Rory McIlroy PGA Tour E3 Hands-On (Quick Look)

[ChaseB]

For now what we'll be doing here at Operation Sports is posting a quick look detailing some of our initial thoughts on sports titles at E3. Once we play more of these games throughout the week we will post more fleshed out hands-on impressions this week and next.

In addition, if you have questions about the game you would like us to ask developers, feel free to post them. We can't guarantee we'll get them answered -- and it's probably better to not get too crazy specific -- but what we do get answered we'll post here on OS as well at some point. The same goes for if you just want to hear more about something we talked about in the article(s). For example, "hey dude, you talked about how the dribbling feels different, can you talk more about that?"

Does EA like Frostbite? Yes they do. And Rory McIlroy PGA Tour looks to bring the company back into the golf conversation with that powerhouse graphical engine. With The Golf Club controlling the narrative right now, EA seems focused on delivering a deep gameplay experience with lots of customization and great looks. This might come at the expense of some golfer and course depth, but they had to (re)start somewhere.

Here are my quick impressions from the demo that is on the E3 show floor:

-I’m really digging the new difficulty of the Tour Pro setting. With the removal of the ability to zoom in down the course, you actually have to use the overhead view to get a sense of your yardages, which change after each shot. The removal of zoom-in and the sensitivity of the analog swing create some challenging holes.

-Speaking of courses, they have all been designed with varying firmness and feel based on the terrain, which aims to create something distinct when moving between locations.

-The course selection seems relatively good, if a little sparse. No Augusta, which isn’t great. I’d like to get some time in with the fantasy courses and fictional “real” courses, as some of those are used in the challenge-based Night Club mode.

-The golfer selection is definitely on the paltry side, but EA seems poised to add many real and novelty swingers via paid DLC.

-Still, they said no “Day 1” DLC.

-Bag and club customization is deep, with 14 clubs and the ability to change heads, shafts and grips on each one.

-Frostbite does look sharp on the golf course. Golfers have some striking detail in the clothing and faces, and many of the fly-ins and intro sequences look spectacular in their mirroring of The Golf Channel’s broadcast.

-The loading times now match that of The Golf Club, with multiple rounds playable on the same course with no loading times. Even when you pause the game, the menu just goes over top of the course geometry, allowing you quick access back into the game. The only loading times occur when you boot up a new course.

-The analog swing meter now visualizes the exact path of your shot, and there’s a pulse meter that represents the timing and pace of your swing.

-This pulse meter is mirrored across all shot types, including putting. Putting seems challenging on Tour Pro, and the new “putt read line” seems helpful while not being quite as automatic as the putt preview of the past. Still, putting is not quite as devious as the stuff found in The Golf Club.

-The hospitality settings seem very robust, with added assists and customization options so that you can set any difficulty and then tweak each setting to what you want.

-Online looks to have daily and weekly tournaments, and up to four players can engage in simultaneous play, with all golfers and equipment represented on the course at the same time. There is a vote system to decide on the next course/challenge as well, which sounds like a smart wrinkle.

Quote:

Chase Becotte: I just wanted to chime in with a couple more thoughts (I am a self-professed golf game noob who has not really played something outside of Hot Shots/Mario Golf in at least three years): -This game looks rather ridiculously good looking. Obviously with just a course and a golfer to focus on it simplifies things, but the detail is impressive. I would say the only thing that sometimes looks weird is that when a ball is in mid-flight the rough will look sort of aliased (see: appear to be sort of 'jaggy' if you will). To me, it's more because the game is still seemingly generating tons of blades of grass, which is impressive, so it looks a bit odd in high-definition from that height. -I wish I had as much swag as Miguel Angel Jimenez. -I immediately went to Tour Pro and turned off most assists beyond the putting assist. I immediately was +6 on my first 18-hole round at TPC Sawgrass. This isn't a bad thing, this is a good thing. -As Glenn said though, I like how customizable all the settings are for which assists I want on and off and so on. -Again, coming at this as sort of a golf noob, I enjoyed seeing the swing feedback. It shows off every little error or perfection in my follow through, which is super helpful. -Glenn might think the putting is not so hard, even with the putting assist off, but it was the aspect of the game that kicked my butt the most. Again, not a bad thing to me, but now this makes me think The Golf Club would really dominate me and make me scream for mercy. -I feel like UI in this type of golf game has to be as simplistic and out of the way as possible while still providing correct info. In other words, you want the game to look as beautiful and uncluttered as possible while still providing necessary info to help you play it. I think PGA Tour is succeeding on this front.

Early Outlook

Chase Becotte: As the golf noob of the group, I came away thinking Rory McIlroy PGA Tour was a beautiful game I would like to dabble in more when it comes out. It's not something that grabbed me and made me believe I had been missing out on playing golf games these last couple years, but it's something I thought I could immediately turn on for friends to impress them with its visuals before telling them to hop in for a round.

Glenn Wigmore: The customization seems to be there, and the gameplay was challenging in the right ways. While players won’t have the course creator or challenging putting found in The Golf Club, PGA Tour looks to bring some impressive visuals and gameplay depth to the fore.

[Klocker]

Thanks for the hands on.


A little disappointed about Augusta but most other things about what I'd hoped. I don't want putting to be impossible, just realistic. I hope they found that feeling.

[Wiggy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Klocker

Thanks for the hands on. A little disappointed about Augusta but most other things about what I'd hoped. I don't want putting to be impossible, just realistic. I hope they found that feeling.

I think you'll be happy with the putting then. There was still plenty of challenge.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Thanks for the impressions. Finally EA allowed someone to put some time into the game. Unfortunately (for me anyways) you admitted you're a golf noob who hasn't really played a golf game in 3 years and you shot a +6 on the hardest settings. You might not think so but that's a pretty good score for the first time playing, especially for a noob. That tells me the games' difficulty is not nearly as high as TW14 for sim guys, just as I had feared.

And jaggies? Really? They have been touting this new game engine and they can't even smooth it out. No wonder they have limited in game footage all these months.

[jbd345]

What's the presentation like between holes? Golfers walking towards the tee or something else?

[GrandMaster B]

How are they going to have a Career Mode with so few courses without buying DLC? Over 30 events in a season and have to play same ones over again if you don't buy DLC.

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by Seymour Scagnetti

Thanks for the impressions. Finally EA allowed someone to put some time into the game. Unfortunately (for me anyways) you admitted you're a golf noob who hasn't really played a golf game in 3 years and you shot a +6 on the hardest settings. You might not think so but that's a pretty good score for the first time playing, especially for a noob. That tells me the games' difficulty is not nearly as high as TW14 for sim guys, just as I had feared. And jaggies? Really? They have been touting this new game engine and they can't even smooth it out. No wonder they have limited in game footage all these months.

Just to clarify, I didn't play on the hardest difficulty, I just did Tour Pro swing. I still had it on like normal difficulty and had some assists on. Glenn I believe played on a higher difficulty than me (and plays golf games way more) and shot like a +15 -- and I don't even think that was through 18 holes.

And again, the game looks visually amazing. I was saying that the high rough maybe just looks slightly off from high up in the air because I think the game is still generating all those individual blades and so something does not look quite perfect about it. It's not like "jaggies" in the true sense of the word when we talk about it in normal situations.

[ty5oke]

I am hoping for more presentation improvements, especially during career mode. Think back to PGA Gold Tour III, I always enjoyed the round updates of players outside of my playing group. Is that something that is in this game?