EA Sports PGA Tour is set to tee off in just a couple of months’ time. After seven years out of the game, we recently got an early peek at what the returning series is bringing to the course for newbies and veterans alike, and it’s looking great.
All four men’s majors are exclusively included in this year’s game, meaning those who want to duke it out in the PGA Championship and/or the U.S. Open Championship will feel right at home from the get-go. EA Sports PGA Tour will ship with 30 “bucket list” courses at launch, with more to come post-launch. Courses and venues include Augusta National Golf Club, The Old Course at St Andrews and Torrey Pines, giving players a wide variety of places to play on.
The game will also include unique broadcast packages and commentary from some of the greats, including Frank Nobilo, Rich Lerner and Notah Begay. Complementing this is the game’s sheer amount of detail, which is powered by EA’s Frostbite Engine.
It might come as a surprise, but EA Sports PGA Tour is ditching last-gen consoles and will launch exclusively on current-gen only, unshackling the leash of almost ten-year-old hardware with it. As such, player models, greens and scenery look absolutely stunning. We didn’t hear too much about pros that will be included in the game, with the team only briefly mentioning that mens and womens recent world number ones will be included. As expected, a list will be announced closer to release.
EA Sports PGA Tour is fueled by Pure Strike gameplay, which intends to give the player a variety of options for tackling every type of unique challenge presented while on the green. There are 20 different shot types and an array of different ways of using them depending on where you’re at and how far away you are from the hole. While I didn’t have a chance to get a crack at the game itself, the options I saw during the preview looked to provide more than enough variety, with each shot producing different ball speeds and shot lengths.
Big hit moments are set to return this year, with ball behaviour completely redesigned from the ground up in order to be more accurate in replicating ball and bounce behaviour.
The game will ship with a handful of different modes for you to sink your teeth into. Of note is the game’s career mode, which includes an RPG-styled progression system. You’ll be able to tee off in the lower leagues at amateur level or kick right into the majors – it’s entirely up to you. As you play through the mode you’ll unlock skill points to use towards upgrading your character, with the game’s ‘Course Fit’ examining what course particularly suits your player before you jump in to play.
Other modes coming to the game include Quick Play, Social and Social Unranked, Tournaments, Private Match and Competitive. The latter will have ongoing seasonal events for you to participate in and are ranked throughout. Online games across modes will also have up to 16 simultaneous players, which means matches online should flow relatively seamlessly.
The Players Championship and FedExCup Playoffs were also confirmed to be included in the game, alongside the LPGA’s Amundi Evian Championship – one of the five major championships in the LPGA Tour. Of note is the inclusion of ShotLink, the PGA Tour’s proprietary real-time scoring system, as well, which is designed to authentically replicate accurate player ratings, skills and in-game events.
As a first look, I was impressed with what I saw of EA Sports PGA Tour. There’s a lot to dig into and I’m keen to see everything it has to offer.
We won’t have long to wait, as the game launches on March 24, 2023 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
