of HB Studios' biggest objectives for the game was to make a professional golf game that would be for anybody. As someone who only has a rudimentary agreement of the sport and all its intricacies, I'd have to say they passed with flying colors in that regard.

One of the biggest things y'all'll notice when playing through PGA Tour 2K21 is the nearly infinite possibilities y'all have when information technology comes to difficulty. At that place are the traditional piece of cake/normal/hard options. Still, you lot're also able to tweak the difficulty in certain aspects, giving you lot the chance to keep one setting relatively easy while possibly tuning some other up.

The controls for the game are like shooting fish in a barrel enough, with your right analog stick decision-making how you swing and the shoulder buttons on top of a controller giving yous extra access to more advanced mechanics. You'll likewise be able to take an overhead look at the class before attempting a shot, and even preview how a putt may await before you take it. Along with the difficulty options comes a huge, handy tutorial in one case yous commencement the game. If you're a fan and gorging player of golf game, this might not be necessary, simply for someone like me, it was a great addition.

Besides basic information like how to swing, the tutorial also teaches you more than about how to read courses, which club might be best for any given shot, and other advanced tactics, like adding different levels of downswing onto a shot to control where it lands meliorate. As you go on to play through the game, you'll find it evident that a ton of work has gone into making the game accessible for fans who may not know much about golf, and the additions clearly paid off.

Pga Tour 2k21 Source: 2K Sports

Outside of difficulty options, PGA Tour 2K21 brings back one of The Golf Club'southward greatest modes and something that fans of any degree will like, in the Course Designer. Using the Grade Designer, you'll be able to create an entire golf course using the aforementioned tools that the developers at HB Studios used to create the courses in the game, all the way down to the objects and props littered throughout the holes. You can cull which theme, terrain, and layout you'd like, and get to boondocks making the weirdest or near realistic form you lot can think up.

After creating a class, you'll be able to publish the course online and have your friends or the rest of the PGA Bout 2K21 community effort it. Where the Form Designer in previous The Golf Club entries limited players to sticking with a biome theme, PGA Tour 2K21 does away with any restrictions. If you'd similar to take alligators littered throughout a desert course, then you lot're free to do so. It'south a surprisingly in-depth and well-fabricated feature, and I found myself spending quite a scrap of time going through the diverse choices available to me while creating a course.

Bated from its Course Designer and Career Mode, PGA Tour 2K21 also has a ton of fun multiplayer modes to go along you playing as well. For a sport like golf, information technology might sound difficult to create an online mode that gives fans the feeling of taking to a form for some competition, but it's handled well. Local and online multiplayer is bachelor for those who might desire to go up against one another, and a handful of more than fun game modes - including Alt-Shot, Stroke Play, Skins, and 4-Player Scramble - are available to play also (no mini-golfing, unfortunately).

Also brought back from The Golf game Lodge franchise is the return of Societies. Online Societies function similar to online leagues, with a group of players joining upward for some friendly competition. Players in societies can take each other on in a diversity of modes, with upwards to 50+ issue seasons being planned by administrators. PGA Tour 2K21 will likewise take its own society, with official competitions taking place weekly for players to participate in.

What you might non dearest about PGA Bout 2K21

Pga Screenshot Source: 2K Sports

For all the adept that PGA Tour 2K21 offers, in that location are yet some downsides to the latest entry in the franchise. Equally a whole, the introduction of many 2K Sports factors has been a huge plus, but its utilise of VC (virtual currency) is still a big issue. While PGA Tour 2K21 thankfully doesn't characteristic too many microtransactions or actually accept whatsoever pay-to-win methods, it does lock many items behind VC and earning it can be a bit of a grind as you rank upwards.

Elsewhere, while the difficulty options in PGA Tour 2K21 are vast and customizable, the game itself can exist unforgiving even on the easiest settings. For case, timing is everything when it comes to getting a keen shot, and even on the easiest difficulty, the game volition punish you for making mistakes. It's not an extremely bad affair overall, merely constantly slicing or pulling a ball into the trees is certainly something that may keep a newcomer from returning.

Should you buy PGA Tour 2K21?

Pga Tour 2k21 Source: 2K Sports

At the end of the day, PGA Bout 2K21 is a very specific blazon of game for a very specific type of fan. If you're someone who is a huge golfer or a large fan of golf game video games, PGA Tour 2K21 is every bit close to a must-purchase as y'all'll get this generation. Even if you're someone who may be new to the sport and likes playing golf-centric video games, this is correct upwards your alley.

On the flip side, if you're not large into sports games, or would rather wait for farther improvements in the years to come, you lot may desire to skip out on this 1. For me, the thrill of conquering grade after form was more than enough to go on me coming back, even if I'm not the biggest fan of the sport. With 2K Sports officially on board, I'm also very interested to come across what becomes of this franchise, as this was a great stepping stone.

PGA Tour 2K21 retails for $lx and is bachelor on Microsoft Windows, Xbox, PlayStation iv, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia.

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PGA Tour 2K21 Xbox Cover

PGA Tour 2K21

Aim for the fairway.

Create your own MyPlayer, take them through the ranks of the PGA Tour, and get one of the all-time golfers in the world.

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