IN years gone by, many games have tried – and failed – to take the golf crown from EA sports, who have knocked it so far up the fairway, they’re almost at the 19th hole.
But 2K have taken the Golf Club series and embellished and polished it to create an almost fully licensed PGA golf game.
The Golf Club series had a fearsome reputation as the most hardcore of simultations. I can vouch for this as I never managed to play a course under par.
Now, imagine my delight when I played the first course and shot a four-under par on the front nine, only to be met with double bogey after double bogey on the back to finish three over.
But what a round of golf. The mechanics of the golf swing is so satisfying as you can choose left or right stick swing with extra finesse required if you don’t want to shank it to the left or right.
I turned this extra obstruction off before moving any further forward and found the game much more entertaining, although it is something I’ll re-apply once I’ve mastered the gameplay. True-to-form PGA 2K21 features slick graphics, dynamic cut-scenes and a seamless replay system, all anchored by the play-by-play commentary of Luke Elvy and Rich Beem.
My Career mode enables you to create either a male or female player, with more than enough options to make them unique as you attempt to qualify and get on the PGA tour.
Unfortunately, there’s one significant drawback. There is no support for the women’s PGA tour or an all-women tournament.
One of the biggest plus points from the Golf Club series was its course designer, and even if you didn’t fancy doing it yourself thanks to its intimidating menus and options, you had the abiity to play other peoples’ courses, and yes, this has been included in 2K21.
By the looks of things, 2K will be teeing up a golf title every two years instead of EA’s yearly outing but that’s a hole-in-one in my mind.
I’m already loving this golf game twice as much as any of the EA titles.
