EA Sports PGA Tour Review: On The Comeback Trail

Much has happened since EA Sports last released a new golf game in 2015; two different Presidential elections; a new console generation; the chicken sandwich wars. It almost feels like a different world than when we last had these games coming out on a yearly basis. EA Sports PGA Tour is a bold attempt to revive the series, now without a headlining star. EA found out in that last release that there’s just no replacing Tiger Woods. Can they move on from his shadow, though?

A New Generation

In trying to bring golf to a new generation, the team at EA Sports left the last generation of consoles behind, and after looking at how spectacular this game looks, it’s not hard to see why they made that choice. This is a gorgeous game with beautifully crafted courses that truly look like what they’re trying to recreate. I know it’s hyperbolic to say that you could glance at an image of this game and think you were looking at the real thing, but a lot of the time, that’s simply true. The amount of detail put into each hole, from the foliage to the environment around things, is incredibly impressive. The one thing that maybe isn’t quite up to par graphically is the golfers themselves. Or, more specifically, their faces. They’re currently stuck in a bit of an uncanny valley situation where they don’t look quite real, but they aren’t stylized enough to overcome it.

That comes up more than you’d think because EA has invested a lot of time into the presentation, between voiceovers celebrating the 30 courses included here and camera angles designed to capture the feeling of watching golf on TV. It’s mostly effective, though there were times I wished for the option to just skip through it. Golfing is slow-paced enough that I didn’t always want to take another few seconds before hitting my next shot, but it’s clear this was an area of focus for the development team, and the presentation leaves PGA Tour 2K23 in the dust.

Swing For The Stars

If EA Sports PGA Tour’s gameplay blew the competition away as far in the dust as its presentation does, we’d be breaking out a green jacket, but that’s where this year’s release is a lot less of a triumph. There’s definitely a foundation here to build upon, but I had a number of issues with actually playing the game, some of which are hard to overlook.

Many of the issues start with the game’s swing mechanics, which are done entirely using your analog stick. While you can move your swing between the left and right stick, it controls the same either way. While this is certainly more intuitive for casual players than something like a three-click mechanic found in many other golf games, the precision the game expects of players is far from intuitive. This can be a real problem, especially since the swing mechanics themselves don’t account for things like wind or how the terrain or momentum of your ball will react after its initial landing. This makes it incredibly difficult to land precise shots. Rarely an issue on an opening drive, but when you’re approaching the green and trying to hit a shot close, it can be a real problem. The PGA Tour series has always been a more arcade-style golf experience, but while a wealth of options allow you to tweak all manner of things, I never found an option that felt genuinely intuitive.

Over time you definitely start to get used to it, but I never felt like I could stick shots as consistently as I would have liked to, even after advancing well into my created golfer’s career on the Tour. RPG Mechanics, which allow you to improve your stats over time, definitely do help, though, and eventually, I felt like I was able to at least be consistently competitive. Also, it helped when I turned off the default option, which just has you play a selection of holes from each tournament. While this is a good idea in theory, especially with 18 holes taking a long time, I was rarely happy with the results. I’d get through nine holes under par only to have the game decide to put me four over on the back nine, leaving me in a bad position.

UI Woes

You can work around that issue, though. What I couldn’t work around was the game’s UI which has significant issues which sometimes simply made advancing impossible. There were times when my ball was close enough to an item or where a structure was near me that the camera would choose truly bizarre angles, which left me completely unable to see my golfer or even the swing mechanics on screen. That didn’t happen that frequently, but it was frequent enough that it bothered me.

What happened more often was the white swing mechanics blending into the background of the beautiful courses, making them difficult to see. While I could usually squint and make things out, that’s simply not the experience players want while trying to enjoy a relaxing golf game. UI design that stands out against backgrounds is basic-level game design, and I find it surprising that the game shipped without getting that right. While it feels like something that could be tweaked over time, it also feels like something that should have been done already.

Outside of a solid career mode, there are many different gameplay options. Hundreds of challenges are available for you to test your skills on, including some training challenges, which don’t really feel like they do much to teach you the game’s mechanics. Still, I really enjoyed these more bite-sized bits of gameplay, and sometimes doing is the best way to learn. There’s a lot you can do online as well, whether it be playing in large groups, taking on daily challenges, or competing in tournaments, so those who want to play with friends will find a lot to keep them busy.

Conclusion

EA Sports PGA Tour lays the foundation for what could be a really strong golf game, with a lot of content, deep mechanics, and excellent presentation. Its UI issues, though, are a significant problem that shouldn’t have made it into the final release, and its swing mechanics, while easy to pick up, never feel particularly comfortable. In future years there’s definitely potential to win the tour, but for the moment, I still think the competition offers a more compelling experience.

Final Verdict: 3/5

Available on: Xbox Series X|S(Reviewed), PS5, PC; Publisher: Electronic Arts; Developer: Electronic Arts – Tiburon; Players: 16; Released: April 7th, 2023; ESRB: E for Everyone; MSRP: $69.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of EA Sports PGA Tour provided by the publisher.