PGA Tour 2K25 Review – A Putter’s Paradise

The Golf Club was rebranded into PGA Tour 2K back in 2020 and 2K Sports has not looked back. This year’s game, PGA Tour 2K25 propels the series to new heights with its inventive gameplay and MyCareer mode. But while this year’s game does improve on its predecessor, it still falls short of the hole in some areas.

PGA Tour 2K25 Review

Create YOUR Perfect Golfer

After a brief tutorial of PGA Tour 2K25‘s new swinging mechanic, players must create their perfect golfer. Again, this is one of the bright spots of the series. This year, 2K gives players the option for a simple or in-depth creation experience.

If players choose the latter, you’re treated to an in-depth creation suite that may not hit the same heights of a WWE 2K but still offers loads of options to create your ideal golfer. After creating your look, players need to choose from one of the five archetypes: Powerhouse, Greenskeeper, Magician, Technician, and Sculptor.

More of a Golf RPG

From the creation suite, the game starts to transition players to the MyCareer mode. PGA Tour 2K25 introduces its brand-new equipment progression system. Player’s clubs and balls can progress through playing rounds, Level Up Tokens, Fittings, and EvoTools. These are some of the new features that make PGA Tour 2K25 into a true golf RPG experience.

MyCareer

PGA Tour 2K‘s flagship mode, MyCareer, makes its return and it brings along some nice improvements. For starters, 2K adds a new popularity system that works with the new conversation and interview features. Given your answers during interviews, players will fall into the three following categories: Bold, Reserved, or Composed.

As you win tournaments, conduct interviews, and build your popularity, sponsorship opportunities will arise. Sponsorships, like the other RPG features, have their own performance-based progression and as your popularity grows the better the sponsorship offers get.

Dilemmas are another way for players to progress their golfer and shape the way they want to play. Players will be prompted with multiple activities to choose from. Will you lift weights to gain power or work on mobility to improve your rhythm on your swing? The choice is yours.

Overall, this year’s MyCareer really pushes the series to new heights even though it can be a bit overwhelming with all the new features. However, it’s also very rewarding once you get into the flow of things.

Gameplay: Swinging made perfect

EvoSwing is PGA Tour 2K25‘s latest technology and it improves the game in a multitude of ways. EvoSwing introduces new shot types, ball flights, roll physics, and visual improvements. If you’ve played the series’ last entry, you’ll notice the improvements immediately.

However, the most significant change is the new swinging mechanic. Swinging is now broken up into four components: contact, rhythm, transition, and swing path. The result is the best and most authentic way to swing a club. Swinging in this game truly feels like you are in full control of your golfer.

Putting in the PGA Tour 2K series is so much better than its EA Sports counterpart, EA Sports PGA Tour. In that game putting was inconsistent, unclear, and extremely difficult. However, in PGA Tour 2K25 it remains easy to understand, realistic, and user friendly.

When putting, players are presented with a grid that shows white lines moving either right or left given the terrain. It’s so much easier to understand where to place the ball given the lines on the grid, the result is me not bashing my controller in frustration over a merely missed putt.

Presentation

While the gameplay is an area where PGA Tour 2K25 excels, the presentation leaves much to be desired.

The game itself looks great, and the courses are beautiful and mirror their real-life counterpart. The game features 27 licensed courses with a few new additions like the Oakmont Country Club.

However, beyond the courses and the look of the game, the 2K presentation is bland. In EA Sports PGA Tour, there are TV broadcast licenses for the tournaments, which is so refreshing. But in 2K’s golf game, it’s the same broadcast presentation over and over again.

In addition to the bland 2K TV broadcast, the commentary is not my favorite. If you’re not hitting the green on every tee then you might as well be a swimmer instead of a golfer, because the commentator is so unimpressed.

Not only that, If you are playing as Tiger Woods, the commentary acknowledges him by name once in the beginning and then proceeds to talk like Tiger is just some regular guy in slacks and a t-shirt. Hello! You’re watching the greatest golfer of all time, have a little enthusiasm.

Where are all the golfers?

PGA Tour 2K25 has a very small roster of twelve golfers, especially compared to EA Sports’ golf game which has twenty-two.

While the game does have Tiger Woods, there are so many notable absences like Rory Mcilroy, Nelly Korda, and the current best golfer in the world Scottie Scheffler. I don’t hold this against the game too much because licensing deals need to be done with golfers individually and the game is pretty clear about making your MyPlayer the main focus.

Other Modes

Outside of MyCareer, PGA Tour 2K25 offers a few online multiplayer modes like; Stroke Play, Match Play, and Scramble. Besides Ranked Matches, Ranked Tours are a new way to earn in-game rewards and Online Societies are finally cross-platform.

Of course with this being a 2K game, you can spend real money in exchange for VC, upgrade your golfer, and use them online in matches. This is the definition of pay-to-win and, weirdly, it’s in a golf title.

Verdict

Overall, PGA Tour 2K25 is a good golf title that excels in gameplay. The EvoSwing technology propels the game to new heights and the new swinging mechanic is perfect for the present and future of the series.

The new additions to MyCareer deepen the RPG side of the mode and show that MyCareer will remain the focal point of the series for years to come. However, even though the game has some minor setbacks, that doesn’t prevent it from being a true putter’s paradise.