While arcade-style golf games have continued to be released, a true PGA simulator is something that fans haven’t had much of since the Tiger Woods games. 2K and HB Studios have teamed up to fill that gap, and while PGA TOUR 2K21 isn’t a perfect game, it is a wonderful start to a new series in golfing simulation.
PGA 2K21 is a great game because HB Studios brings its golfing simulator experience and 2K brings its ability to button up a game with features and expertise that not all publishers can allow. HB Studios cut its teeth with The Golf Club and 2K decided to bring the team on board for an official 2K series. The result is all of the best features from HB Studios’ games with the power of 2K.
There are a few key elements to the design of PGA 2K21 that the team clearly emphasized. MyPlayer is a key part of this game, as the feature comes along with 2K. The course creator is back from The Golf Club and it is bigger than ever. Career mode allows players to climb through the PGA Tour playing so many amazing events on real courses. And multiplayer is set up for wonderful goofy fun, and serious competition thanks to Societies.
As soon as a player jumps into PGA 2K21, the first thing they will most likely want to do is create a golfer. Using the MyPlayer feature from many of the 2K sports games, players can create a golfer to use in every mode in the game. The options are impressive when making a player, and the end result can be a very close replica of the person creating the MyPlayer. It can be a bit of a chore making the player look perfect, but nailing a difficult eagle with a MyPlayer that looks nearly identical to the person holding the controller is pretty cool.
As far as progression is concerned with MyPlayer, the golfer’s stats themselves will never change. The skill increase is natural, coming with practice and time, much like real golf. Someone who has played for 100 hours won’t have a more powerful MyPlayer than someone who just started, but they may have some new clubs that offer more variety.
By playing the game, completing objectives, and leveling up, new clubs can be unlocked from various licenses including Adidas and TaylorMade. The clubs are designed so that no unlock becomes an all-powerful and unfair tool. A brand new and exciting driver may give an extra 10 yards to each swing, but it comes with the penalty of less forgiveness, which could mean more slices and hooks. Balanced clubs mean that players can mix up their golf bags with options that fit their play style, which is a great way to handle progression and fairness.
A golfing career is a natural place to start with a MyPlayer. Whenever Career Mode is booted up players can choose to start out in the PGA Tour, or perhaps start out with the Korn Ferry Tour. Korn Ferry is below the PGA Tour, so it is a fun and interesting touch to be able to start at a lower level and rise up the ranks. The courses that can be played are made up of 15 real-life locations, with possibly more to come down the road, and other non-real but equally beautiful courses.
Career Mode also comes with some additional challenges, beyond simply playing in championships and attempting to win the FedEx Cup. Rivals are real PGA Tour players who can match against the player for specific challenges, like who shot the best game. Beating a rival will award the player with experience and new gear, like hats, shirts, gloves, watches, and more. There are also sponsorships challenges that will reward gear from a brand like TaylorMade.
Career Mode can be as relaxing or as difficult as the player wants. On the easiest difficulty, it is possible to have incredible rounds like -17. On the hardest levels, however, the game can be brutal. The game allows for many different advanced options in terms of difficulty, but one option seems to rule them all.
Swing difficulty is comprised of three parts: timing, plane, and power. To swing the golf club players pull back on the analog (or pull back on the mouse) and then swing forward at the right timing. The power is affected by when the player pushes the stick forward, but the speed in which the stick is pushed forward affects the timing, and this element is everything. If a swing is too fast, it will launch to the left. If a swing is to slow, it will fly to the right. On the easiest swing difficulty settings, it is simple enough to push the stick forward at the right speed, but becomes more challenging as the difficulty level increases
Just like real golf, having a repetitious flow with a swing is pivotal, and it’s possible to get many “perfect” timed swings in a row. But it’s also likely that one swing will be too fast, the next will be too slow, and the player will have no idea what is going on. The swing timing mechanic is the single most frustrating aspect of the game. It seems fair that the stick needs to be straight when pushing forward on a swing, for example, but the timing element feels off.
As far as the other difficulty settings, they mostly have to do with Pro Vision. Pro Vision is a light blue line and aiming indicator. On the easiest setting, Pro Vision is practically exact, but it is possible to turn off wind assistance, penalty lie, lie angle, and more. When doing this, the Pro Vision only shows where the ball would land in a perfect scenario, so now it is up to the player to “do the math” of how high the pin may be, how badly the ball is laying in the rough, or how much wind will affect the golf ball.
Like a lot of PGA TOUR 2K21, the multiplayer options are deep. Quick local matches can be played with friends or ghosts. Matchmaking is available for online play, and it is possible to set up private matches with specific rules. Matchmaking includes the fun “Skins” and “Scramble,” which is a cool game that allows a team of two to match up against another team of two, and whichever shot was the best is where the team will take their next attempt from.
Societies is perhaps where the bread and butter of multiplayer action can be had. Societies can be created and or joined, and players can join multiple Societies at once. Each Society can be built with its own ruleset, difficulty level, and courses. These Societies are sort of like clubs, with house rules and fun challenges for the group to enjoy. There is a lot of potential in this area, and the player base could easily come up with creative Societies.
The Course Designer is back from The Golf Club, and it is one of the more in-depth creation tools available in any video game. Players can start off with a theme, like a dessert or a mountainous area, and they can then set the course to have pre-populated elements like water and trees. Once the course is generated, true creativity begins.
The course designer has seemingly endless options. The terrain can be risen or flattened. Waterous ways can be made to flow through valleys and around holes. Animals and vegetation bring the course to life. It is entirely possible to make a gorgeous course that will go toe-to-toe with the beauty of something like TPC Sawgrass
Along with awesome courses that look like the real-deal, the tools also allow for off the wall and unbelievable creations. In previous The Golf Club games, holes with giant pirate ships were somehow developed with the tools, so HB Studios is anticipating more amazing designs that it didn’t even imagine were possible.
The Course Designer also allows for items to be added to any theme, which hasn’t been the case in the past. But with so much possibility, the Course Designer unfortunately doesn’t always run smoothly. An attempt at making an elaborate course resulted in a crash during our review process, and none of the progress was saved. And even when it didn’t crash, the Course Designer’s performance suffered on the Xbox One.
PGA TOUR 2K21 is not the best looking game. Perhaps thanks to the Course Designer and all of its options, substance is put in place over shine. That is certainly okay, the game doesn’t need to cause jaws to drop, but sometimes there are moments when the game’s graphics hold back the overall experience. HB Studios started out making a simple but nice game with The Golf Club, from a visual perspective it would be nice to see PGA TOUR 2K21 really stand out graphically from the previous HB Studios games.
Playing on real-life courses in PGA TOUR 2K21, scoring a perfect hole in one, and hearing the crowd erupt is special. Career mode is a blast, and beating Justin Thomas (cover athlete and number one player in the world) to the FedEx Cup is great. The difficulty level of the game can be brutal, with the timing of the swing being a legitimate pain. But the options that are available allow players to progress at their own speed, which is nice. Thanks to this, a deep multiplayer experience, and endless course options from the Course Designer, PGA TOUR 2K21 is about as replayable as a golf game can get. PGA TOUR 2K21 is a very fun game, and with it, the golfing simulator is officially back.
PGA Tour 2K21 releases on August 21 for PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch, and Xbox One. Game Rant was provided an Xbox One code for this review.
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