My review after 8.8 hours of playing - not recommended

[Millertime]

I wrote this up as the Post Review option is there, but after trying to submit I learned that it won't let you before the game is "released". I've played nearly 9 hours at this point and I cannot recommend the game. Below is my review waiting to be published.

-----------

This one is pretty close to a great golf game, unfortunately there are some severe issues that stop me from recommending it. For the review I'll only cover my negative points; anything not mentioned should be considered a positive. There is a lot to like here, and if/when these issues are resolved, it could be one of the greatest golf games yet made.

- Random hits of major input lag. I'm using an Xbox controller with wireless adapter, which I've used for years in dozens of games. I've never had input lag issues so I am very confident this is not on my side. Four or fives times a round the push up to complete a swing does not register. The swing bar just keeps going until it reaches the end, there is moment of nothing, and then the shot is made with a very slow timing note and the ball pushes WAY out to the right. There is nothing more frustrating than having a good round going and then an input is missed and you hit OB.

- Swing timing in general. I really do not understand why golf games cannot get the swing input timing right. For this game you need to pull the stick back very fast, wait for the bar to reach the right power, and then push forward very fast. Even when going as fast as possible I rarely get a fast timing result and frequently get slow timing. There is a golfer specific setting for preferred swing speed that affects the tempo, and I have it set to the slowest available. When I have this set to anything faster it gets worse, to the point where even quickly jamming the stick as quick as possible still results in a slow tempo penalty.

- Graphic glitches. Sometimes bands of player's hair disappears, showing a strip of bald scalp. There are flashes of white on the eyes and mouths sometimes when showing a player reaction, like the textures don't overlap and you're seeing through the gap. The logo that goes across the screen when cutting between shots sometimes has bars strobing.

- No practice range. This really blows my mind... I cannot remember when I last played a golf game that doesn't have a practice range. The closest you can get is to turn on mulligans and start a round, but you have to go through the pre and post shot routine every time. Honestly this is just an embarrassing miss.

- Unable to save rounds in progress. Another facepalm miss - you cannot exit a round in progress and continue later. You have to complete the round or abandon it. These are basic functions that are missing.

- No tutorial or instruction. This doesn't affect me so much as I've played dozens of golf games, but for someone that isn't familiar this game is going to be a quick refund. There is no instruction at all. There are challenges that start with things like "Drive into the fairway" but these aren't really explaining anything.

- Odd camera angles. There are two issues here, one is that when you are near objects such as cliff edges, spectator stands, trees, etc, the view can get pushed to a really awkward angle. The problem is that the swing meter is displayed in an arc behind the player, so it's entirely possible for you to not be able to see the swing meter when the camera angle is adjusted. The second and more severe issue is that sometimes even without the camera angle being affected, the swing meter is displayed against a light background such as clouds in the sky. The swing meter is white and cannot be changed, so sometimes even on tee shots you cannot distinguish all of the swing meter and know where 100% is at.

Overall there is a great golf game here waiting to be revealed. I'm not sure if the release was rushed or this is just EA saying "This is what we have" and not caring about severe problems. I hope this can be corrected quickly, as the course selection and appearances are great.

[Lord Azlan]

Publicado originalmente por Millertime:

I wrote this up as the Post Review option is there, but after trying to submit I learned that it won't let you before the game is "released". I've played nearly 9 hours at this point and I cannot recommend the game. Below is my review waiting to be published.


Overall there is a great golf game here waiting to be revealed. I'm not sure if the release was rushed or this is just EA saying "This is what we have" and not caring about severe problems. I hope this can be corrected quickly, as the course selection and appearances are great.

Hi -great review. For the record:

Don't have any random input lags etc

Swing timing - I have seen a few people say the same thing but I really don't understand the issue. I played a million golf games and they all had different swing mechanics and speed. It's a game. Adapt. Links, Leaderboard, World Tour Golf, Jack, Tiger etc. All had different swing mechanics but I played them all without a problem.

No graphic glitches

Practice range - agreed. The tutorial needs to be flagged better it I don't like you need to restart it every few minutes

Unable to save rounds - yes you can. What platform are you on?

Tutorial and instruction - agreed. No manual or explanations. But that is improving now with latest patch.

Camera angles - agreed sometimes broken. The shot mechanic for certain shots requires a magnifying glass. The 3 button press will help with that a little.

Considering we are in week two of the game it's gone pretty well. II would highlight a lot more problems in the game such as replays and saving shots and the odd npc scoring.

However, really enjoying game and hoping EA might actually improve something for once rather than making it worse.

[Manhattan]

Sounds like a streamer on the take with 2k23. lol hogwash post that wants to be heard.

[Crusader765]

Some of the critics of this game are really laughable. it was a good game to begin with, and developers are actively listening to feedback and improving it.

[guy w]

why can't I get passed level 50. Been stuck on level 50 for several days now. Cannot collect points to upgrade my golfers attributes.

[Scrub]

Publicado originalmente por guy w:

why can't I get passed level 50. Been stuck on level 50 for several days now. Cannot collect points to upgrade my golfers attributes.

I think level 50 is the max

[Manhattan]

50 is cap. You need to figure your build at 50 because you are at maximum points to be earned.

[Ataliano]

I came to this review looking for problems with the controller and I can say that there are, at least if you play with an Xbox controller and the wireless receiver, which works perfectly well in the other games.

