It may have ditched its Tiger but EA’s golf title still has its Ror-y…See what I did there?!
But in all seriousness, EA’s Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is still the best way for golf lovers to get their driving and putting fixes when they can’t get out on the actual green. Albeit with a tonne of much loved features and modes ditched along with the former world number one, Tiger Woods.
The understandable move away from fading star to rampant champ Rory McIlroy sees EA pretty much hit the reset button on its golfing franchise, perhaps they realised they’d set the bar too high. So this time round, fans of the previous Tiger Woods franchise may feel a little short changed coming to this game. There’s significantly fewer playable golfers, only 12 courses out of the box, fewer customisable options and a hollow shell of the career mode some of us had come to love.
All of the noticeable absences – and as we said, there are many – should make way for a significantly sharper, faster, more agile and more powerful title, but no. The courses, rendered with the fabulous frostbite engine, while beautiful at a glance, seem to tear slightly at the seems during gameplay occasionally and considering how slim this title is, there doesn’t seem to be any excusable reason why. Even the menus are a tad unresponsive.
But with all of that said, there’s still a thoroughly solid and authentic golfing experience here if you’re looking for it. Rory McIlroy PGA Tour may be a shadow of the game it should’ve been, but the more cynical amongst us suspect that EA Sports is planning to squeeze more money out of fans by adding everything that SHOULD be in this title out of the box through paid and free DLC. We shall see.
Love golf and can’t spend every evening and weekend at a real Golf Club? There really isn’t anything to rival this title.
