ANALYSIS | PGA Tour 2K21 is a birdie on par 5

While this was happening, HB Studios - a company with a long history in the production of sports games - launched The Golf Club in 2014, a title that offered golf lovers everything that Tiger Woods games had failed to have: a realistic golf experience , legitimate. Without any type of official licenses of any kind -no fields, no tournaments, no players or clothing- The Golf Club quickly became a success due to its way of understanding golf and synthesizing it on screen but more importantly, in our hands through of the mouse and keyboard, or the pad, of course. Playing it didn't feel like anything until that moment.

PGA Tour 2K21 - Official Announcement Trailer

And this information is key to understanding why PGA Tour 2K21 is so effective in everything it sets out to do: because it condenses the experience of HB Studios obtained in its three previous titles dedicated to golf. It is true that it is the second that they publish under the wing of 2K, but it is the first to officially become a PGA game and also to be part of the family of sports games that bear precisely the prefix of "2K" that, with some exceptions , is synonymous with quality. Thus, PGA Tour 2K21 offers as its main attraction the possibility of being able to experience a highly competitive environment through 32 circuits -where 15 are official- in addition to the presence of professional golf luminaries such as Justin Thomas, Jim Furyk or Patrick Reed, among others. a total of 12 official players who will share the score table at all times.

We are going to experience this through the star of this installment, which is the Career Mode. We create our golfer and jump to a series of seasons that take us to walk the fairways and greens of the official circuits, recreated with an amazing level of detail, almost maniacal I would say, providing an unusual sense of realism in a game of this level. The best thing is that the same can be said of those circuits created by HB Studios, which look and feel wonderful. However, it is in the dynamics of the competition where we see the highlights of this game mode, where we will forge rivalry with the professionals who compete with us; where we can meet objectives to obtain the support of clothing brands and professional equipment. Yes: Taylormade, Callaway Golf, Adidas, Polo and many more are there to provide apparel, gloves, shoes, club sets and more. In the lower difficulties these objects are cosmetic, but in Professional mode onwards, we can delight ourselves with how each of the clubs brings unique characteristics that allow different game options.

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Because the best thing about PGA Tour 2K21 is how it plays. As it is a simulator, it will require devilish precision to calculate each of our shots, considering the point of attack of the ball, the terrain on which we are located, the weather conditions, the angle with which we are going to hit. The style of swing that The Golf Club series has accustomed us to changed to a deceptively more permissive one, but which requires studying the timing of the swing: especially when we prepare the backward force -backswing-. The movement must be precise, gentle, fine, in order to hit successfully. PGA Tour 2K21 also includes a huge number of shot types: more than six types to deal with different game situations, which gives the gameplay absolute depth.

But you don't have to be a golf scholar to enjoy it. The great success of PGA Tour 2K21 is that it includes six different difficulty modes, all with customizable parameters, with which you could, if you wish, completely remove the precise swing mechanics, to simply enjoy the sport by going through each one of them. its precious circuits. However, playing professional is almost mandatory, since it is the level that PGA Tour 2K21 requires of you in case you want to be part of the great online competitions. Your profile will retain your handicap level and other performance telemetry to match your opponents, so everything you do in-game counts.

One of the biggest fears I had going into this game was the intrusion of mechanics that aim to take a little more money out of your wallet – a scourge that still plagues the entire NBA 2K series. Fortunately, although we can buy coins with real money, the truth is that there is nothing really mandatory or forced, what's more, we can buy everything by competing and winning matches. It really helps that none of the items available in the shop involve excessive grinding - the prices feel reasonable.

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Technically it is not a marvel, but what it has to show us has moments of absolute brilliance. Climatic factors, global lighting, the lushness of the vegetation are just some of the points that define an aesthetically graceful title, made with great dedication. The presentation is completely televised: the functional music, the information on the screen, or even the interventions where we see the professionals make a good shot during their round, something that if you ever saw how the transmissions of the official golf tournaments are directed they will be able to recognize The sound also has a highly satisfactory direction, with the reaction of the public, the noise of the environment, the fauna or the noise of the surrounding streets in certain circuits.

Where the magic is lost a bit is with the comments: at first they are extremely successful and fresh, but after a couple of hours of play we realize that they are too sketchy, thus wasting the talent of Luke Elvy and Rich Beem, veterans of them from FOX Sports and CBS News. Another not minor detail is that, since the game is focused on our career as golfers, there is no way to play with any of the professionals that make up the game's squad, something that the old Tiger Woods titles had us accustomed to. On the negative side, long grass is still incomprehensibly punitive. If we miss the shot to the fairway we will be in real trouble, since at this point, getting out of the long grass is a daunting task.

It is really striking, since PGA Tour 2K21 makes a very particular use of hybrid clubs within the assembly of each bag with which we compete. These clubs have the particularity of offering an ideal solution for these situations and even so, they are not very effective in the rough, to a point that does not feel credible. Obviously, the idea is always to hit the fairway, but such punishment discourages us from taking risks with more difficult shots to adopt a rather conservative position. Since each competition affects our card as players, we are not talking about something minor.

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And this is the little there is to blame PGA Tour 2K21: we find ourselves with a refreshing and round game; a worthy representative of golf and a great sports game. Beyond the small imperfections, perhaps its worst sin is how familiar it feels to those of us who have been playing The Golf Club regularly. With the change of the brand and the official license, a little more risk was expected, but the decision not to fix what is not broken, but rather to expand the offer with the benefits of the official licenses, is also understandable. In this way, this new official PGA Tour game under the wing of 2K walks the field starting on the right foot, with room to improve even more.

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PGA TOUR 2K21

08/21/2020 (PC, PS4, XBOX ONE, SWITCH, STADIA)8.0

I played PGA Tour 2K21 for more than 20 hours, completing two seasons in parallel, since I played it on PC as well as its Nintendo Switch version, which is worth clarifying, it is very worthy in every way.