I don't know whether to call it "input lag" or rather "glitches", as really the problem is that when you make a full swing, sometimes it freezes at the highest point of the swing (you've already made the whole movement on the stick and even released it) and the animation freezes and then makes a horrible line (usually deviated to the right or zigzagging), which totally destroys the shot.

I can't count on the fingers of my hands the number of challenges I've had to repeat or holes that have gone down the drain because of this bug, which I find unforgivable (and from what I can see now looking for, it's not new).

It's absolutely annoying.

[z__frog__z]

try this one with ea pro 10h
huge deception , poorly optimised , poor graphics , and what's the hell with those face on character creation , is it a joke ..?
gameplay , many option to feel a simu but in fact its just arcady golf game

[Abjuration]

I usually "dare" to write reviews after a minumum of 20 hours. 8 hours, considering menu and load times, means absolutely no knowledge about the game but only a surface impression.

[z__frog__z]

Publicado originalmente por Abjuration:

I usually "dare" to write reviews after a minumum of 20 hours. 8 hours, considering menu and load times, means absolutely no knowledge about the game but only a surface impression.

1h or 100h , player 'll know this game isn't about accuracy but only about grinding to unlock skill to get over the heavy srcipted match / round ;)

overhall grahics even on max setting seems outdated , UI its a joke , feel some place holders .

[Abjuration]

Publicado originalmente por z__frog__z:

Publicado originalmente por Abjuration:

I usually "dare" to write reviews after a minumum of 20 hours. 8 hours, considering menu and load times, means absolutely no knowledge about the game but only a surface impression.

1h or 100h , player 'll know this game isn't about accuracy but only about grinding to unlock skill to get over the heavy srcipted match / round ;)

overhall grahics even on max setting seems outdated , UI its a joke , feel some place holders .

lol the game isn't about accuracy? Do you think it's a sniper game?

Here, listen: The problem is that we've been taught golf in videogames NOT like in reality. This is a game where finally a Golf Shot IS SIMULATED.
The fact you people don't know how a golf shot works in real life doesn't make this game wrong.

It's your conception of golf that is wrong, and all golf games of the past just strengthened this belieff.


Do you know how professional golfers prepare their rounds?
From a plane view (google maps like) on each course hole, they draw a CONE SHAPE FORM that starts from the ball (tee shot), and the ending is at about 300 yards, 70 YARDS WIDE.

Did you think the best players in the world could aim 5-10 yards wide with a 300 yards shot?
That would be hilarious!!

A golf player WILL NEVER, EVER IN HIS WHOLE LIFE make exactly the same shot twice. Imagine if he could make it two times in a row!!! LOL

Scripted rounds.... lmao, that's your prejudice on EA and I understand that as we've seen in other games.

But here, you can't cheat. You either do you calculations well AND RESPECT THE BALL SPREAD (Just like in real life) or you do a bad shot.

In your "perfect" golf game then, you can aim and shot at the pin EVERYTIME!!

That's absolutely not how golf works... otherwise there would be no strategy involved.

But golf is as much as a precision game, as a strategic "chess" game.

Finally a game that can simulate this, and you all don't get it!! Hilarious!!

[z__frog__z]

i don't offense any body but its only my opinion .
we're not here to debat if the geatest golf game , i'm just saying , this quality of graphics , ui design , leveling system its just not enough for AAA game 2024 .
core design career mode was designed based on grinding not of skil based success of the player .

its all not bad , player can pick/choose his own playste overtime but no even with plenty stat , skill shoot to unlock , some practise on the fied , its an "arcady" golf game .
nice to cheel out , but for me not that outstanding golf game ^^

do i recommanded to buy hit al full price : no
but now its on gamepass and ea play , player can try it and see their self .

on other topic, player usualy play golf game will understand some gameplay mechanic but i don't thing this 'll be a good experience for a new commer on tghis kind of game .
its nice in -game to learn by ourself the complexity / tricks , but this one EA pGA 2024 may be to confuse . here again EA dev do the minimum to explain high skill mechanics .
try hard game its good only with proper UI design and feedback :)

[Curtmantle]

I've played EA Sports golf a lot (about 100 hours) and I think overall it's a good game but most of the points made by the OP were valid and they still are.

• I have experienced the lag during the swing a number of times although not recently.
  
• The swing timing isn't balanced well and requires a snappy forward and back motion.
  
• I haven't had too many issues with graphical glitches - certainly not enough to complain about. It's graphically a very good game imo - way ahead of 2K.
  
• No driving range or practice area is an oversight. Although you can start a normal round and use the Mulligan feature to continually hit shots.
  
• You can save mid-round now - at least in career mode. You can't in online Tournaments though which is fair enough I think.
  
• No tutorial is another oversight - even for golf game veterans.
  
• I've not had any real issue with camera angles.

The game gets a lot right - the graphics are very good, the basic gameplay is sound, it has good configuration so you can tweak the difficulty, the career mode is decent, the online tournament system is good.

It does have some issues though and there are little bugs that should have been fixed long ago. The menus glitch out all the time on PC, online is very fragile and will boot you out of a tournament round at the slightest drop in connection, the store is poorly implemented and the player creation is pathetic!

If you like golf games and aren't a 2K zealot (I've played all TGC versions and 2K21) then it's definitely worth a try especially at the sale price it's at regularly.