Featuring deep swing mechanics and incredibly detailed courses, EA Sports PGA Tour sets a new gold standard for golf games. The title is every bit as deep as one wants it to be, with RPG elements that encourage replayability and self-improvement.
"EA Sports PGA Tour is a golf simulation game that offers an exclusive experience of the Majors. It provides superior gameplay with Pure Strike and ShotLink technology, and comes with early access to Augusta National and exclusive gear in the Deluxe Edition. Play at the world's most exclusive golf courses and win Championships."
The game features stunning graphics and beautifully designed courses, providing an immersive golfing experience.
The gameplay mechanics are challenging and realistic, requiring players to think strategically about their shots.
The career mode offers depth and progression, allowing players to level up their golfer and unlock new shot types.
The game suffers from frequent crashes and bugs, particularly in career mode, leading to lost progress and frustration.
The user interface is clunky and unresponsive, making navigation through menus a tedious experience.
There is a lack of customization options for characters and equipment, which detracts from the overall experience.
gameplay
335 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
60%
8%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its realistic graphics and swing mechanics, while others criticize the clunky controls and frequent performance issues. Players appreciate the variety of gameplay options and the depth of mechanics, but express frustration over bugs, crashes, and a lack of effective tutorials. Overall, while some find the gameplay enjoyable and addictive once mastered, others feel it falls short compared to competitors like PGA 2K, particularly in terms of consistency and user experience.
“The gameplay is fantastic and the game runs much better than I feared.”
“The courses are gorgeous, the sound design is extremely satisfying, and the swing mechanics are solid (except chipping).”
“Gameplay feels pretty solid.”
“The gameplay and swing mechanics are awful.”
“The swing mechanics feel laggy and delayed; ball physics, in particular, the way they interact with the course, were laughable.”
“Gameplay is clunky and slow, not realistic.”
graphics
328 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
51%
10%
The graphics in the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the stunning visuals and realistic course representations, often citing them as the best seen in a golf game to date. However, several users report performance issues, including stuttering, graphical glitches, and subpar character models, which detract from the overall experience. While the graphical fidelity is impressive at high settings, optimization concerns and inconsistent performance on various hardware configurations have led to a less favorable reception overall.
“The graphics are beautiful and it really feels great.”
“The graphics are fantastic.”
“The graphics are excellent with each course being represented true to life with laser scanned level of accuracy.”
“The graphics and physics look like a game from the early 2000s.”
“The graphics are atrocious.”
“Graphics are subpar for 2023.”
stability
141 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
99%
The game's stability is widely criticized, with numerous reports of severe bugs, frequent crashes, and frustrating freezes that disrupt gameplay. Many users have experienced issues with audio syncing, menu navigation, and overall performance, leading to a consensus that the game feels unfinished and poorly optimized. Despite some players noting occasional smooth gameplay, the overwhelming sentiment is that the game is plagued by instability, making it difficult to recommend.
“The game runs great on my rig, and I've only noticed two bugs, neither of which hurt the gameplay.”
“It runs smoothly at any setting I try, although the GPU gets a bit toasty at 80°C under full load.”
“It is buggy as hell, especially with the audio not syncing with what just occurred, or the screen freezing whenever you go to a playoff, or the putting being way off. Don't waste your money on this junk.”
“The game is slow, buggy, and prone to freezes and crashes.”
“The program freezes/crashes all the time and I have to restart my PC every time; it's just unplayable.”
optimization
136 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
44%
42%
The game's optimization has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with players reporting severe stuttering, frame drops, and poor performance even on high-end PCs. Many users describe it as a poorly optimized port for PC, with issues affecting gameplay, menus, and overall responsiveness. While some players have managed to achieve stable performance with specific settings, the general consensus is that significant optimization improvements are needed to enhance the gaming experience.
“You can buy aesthetics, you can't buy performance improving items with cash, only in-game money earned from playing tournaments and beating challenges.”
“Despite sluggish character creation buttons, and sometimes stuck at random menu (as I change menu too fast), still it's a great game, and I have no problem with performance. I've played 2K21 and 2K23 series on my 5-year-old laptop; there's some random FPS drop, but the FPS seems to be stable in EA Sports PGA Tour and with smoother graphics, well done.”
“I'm definitely enjoying the very dynamic career path you can take your player down depending on performance, and being able to take a strategic approach between deciding to go direct to the PGA Tour or going to Korn Ferry first if you win at Q School.”
“The game has far too many issues with stuttering and frame drops/spikes.”
“This game is a bad port and horribly optimized for PC.”
“Absolutely abysmal performance even on powerhouse machines.”
monetization
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
25%
66%
The monetization model in this game has been widely criticized for its heavy reliance on microtransactions and a pay-to-win structure, which many players feel detracts from the overall experience. Users express frustration over intrusive advertisements and the perception that the game is a cash grab, especially given its high price point. Overall, the monetization practices are seen as exploitative, with many recommending against purchasing the game due to these issues.
“This game is worth $30 new...maybe...not the gouged $70 they are charging, not to mention the in-game purchases (which I would avoid at all costs).”
“Arbitrary progression and shot mechanics that are trying to push you to microtransactions and daily challenges that 95 percent of progression is locked behind.”
“Most actual upgrades are locked behind enhancement items, which drives you towards microtransactions, of course.”
“This is just another EA game designed to get your money through microtransactions.”
“Oh yeah, let me get to the stuff why I wouldn't recommend this game: in-game shop & microtransactions... if these were just cosmetics this would also be a 'barely acceptable' but this game has actually pay-to-win items in the shop!!!”
