PGA TOUR 2K21

As a game reviewer, I tend to try to judge a game by the best of its ability, and not by the worst. When it comes to PGA Tour 2K21, I have to say this deserves a birdie or a par. There's a reason behind my logic. Last year, we had 2K step up brilliantly to the plate, taking over the Golf Club series with the Golf Club 2. It had online, clubs, and creating our very own courses. Imagine creating your own golf course, complete with tons of challenges, hills, and more. This feature returns this year, but how much does this game compare to its predecessors?

This is the first year Nintendo has had a PGA Tour game on its systems since the Wii days. We all remember what happened during that infamous year that EA had their license removed to an independent studio who developed the first Golf Club. The same studio decided to also publish the game. 2K did help last year. It received mixed reviews. 2K worked with the team on this project to add their My Player into the game, which is pretty much the same as create a golfer last year. To be honest, it's not much different than last year's Golf Club create a character. There are more brand names if that is your cup of tea, but in the end, it's not a true My Player experience. Yes, I admit, it's on the Switch, so the graphics aren't as great as before. Yet, it's a start. This is why I said more akin to a Par or a Birdie. They didn't fail, yet. It's a learning experience for them.

My only hope is they don't use this game like their other sports titles. The team seems to be going down an EA path with sports games, beta testing them each year for a price tag. They then improve and add more to next year's game. This is what made me lose interest in previous Tiger Woods PGA Tour games. It was more the same each year, with the same courses, maybe a few added in. Golfers would return or leave, and the gameplay would be the same.

In this year's game, the one thing I do not like that needs to be improved on is the ability to play as other legends and golfers. I'm not much of an online player, so I tend to play solo. Being able to play against and with other golfing pros and legends was always the reason I kept booting up my PS2 to play the two Tiger Woods PGA Tour games I own. The game also needs an added attribute system to the My Player themselves. Maybe not much, but at least strength to the swing, not just on the club itself. Take some of the attributes of the clubs and combine them with the golfers. But for heavens' sake, do not add attributes to clothing. That never made sense to me to have one shirt add plus 5 strength, and another plus 5 to swing levels.

I do like the rival system and would like to see it improve more, even adding in spectators, The Masters tournaments, and more to make this game a true eagle. We need improved graphics, too. We've all seen that the Switch is capable of some high end graphics with the likes of Skyrim and Breath of the Wild. Let's see some more updates in the future. I hope 2K adds in the ability to use our joy-cons as motion controllers, too. That would truly make this game interesting.

For the swing, comparing this game to last year's, it's much the same. Pretty much the only added differences in both games are as mentioned above, added brand name clothing. So, the final verdict for this game is they score a par because it's finally on Switch. Do us a favor, 2K. Please help them to add more options and courses. One option I would love to see is Legend Tour from PGA Tour 2005 or the Legends Challenge from PGA Tour 08, both from the Tiger Woods series of games. This game gets a 3/5 until they can give me a reason to not want to play online. I seek to have more solo modes of gameplay.

Brian Eckels