New trailer and EA SPORTS PGA TOUR’s blog post delve into expanded Career Mode and Features – That’s Gaming

103

EA SPORTS today elaborates on what players can expect from the expanded Career Mode of EA SPORTS PGA TOUR, which will be released on Friday, April 7. EA SPORTS PGA TOUR’s Career Mode, described here in the blog, lets fans experience the biggest golf events with their personally created golfer in a dynamic and adaptive progression system. Players can develop their own character’s skills in detail through skill progression, attributes, refining shot types and more.

Career Mode Customization
Players begin their journey by customizing their golfer’s appearance with a variety of visual adjustments, equipment options and swing styles. Through Career Mode, golfer swing styles can be customized by shifting swing shape, swing tempo, favorite shot types and ball trajectory. Players can also choose iconic and state-of-the-art equipment by selecting a specific club head, shaft, grips and more. Players can also outfit their golfer with clothing and accessories authentic to the sport.

The Road to Greatness
Players can decide where to begin their journey: as an amateur in one of the top amateur events, on the Korn Ferry Tour or the PGA TOUR. As an amateur, players can play the U.S. Amateur Championship, Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Amateur Championship, Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and Latin American Amateur Championship, culminating in the Q-school where they can compete for a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour. An invitation to the Masters and U.S. Open will be sent once the amateur championships are won.

After players complete the Korn Ferry Tour, or if they choose to skip it, they enter the PGA TOUR. Here they compete each week on golf’s biggest stages, including the major championships, to hunt for the legendary green jacket, a Grand Slam title, the race for the FedExCup and more.

During Career Mode, players can use the “AI Pairings” setting to play shot-for-shot against an AI PGA TOUR professional, or turn it off to speed up the round and focus solely on the game. The AI performance is based on official ShotLink data, meaning the pros play each course and specific hole exactly as they do in real life.

Skill Progression and Shot Types
Career Mode uses an RPG-like progression method where players can expand their golf skills over time. By earning XP and skill points and applying them in categories such as Power, Driving, Approach, Short Game and Putting, new shot types and upgrades can be unlocked to help them succeed as the courses become more challenging.

In the Season Hub, players can regularly check their upgrades, view the event calendar and track career progress and other milestones through the “Career Mastery” tab. Completed and ongoing quests – challenges that fall under a job or tournament – can also be viewed to develop skills and unlock new shot types. By completing these various challenges, players can determine the specifications of their ball and club, which offer customizable performance characteristics in terms of power, accuracy, control and recovery.

Attributes
Players have several attributes that can be affected by completing quests in Career Mode:

• Strength – Improving this skill adds more power and affects swing speed at the turn.
• Accuracy – The higher the accuracy, the smaller the mis-hit and window sizes become.
• Control – The higher the player’s control, the more accurately he can influence the grip, accuracy of shot formation and spin of the ball.
• Recovery – Recovery reduces the impact of penalties on poor layouts, including sand surface. Penalties include:

1. Carry distance penalty
2. Range size shown in carry distance penalty window
3. Natural spin penalty
4. Shot shaping penalty
5. Spin control penalty
6. Mis-hit tolerance window penalty
7. Off-plane swings and mishits penalty