Golf Video Game: The Golf Club 2 could become the all-time great one

Golf Club 2 will be released in the Spring – it could become one of the great all-time golf video games.

Golf video games come and go. We’ve seen a ton of great ones over the years including the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series and Hot Shots Golf games. The Golf Club video game was developed by Indie publisher, HB Studios in 2014 and has taken on a life of its own.

Now, the Independent Sports Game of the Year makes a triumphant return, with The Golf Club 2. The original game featured an amazing golf course design feature, as well as great swings, and ambient sounds.

Many players who used the Greg Norman Course Designer in-game would re-create some of the finest gems in golf. These tracks included Magnolia National (TGC’s version of Augusta National), Pine Valley, St. Andrews, and Chicago Golf Club among others.

The game would end up having over 100,000 created courses by the time of the announcement of the sequel. TGC 2 will look to enhance the experience from the previous release and take it to the next level.

HB Studios’ lead developer, Anthony Kyne, and folks from publisher Maximum Games discuss the successor to the hit golf game. They broke down each feature to a tee, and didn’t lay up.

In case you missed it, here's a first look at The Golf Club 2! https://t.co/8CwyrufdQS #TGC2 #TheGolfClub2 @hb_studios
— #PGATOUR2K23 (@PGATOUR2K) February 8, 2017

The first feature mentioned is Societies and it’s basically a cool way to play the game together with friends. You start off with a humble clubhouse for your crew, and then work your way to riches, to create an even bigger clubhouse.

This also allows you to host bigger tournaments and add a little extra spice to the competition. What’s also cool is that you can explore your interior design as your clubhouse continues to grow.

Career mode was in the original game later on as an add-on piece to the core game. It was simple, and you worked your way up from amateur events to pro events, were the courses got harder.

The career mode in the sequel will be more robust, with players being able to earn in-game money and build their resumes. There were no crowds for the career mode in the previous game, so now tournaments should be more lively.

TGC 1 also only allowed you to use the same clubs. TGC 2 will now allow players to use different equipment throughout their career.

Online play has become an integral part of any golf video game these days, as the landscape expands. TGC 2 will have a much deeper online experience than the previous game.

You will now be able to participate in online tournaments, making things a bit more intense as you tee it up. You can also take part in “society vs society” events, where players from your society can duel it out with golfers from groups.

Society vs society matches is a great way to earn money and build up your clubhouse. This also makes rounds of golf more fun, and competitive.

The rich new features should beef up the online mode nicely. Because, as mentioned, online play is huge, especially for a golf video game.

The Greg Norman Course Designer was a feature for the ages in the first installment of TGC. It gave the armchair architects a chance to shine virtually as golf course designers.

The feature is so amazing, because of the rich options of tools available for the player. Folks would design real world courses as well as fictional ones.

TGC 2 will have more options to help the designer fulfill their golf course dreams, including adding crowds and waterfalls. Golf course design is a main sauce of choice among golf fans. So, allowing people to actually design some tracks in the game is huge, and hits the heart of the fan.

Another awesome thing about the new design is that you can take courses you built in TGC 1 and transfer them. I designed a course called TGC at Diamond Lake, a nine hole track. I can take that course, and bring it into TGC 2.

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With the original golf video game, the golf swing animations looked a little odd, with male golfers’ backs hunched over when setting up. Also, after swings, the player would usually stand there without any club twirls or tee grabbing.

TGC 2 will now have all of these things. You can catch a glimpse of the new swing in a part of the video. The swings you’ve looked at throughout the clip’s entirety, were the swings from the first game.

Sports games in general and golf video games in particular have done a good job with player customization and have players feel like they’re in the game. TGC 2 will include some great customization options and make your golfer stand out from the crowd.

Originally, the game allowed you to change clothing, but not appearance. You were able to choose from four male characters and two females. Now, players can look how they please and then earn more gear as they progress. A golf video game with player customization and a revamped course designer? Count me in.

The Golf Club 2 should have a lot of things to look forward to overall

So those are some of the cool new things to expect in The Golf Club 2. Having put plenty of hours in the first game, I will say that the sequel should be terrific.

A minor thing I wonder however is, can we drive in golf carts in the game? In the virtual reality (VR) version of the first game, players were allowed to ride on carts.

That would be pretty awesome. Also would be realistic might I add.

I definitely can’t wait to see how designers enhance their current courses with the new options. If Magnolia National starts to look more like Augusta, then that would be amazing. It already is scary close to looking like the course.

With so many courses in the first game, I felt like I was on an adventure. No two courses are the same, and what adds to the game’s great replay value.

The slew of other features just adds to depth of the experience. When it’s all set and done, The Golf Club 2 could become one of the all-time greats.

You can learn more about the game at TheGolfClubGame.com or at MaximumGames.com

Next: All-Time Top 20 Golf Video Games

So what are your thoughts on The Golf Club 2? Which feature intrigued you the most? Let us know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @ChiGolfRadio.

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