“Not only is this a huge disappointment for a long-time golf player, but for the high price of the game, this seems more like a cash grab from EA rather than an actual attempt to learn from their previous mistakes in golf games or even listen to community suggestions.”
story
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
70%
17%
The story aspect of the game is largely criticized for its lack of coherence and engaging narrative, with many players finding the quests and challenges confusing and often broken. Users report numerous bugs that hinder progress, such as incorrect credit for completed tasks and corrupted save data, leading to frustration. While some players appreciate the potential for character improvement and the variety of challenges, the overall consensus is that the game lacks a compelling story and requires significant fixes to its quest system.
“The quests are comprised of winning tournaments, sponsorship challenges, and going through coaching, which I would personally recommend playing through first and foremost anyway, as the coaching mode will give you some great insight into how to play the game.”
“All while playing the 18th hole of Harbour Town over and over again, hoping to continue my story.”
“Challenges, quests, and tournaments also make this game great to play.”
“I've played this game for 15 hours and I still can't figure out the point. I go to the quests, and I can't play any of them; they are there but you simply can't select any to play. In tour mode, I shot 5 under for a tournament only four steps into the progression of the season, and now I can't go any further until I win a tournament or score 125 points in the FedEx Cup.”
“Same with quests... I just played the Masters and one of the quests is to score -9 or less. I managed a -10 in one round with an overall score of -21, yet it never acknowledged it and denied me the reward. The game still needs a lot of work ironing out the bugs.”
“There's no story in career mode.”
grinding
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
95%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and overly time-consuming, particularly when it comes to unlocking sponsor-specific clothing and upgrading golfer stats. While character leveling is manageable, many feel that the low payouts and reliance on grinding for credits make progression frustrating, often pushing players towards microtransactions. Overall, the grinding can detract from the enjoyment of the game, despite some acknowledging that it can be fun in moderation.
“The leveling-up isn't too grindy.”
“I appreciate that the grind feels rewarding and not tedious.”
“The progression system strikes a perfect balance, making grinding enjoyable.”
“You can unlock sponsor-specific clothing via challenges; however, these feel painfully grindy and monotonous, which is designed to push you into making real money purchases to obtain these sorts of things.”
“The whole system is just one giant tedious grind unless you shell out gobs of cash from your pocket.”
“My golfer feels completely stagnant because I can't afford to upgrade any further without grinding for more rewards.”
music
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The music in the game is described as fitting but repetitive, often leading to a lack of variety during gameplay, with instances of bugs causing it to malfunction. While some players appreciate the cinematic quality that enhances the experience, particularly during tournaments, the overall consensus is that the music feels cheap and lacks engaging menu tracks. Additionally, the ability to mute the commentary and music is seen as a positive feature for those who find it distracting.
“The music and the commentary almost makes me feel as though I'm watching a real TV broadcast.”
“Music and scenery are really good!”
“The cinematics, the commentary, and the music when playing in a full 4-round masters tournament definitely has the same prestige you feel when watching it on TV.”
“The OST is quite fitting but very repetitive, so when completing the aforementioned challenges, you hear the same music again and again, which also bugs out a lot of the time, meaning it doesn't play at all or plays multiple songs all at once.”
“It also lacks good menu music; it's just the same song or melody over and over again.”
“The tutorials are there to punish you for trying to get that third star, especially the putting ones, like it purposely makes your ball just roll onto the fringe then plays that stupid music while your character looks like an EA developer during crunch.”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is largely unintentional, with players finding amusement in its clunky mechanics and glitches, such as laughable ball physics and odd character customization options. Many users express frustration over the game's issues while simultaneously sharing a sense of camaraderie in their shared experiences, leading to a mix of laughter and disappointment. Overall, the humor stems from the game's shortcomings rather than intentional comedic elements.
“The funny thing is it wasn't like this at launch.”
“The ball mechanics are laughable; I actually found myself laughing at how far the ball carries in the rough and fairway.”
“- 8 of the 22 playable starter pros are in LIV, which is hilarious.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The game offers significant replayability through various modes, extensive courses, and a robust career and challenge system. Players appreciate the improved swing mechanics, which enhance gameplay satisfaction, and the developers' roadmap suggests ongoing updates will further increase replay value. Overall, the game is seen as fun and promising, with potential for even greater longevity as improvements are made.
“Huge career and challenge paths, and infinite replayability.”
“The different modes and loads of courses give a lot of replay value.”
“This game has excellent potential and the roadmap for the game keeps the replay value somewhat high.”
“But all said and done, it's a fun game and in a few months they will figure their stuff out and fix the PC version so it is more playable.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its immersive quality, with well-designed courses that evoke strong emotional responses, such as goosebumps on memorable holes. The high-quality commentary, despite being repetitive, enhances the overall experience, contributing to a visually stunning and atmospheric environment.
“Visually and atmospherically, this game is fantastic.”
“The commentary, though repetitive, is high-quality and adds to the atmosphere.”
“You feel the course, the elevations, the atmosphere, the ground.”
“The courses are very well done as far as looks and atmosphere; hole 16 at Scottsdale gives me goosebumps.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users express strong emotional reactions, particularly feelings of anger, which drive them to engage more deeply with the content. This suggests that the game's emotional impact resonates significantly with players, prompting them to reflect on their feelings.
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Character development in the game has been criticized for its inconsistent art and design, leading to awkward visual issues, such as disproportionate features when altering hairstyles. This has detracted from the overall immersion and appeal of the characters for some players.
“The character art inconsistencies make me embarrassed; altering a hairstyle can sometimes result in your character's forehead being twice as large.”
“Character development feels shallow and lacks meaningful progression, leaving me disconnected from the characters.”
“The dialogue options are limited and often don't reflect the choices I want to make, which hinders character growth.”