I am a long time fan of golf games, including TGC1 and TGC2. They were the only ones I'd enjoyed playing since i think it was TW11. Sadly TGC2 lost it's way fairly quickly and in the end it was clear the game was being developed for a small niche market of it's heavy use user base. While feedback from heavy users should allow you to tweak a game in all areas, it's only a good thing ifI am a long time fan of golf games, including TGC1 and TGC2. They were the only ones I'd enjoyed playing since i think it was TW11. Sadly TGC2 lost it's way fairly quickly and in the end it was clear the game was being developed for a small niche market of it's heavy use user base. While feedback from heavy users should allow you to tweak a game in all areas, it's only a good thing if the said user base doesn't actually want the game to be niche and suit only their limited needs. I want to be clear I had no intention of buying this game after the experience of TGC2, once it became clear it had some huge flaws that many users actually wanted to be part of the core of the gameplay. I didn't buy the game, but have played it for enough time since they gave it away free on xbox live a few months back. I only just bothered to play it though. I can only assume it hasn't been well received, that it's free. Especially not good considering they've marketed it with a clear design to making this a yearly release at £50 a pop (LMAO). With that said I'll review the game now.
In terms of graphics, the game looks OK. But it's really not all that. The shot animation, with huge divots on every shot, is super weird. There's lot of blurriness which I think is from efforts to calm the obvious frame dropping and the resulting variable frame rate problem, which scuppered the new tempo swing they introduced in TGC2 and have kept for this edition. The trees are also a big issue. They're still the same as from the previous version and they look really dated. When the camera's panning during replays they just don't look good at all.
Gameplay and controls wise, it just seems lacking. I know from their devs comments in their forums from the last game, they consider the game to be simulation. But they've also tried to keep things in that make the game playable for a casual gamer who just wants to play a bit of golf. I/they/everyone knows why they've taken that approach. The game can't bring great financial success if it's too niche. But while I get that, I just feel the devs are wanting to have their cake and eat it. This for me is the real crux of this games failure. As a sim it falls so far short for anyone who's an actual golfer. As an arcadey pick up and play golf game, it's got almost nothing to offer. Add to that the fact that the game is incredibly boring to play and it's really impossible for any of the good elements to make up for the massive flaws in the game.
One of the things I like most about all versions of the game (this included) is the excellent feel to the putting. It's hard at first as you only have one putter to use. By that I mean there isn't a 5ft putter, a 10ft putter, a 20ft putter etc. etc. I know a lot of new users in the past found it hard to get used to, but once you've played a while it feels very rewarding and gives as simulationy a feel as you could get. Sadly, the rest of the shots are nothing like this. There's no option to adjust you golfer's stance in terms of lining up to the front or back foot. No option to close the face of the club or open it right up. This type of feel can only partially be replicated by moving around an x/y axis graph that in no way relates to the image of your golfer on the screen. It makes no difference to the divots taken (as previously mentioned) and doesn't offer a lot of visual feedback. This would be important as the x'y thing has no indication of the level of effect it will have on the shot. They've clearly done this to stop people just dialling in every shot and use it to break the already ill thought out approach to the game. I personally think it shows up the devs' and the heavy user base's lack of knowledge of real golf and how a real golfer achieves a normal shot and variation from a normal shot. Hitting draw or fade by design should also be done by stick control rather than on a graph in my opinion. This was already done on older TW games but not here. This also then leads into the fact the game has different types of shot to select from a list. Normal, punch, pitch, chip, etc. This has been a staple of all golf games. But to me seems an odd choice for a developer who's modified putting so well and yet failed to do so in any other part of the game. Add to that the fact they've been implemented so badly. Pitches don't look, feel, or play like pitches. Flop shots don't look, feel, or play like flop shots. This is what makes the game feel most boring. Every shot until you get to the green feels so samey. Driving is way too easy and there's little differentiation between how you approach each of the shots and any potential issues a real life golfer would face trying to play them.
I could say a lot more. The game's course designer is still excellent however. But all in all this game just shows a lack of understanding or respect by the developers and it's why the game fails. I also doubt they can turn back now… Expand
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA TourYour Score0 out of 10User Score
