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PGA TOUR® 2K23

PGA Tour 2K23 has finally arrived. Being the 5th installation in the series, the PGA tour 2K23 is officially the second installation under the 2K Sports branding. Released only 2 years after the highly received 2K21, fans wondered if there was anything new to be offered in the new title. Well, to answer it straight, the game has many requested improvements in the career mode, a slight enhancement to the graphics compared to its predecessor and the return of Tiger Woods. 

PGA Tour 2K23 was released today, October 14th, 2022 for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One and PC (Steam). Developed by HB Studios who have expertise in developing the original ‘The Gold Club’, and published by 2K.

Fair warning, this is the first golf simulation game that I played on a next-gen console. How wrong can it go…… right?

BIRDIE

PGA Tour 2K23 greets you with a well-narrated, systematic tutorial for the game which is both essential and crucial for a brand-new player like me. Not only I am not familiar with basic golf terms, my lack of knowledge of the game mechanics desperately required me to have a space where I can gain some initial ground and figure the rest out on my own. And PGA Tour 2K23 respects and allows me to slowly grab the pace of the game with a well-guided UI and narrator. 

PGA TOUR® 2K23

After completing the initial guide, the game offers you to dive right into the game or explore the advanced shots tutorial. By exploring the advanced shots section, you can understand more options to curve your shots and how to tackle wind on the golf course. Before starting the tutorial of the game you’ll also be asked to choose from 3 different shots styles – Left Analog Stick, Right Analog Stick, and 3 Button Shot. While the initial 2 shots style has already been in the game, the newer shot style allows users for a different approach in case they are not comfortable with the other options. If you time it right, it can also be quite effective on harder difficulty modes.

PGA Tour 2K23 offers many game modes to play. Including Career mode, online competitive, Local Play, Top Shot and more. While many of you may have friends over to play it together or even online, the career mode is also a great option for solo adventures. 

It skips all the setting up of characters and helps you jump right into a tournament to qualify for the PGA Tour. But that does not mean, you cannot customize your character! Starting from Name, Nationality you can even change clothes and accessories. Not only your character, you can get custom golf clubs and you can also choose a caddie from a selection. 

But one thing that did come out odd is the fact that the game features Tiger Woods as a playable character as well as Micheal Jordan. But these characters are not playable in the career mode at all. Having these characters restricted to other modes of play which I will relatively either not all or spend very little time with does not seem to be the right way.

Put your Best Club Forward

Now let’s talk about how the mechanics come into play. To play a perfect shot, you need to make sure about 3 factors. The first is a pullback. It is crucial that you pull back the club in a straight line, with perfect force. Second, The Drive. The Drive should complement the way exactly like the pullback. If the direction deviates even a little, the ball will deviate towards the end of its flight and end up at unexpected places. 

PGA TOUR® 2K23

Now that we know how to swing our club, let’s throw some light on what are we even doing with a club. Well, we’re playing golf of course. But for freshers like me here’s what you need to be doing. Your primary goal is to score the least on the card. Yes, you heard it right. Each hole scenario will have a pre-designated number of shots. If you’re able to put your ball into the hole without taking all of the shots you have, you will earn the difference as a score. The fewer shots you take, the more negative your score will be and the higher the chances of winning. But exactly the opposite will happen if you take more shots than required. And it will be a safe play with no addition or subtraction if you play the same amount of shots as you’re provided.

You’ll also face certain harsh scenarios including your ball falling into a bunker. A bunker is basically a pit filled with sand. Getting out of there accurately is still troublesome for many people and always becomes a reason for an extra shot that could’ve ended as a birdie. More trouble may come in form of wind, rough grass, slope terrain and worst of all your putt bouncing off from the hole flag.

Putt your way into Micro Transactions

PGA Tour 2K23 has its own fair share of drawbacks. To list it down, we can start with the fact that it does not change anything significant enough from the previous edition apart from the graphical improvements.

PGA TOUR® 2K23

Seeing PGA Tour 2K23 in the next console, I was not at all impressed. The cinematic shots while the scoreboard panned looked much better than watching the ball roll over plain grass. Even the distant scenarios and open skies look lifeless and just for show. The atmosphere has enough lighting and a good engine to make it look good enough, but not truly what next-gen is capable of. Even the water is still to look at and has the same dark texture when it’s just a little pond which can have more life or light scattering through it. Even the audience is limited to having an animation where their heads will follow the ball. They won’t even budge if a direct shot from 240 ft. away is landing right on them.

Talking more about cinematic shots, replays are a mess and confusing. The transition screen literally takes time to load. And when it loads, it features just the player hitting the shot and observing the ball. Which absolutely makes no sense at all. 

PGA TOUR® 2K23

Even the commentary is not live at all. Once a dialogue starts, it will play until it ends, even if the shot is over. Making the entire feeling of the situation off. Overall the setting, feel and environment does not match the standards of a 2022 next-gen game sold at full price along with a more overpriced edition offering skins only playable on other game modes.

A major drawback that even the loyal community is frustrated with is the monetisation system. People who have already spent full price for your game should not be forced to spend more just to avoid unnecessary grinding. The deluxe edition gives you only 250 Currency as a bonus and winning a tournament gives you around the same as well. But beginners who barely rank in the top 20 win nothing at all. This creates a barrier for them to further work on their character. 

To improve your golf clubs, it’s important to apply grips that you can earn via rivalry or winning. But to apply them to a club, you need to pay a fee via this currency. Having a full arsenal of clubs, applying grips to each club becomes instantly frustrating. And this is where players who just want an hour or two of weekend sessions become disappointed with the game as it demands either more grind or a credit card.

Another factor that includes in this situation is the expendable golf balls. You can choose between sets of additional golf balls that have their own attributes, giving you more roll, distance, etc. However, these balls are consumed per round. Making competitive games much harder and adding a simple pay-to-win solution to the game. 

Verdict

PGA Tour 2K23 is of the best golf simulation games available in the market right now. It is welcoming to new players and already has many situations and challenges for veteran players to test their skills with. You can choose multiple game modes or stick with the classic career mode alone or with friends. However, the game has certain micro-transaction elements that could’ve been avoided and upgrades could be cheaper so players can focus on working on their skill more than working to grind credits. Having its own fair share of drawbacks, we would rather advise you to wait for a sale, or wait for some changes made to the game. 

 

 

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