PGA Tour 2K25 unlocked for certain purchasers of the game who bought more expensive editions this morning, so I took an opportunity before work to play a quick 18 holes. Obviously, these impressions will not be deep or considered as a "review", but rather just a sampling of my own experience.
To start with, I bought the Legend Edition for $120 after playing the First Look and enjoying it. The promise of a variety of extras, and the ability to play the game a week early, made the extra spend with it for me. Given that a competing golf game isn't expected from EA this year, PGA 2K25 is going to be the de facto "current" golf game for awhile. It is a large outlay of money, I admit.
Since I played the First Look demo build, my progress carried over in terms of stats and competed "quest items". My created golfer is a "grip it and rip it" powerhouse who consistently bombs drives of 310+ yards, but suffers a bit if he finds the sand. Getting into the game unlocked the extras from the Legend Edition, which was a pretty lengthy list. I really didn't get into much customization, since I had already created a golfer, but I did use the Tiger Woods-branded gear for a universal look.
Unfortunately, my experience didn't start off well. When trying to redeem a Locker Code, the game froze. Then, after closing and restarting it, the game hung while loading. These technical issues are carryovers from PGA 2K23, which is disappointing. I wound up tabling 2K23 for months after the game repeatedly soft-locked and kicked me back to the Home screen. Fortunately, in this case, after these two technical hiccups, I managed to begin MyCareer and hit Q-School at TPC Sawgrass.
I am a three-click swing player. I've used Swing Stick controls in other golf games, but I prefer the simpler (and formerly traditional) three-click swing. In this game, it's a long button press/hold to set power, followed by two timed button presses for accuracy. I've never been the biggest fan of how HB Studios manages overswings, penalizing players for holding too long, but that's a personal preference. Although the interface is slightly different in 2K25, the concept is the same from 2K23... so if you've played that game, you'll have no issues here. Shot shaping and adding spin is done the same way, using the LB/L1 button and the analog stick to set spin. Interestingly, backspin seems to be a bit more notable in this game, at least in my experience.
On the course, there's not a lot of change from 2K23. Sawgrass still looks great (and I'd love to be there instead of in winter's grip here) and the Performance mode keeps the frame rate silky smooth on my Xbox Series X. There's a handful of new camera angles, but they've been nothing much. Greens seem a little bit harsher in their breaks, as I had a tougher time with reads-- but that could well be my golfer's early and low stats in putting and not a by-product of the new game. Sound effects are fine. Since this was Q-School, crowds-- and, therefore, crowd reactions-- were minimal, even for eagle putts. There still isn't much in terms of stat overlays, like where a golfer stands in rankings or scoring by hole. This keeps the presentation value pretty cheap.
The biggest presentation offender here is the commentary, which is seemingly a complete carryover from 2K23. Luke Elvy and Rich Beem had absolutely nothing new to offer from the tower, and on-course analysis from Henni Zuel is somehow worse this time around. 2K and HB Studios unequivocally cut corners here, and there's no excuse for it. It's one thing for lines of commentary to repeat after a few rounds of play, but hearing the same lines in a brand new game that I've heard for two years is really something else. I'm not sure who's at fault here, but it's incredibly disappointing.
Off the course in MyCareer, which I didn't have enough time to touch on in my brief 30 minutes this morning, HB Studios has added more activities. Training, conversations, social media status, and more go into the week leading up to an event. I'll definitely touch on this more once I have more of an opportunity to sample it, but there's some promise here over the relatively bare "beat a rival, win tournaments" approach from 2K23. It is good to see some progress in this regard when it comes to depth and wanting to keep playing.
It's worth noting that the Clubhouse Pass from 2K23 is back, with at least 6 seasons' worth of content. Like other battle passes, the Clubhouse Pass has Free and Premium items to unlock. The Legend Edition has premium passes for the first 5 seasons, which adds XP mulipliers for faster progression. As part of the Clubhouse pass, certain skills can only be unlocked in the MyGolfer skill tree.
I'll have more to say about PGA 2K25 with time, as I play through it. I'll be sure to capture some screenshots to represent my journey in MyCareer, which is the only mode I'll be playing. The base game will be available on February 28th.