I’m not sports guy. I’m barely a sports game player. I dabbled in Madden in college (who didn’t?) and followed the life and death of EA’s Fight Night franchise quite closely. The only sports games that ever held my interest longer than a night of beer fueled Madden smack talking were golf games. Tiger Woods PGA Tour games, specifically. They were fun, but they get stale. Golf is an ancient and storied sport with a long, deep history. This means it doesn’t change much so there’s little difference between annual titles. The courses, the players, the strategy are all pretty much the same. So when I saw the chance to play a game called 100ft Robot Golf at IndieCade East 2016, I took it. I’m glad I did.
I must mention this is a pre-alpha build, and the demo is only two holes. It’s clear that there is still a lot of polish to be done in terms of actual golf mechanics, and I thought of a conversation I had with my pal and fellow iDigi writer Bob Fekete about the Casey Powell Lacrosse 16 . It’s a lacrosse game, but more importantly it's a non-EA sports title. EA rules the genre and playing sports games outside their brand reminds you why. We talked about how EA is very, very good at executing on physics-based sports games mechanics. Other studios, not so much.
That’s also the case here but, again, it’s pre-Alpha. So judging the game in it's current state is kind of like eating cake batter and declaring that the cake is a disaster. But you can know some things from eating cake batter. Mainly, whether or not the finished product is going to be digestible and resemble what it should. 100ft Robot Golf is definitely on course (pun intended) to do that.
Because beyond the work-in-progress golf mechanics, right now relegated to three clubs and a sticky feeling ball, is the awesome concept of giant robots destroying a city as they play golf. My very first shot landed at the base of a tall building which now blocked the shot completely. And instead of the usual golf game frustration of muttering “fuckin bullshit” and hitting a lay up shot to just get centered on the green I got to instead blow the building up with a laser. Tiny insignificant humans scattered around the wreckage as it tumbled and crushed them, but boy oh boy did it improve my lie.
The robots themselves are cool just to stomp around with. I enjoyed roaming the course and destroying buildings I didn’t need to. The potential for some fun, action-oriented golf courses is there and after spectating some show attendees play multiplayer there will almost certainly be a nice competitive scene online, too. And as a couch co-op experience it’s hard to picture anything more accessible and fun than giant robots smashing stuff to play golf. You understand the appeal immediately and it doesn't take much convincing to get someone to join you for a game.
Like the title suggests, 100ft Robot Golf doesn’t take itself too seriously, and neither should you. You’ll probably have a lot more fun that way.
100ft Robot Golf is scheduled for release later this year and will be available on both PS4 and PlayStation VR.
