What the Golf? Review

What the Golf? is a really funny game… for the first five minutes. It does a great job of initially subverting your expectations when different objects fly towards the hole instead of the golf ball you thought you were aiming at. But that’s the game’s only good joke… and they use that “joke” a lot. Well, that and video game references. Referencing another game is like the laziest form of humor, especially when it’s things like Portal references. We haven’t grown sick of those yet, have we? The sound design also tries to be very Katamari Damacy but ends up more annoying and repetitive than anything. You will get so sick of hearing “Waaaaah” every time you fail a challenge.

I don’t mean to be so down on this game, though. While it’s certainly not as funny as it thinks it is, the actual gameplay isn’t bad. It’s a series of fast-paced, golf-like challenges that span a multitude of styles and gimmicks. Some are in 3D, others 2D. Some are puzzles, others straight-up races. The variety is definitely fun, but it barely qualifies as golf. And yeah, I get that was the point. However, the game often feels like a platformer with wonky controls instead of any sort of golf game. What’s even weirder is that you can play most of the game with a controller, but a handful of challenges at the end can only be completed by switching to a mouse.

I did like that every level was broken up into three increasingly difficult challenges, and you only need to complete the first one to proceed through the campaign. Naturally, I wanted to 100% the game, though, and that’s where a lot of the frustration lies. The second challenge is almost always to get par, even if you already got par the first time around. And why does completing the first challenge kick you back to the overworld but the second challenge leaves you in the selection menu? The overworld is a pain in the butt to navigate, because you still move around as a golf ball. Like everything else in What the Golf?, it’s a cutsey idea that wears out its welcome super fast.

Reviewer

Clark
I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.

Published by

Clark

I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.