Review: Everyone is welcome in PGA Tour 2K21
PGA Tour 2K21 is a brand new golf simulator new from HB Studios, the developers of The Golf Club game series. After teaming up with 2K to create a brand new franchise, PGA Tour 2K21 aims to bring back the professional look and feel of golf simulators of all, all while giving new players to the world 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 future can hold.
Four!
PGA Tour 2K21
Pros
- Incredibly user friendly
- Real-life pros/courses are a huge addition
- Rivalry system keeps you playing
- Customizable difficulty
Cons
- Most gear/clothing is locked behind in-game currency
- Harder difficulties can be very punishing
What you’ll love about PGA Tour 2K21
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 |
Cross-play | No |
Age-rating | Everybody |
Price | $60 |
Not only does including the professionals bring a level of professionalism to the game, but it also makes everything feel that much more real when you’re competing against someone. Instead of being down against random, fictional golfers, you’re going neck-and-neck with Justin Thomas or Sergio Garcia, making it much easier to lose yourself into the simulation aspect of the game.
Besides just having their likeness in the game, PGA Tour 2K21 also sports a brand new rivalry system, which allows you to go up against the pros in more ways than one. Once you climb the ranks and make your way into the PGA Tour, you’ll be able to create rivalries with other players, which involves beating them in the standings on various courses. Outperforming your rivals will earn you additional rewards, including new gear or in-game currency with which to buy accessories.
Source: 2K Sports
Speaking of, PGA Tour 2K21 features a somewhat revamped and improved Career Mode, especially when it comes to where you’ll be playing. Your goal in PGA’s career mode is pretty simple, tasking you with rising through the ranks of the golf world until you’ve dominated the PGA Tour and its many championships. As you make your way through the mode, you’ll be able to play across 15 different, officially licensed courses and tournaments, with two more coming post-launch. Alongside the new courses, PGA Tour 2K21 also allows you to unlock various Sponsors along the way, with real-life brands like Adidas and others available to offer you clothing and gear options should you meet specific criteria. While it isn’t the most in-depth career mode a sports game has ever had, it’s excellent at incorporating many of the new features 2K has brought into the game and serves as a great look at what can come in the future.
Making a golf game for everybody
Source: 2K Sports
One of the biggest things you’ll notice when playing through PGA Tour 2K21 is the almost infinite possibilities you have when it comes to difficulty. There are the traditional easy/normal/hard options. Still, you’re also able to tweak the difficulty in certain aspects, giving you the chance to keep one setting relatively easy while maybe tuning another up.
The controls for the game are easy enough, with your right analog stick controlling how you swing and the shoulder buttons on top of a controller giving you extra access to more advanced mechanics. You’ll also be able to take an overhead look at the course before attempting a shot, and even preview how a putt may look before you take it. Along with the difficulty options comes a huge, handy tutorial once you start the game. If you’re a fan and avid player of golf, this might not be necessary, but for someone like me, it was a great addition.
Besides basic information like how to swing, the tutorial also teaches you more 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 better. As you continue 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.
Source: 2K Sports
After creating a course, you’ll be able to publish the course online and have your friends or the rest of the PGA Tour 2K21 community try it. Where the Course 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 like to have alligators littered throughout a desert course, then you’re free to do so. It’s a surprisingly in-depth and well-made feature, and I found myself spending quite a bit of time going through the various choices available to me while creating a course.
Aside from its Course Designer and Career Mode, PGA Tour 2K21 also has a ton of fun multiplayer modes to keep you playing as well. For a sport like golf, it might sound difficult to create an online mode that gives fans the feeling of taking to a course for some competition, but it’s handled well. Local and online multiplayer is available for those who might want to go up against one another, and a handful of more fun game modes – including Alt-Shot, Stroke Play, Skins, and 4-Player Scramble – are available to play as well (no mini-golfing, unfortunately).
Also brought back from The Golf Club franchise is the return of Societies. Online Societies function similar to online leagues, with a group of players joining up for some friendly competition. Players in societies can take each other on in a variety of modes, with up to 50+ event seasons being planned by administrators. PGA Tour 2K21 will also have its own society, with official competitions taking place weekly for players to participate in.
What you might not love about PGA Tour 2K21
Source: 2K Sports
Elsewhere, while the difficulty options in PGA Tour 2K21 are vast and customizable, the game itself can be unforgiving even on the easiest settings. For example, timing is everything when it comes to getting a great shot, and even on the easiest difficulty, the game will punish you for making mistakes. It’s not an extremely bad thing overall, but 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?
Source: 2K Sports
On the flip side, if you’re not big into sports games, or would rather wait for further improvements in the years to come, you may want to skip out on this one. For me, the thrill of conquering course after course was more than enough to keep 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 see what becomes of this franchise, as this was a great stepping stone.
PGA Tour 2K21 retails for $60 and is available on Microsoft Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia.
Four!
PGA Tour 2K21
Aim for the fairway.
Create your own MyPlayer, take them through the ranks of the PGA Tour, and become one of the best golfers in the world.
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
Update 6: Microsoft wants all of TikTok, but Trump’s order may interfere
The Financial Times reports that as part of negotiations, Microsoft is now inquiring whether it can buy all of TikTok, instead of just the business in the US., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This new plan would include India and Europe (and excluding China).
Surface Duo FAQ: All the details you need to know
The Microsoft Surface Duo arrives on September 10th in the United States. There’s a lot that is unique about Microsoft’s first dual-screen Surface, and first attempt at Android. We put together all the frequently asked questions (FAQ) about this new productivity device, including price, OS, display tech, LTE bands, carriers, and pre-installed apps.
Review: Gigabyte’s Z490 AORUS ULTRA is a gorgeous Intel motherboard
Gigabyte’s Z490 AORUS ULTRA is a motherboard you should consider for a 10th or 11th Gen Intel-powered PC. On paper, it has plenty going for it, including amazing power design and cooling, passively cooled M.2 slots and good overclocking support.
These are the best gaming laptops for playing PUBG
You have a lot of options when it comes to gaming laptops for playing PUBG. Luckily, this game can run on a lot of different machines. Here are our picks for the best laptops for PUBG.