TOAfter an eight-year hiatus from the world of golf simulation, Electronic Arts is back on the fairway, bringing with it its considerable licensing power and deft television sports presenting chops. With 30 courses, a large list of current professionals, and a physics model built around the official data from TrackMan For authentic ball flight measurement and swing analysis, this game is exactly what you’d expect from EA Sports: comprehensive, packed with options, and dead serious about the sport.
Those hoping for an accessible hit will quickly be disappointed. Mastering the new swing mechanic, which requires you to pull down on the analog stick to bring the club back, and then forward again to unleash your swing, takes a lot of time and effort. There’s a slight delay between your input and the swing being displayed on the screen, which makes timing tricky, especially when you’re not looking for a full power shot. As a result, you spend a lot of games hitting too wildly, and this is not helped by the fact that the transition on the club from back to forward has to be precise or your golfer is just taking a practice swing. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that there is no actual tutorial mode. Instead, you get a Coach Academy section in Challenge mode, which has lots of mini-games based on various elements of the sport, but these don’t provide tips or feedback, so it’s all testing and a batch of mistake
In Main Career mode, which allows you to create a player and then guide them through a competitive year (hopefully ending with a shot at the Masters), you start out with hopeless stats and need to earn XP points to develop your skills in the driving, boarding game. , short game and putting before having any chance of winning cups. It’s an RPG element that feels a bit foreign within this very serious simulation, forcing you to spend hours entering minor tournaments and trying out hundreds of skill challenges to rack up your XP and boost your stats. There’s a quick play mode that lets you jump into a round on any course with any player, so you can experience high-end gameplay right from the start, but if you want to beat Career, be prepared for a real golf grind.
Once you start to get familiar with the controls, PGA Tour 2023 becomes a fun and fascinating simulator. The pictures are beautiful, with exquisitely detailed courses, from Liberty National with its view of the Manhattan skyline to Pebble Beach, where holes skirt rugged cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. These courses don’t just provide an aesthetic contrast – they play very differently and require planning. Each hole requires you to modify your swing, club, and shot form depending on the shape of the fairway, the layout of the bunkers, and a myriad of other factors. The commentary is also extremely good, with genuinely interesting and helpful observations, and great reactions to his play: I managed to hit an incredible shot from a bunker 30 feet from the pin, and there was a noticeable surprise in Rich Lerner’s voice. Along with the slick UI and swooping top cameras, EA has done an excellent job of simulating modern sports streaming.
In addition to Career, Challenge, and Quick Play modes, there are also several tournament options, including online matches against friends or the community at large. A variety of daily, weekly, and seasonal tournaments also allow you to earn XP and items for a limited period before they update, so you have plenty of reasons to keep coming back. Unfortunately, the game features a loot box mechanic, which rewards in-game achievements with random cosmetic packs and XP boosts. You can also earn in-game currency to spend in the in-game clothing store, but those who can’t wait can purchase the currency with real money. Considering the money the Fifa series has made from micro-transactions, this isn’t surprising, but it does feel uncomfortable in the more austere atmosphere of a golf sim.
This is a promising return to golf for EA Sports. It’s slow paced, hard to get into, and a little serious and silly at times (most of the background music makes you feel like you’re on hold in a financial services call center), but the The precision of the ball physics, the wide range of shots and the highly tactical nature of the game give serious players the challenge and realism they desire. I wish there was a smoother on-ramp for beginners, or a much more basic arcade mode for those who want to poke through some holes with friends, but after all, this is a sim and when it comes to sports, EA doesn’t mess around. . around.
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