Making the leap from mobile to console is Golf Guys, a golf themed battle royale styled game that emulates a three round elimination setting based on your golfing skills. Whilst the game itself is enjoyable in small doses, it allowed me to muse much more over how games can transition from online only battle royale games into sustainable, always working single player experiences.
Golf Guys brings three types of golf to the table for you to master. Regular golf is about getting the ball in the hole before your opponents and it doesn’t matter how many shots you take. Using the left analogue stick to aim and adjust your power, you then tee off with a single button press. Mini golf is more retro 90s golf inspired as there is no air involved – you just point and shoot, using a meter for your power. Lastly a target golf that works just like Top Golf asks you to score points by getting your shots as close to the hole (or in it) as possible over time. The three variants are well thought out but the lack of courses takes a toll on gameplay over time as there’s 21 courses across the three disciplines. More variety would have kept the spice going longer. Controls are relatively well done although you need to pay attention to the wind and how bouncy your ball is to avoid overshooting or landing to the side of your initial target.
What interested me far more was that just like the recent Hole.io port, Golf Guys emulated a battle royale AI system. Round 1 starts with 12 players and moves 8 through to the next round, which only lets 4 through to the final. You aren’t playing against real humans, its AI and this feels like a fantastic way to close out live service games where servers are empty. All too many times I’ve simply not bought a game as its live service only because I want to play my games forever. This implementation allows this. The AI is serviceable here and occasionally can offer a challenge if you make a painful mistake, but this is a budget title so I’m not expecting Mensa precision. If the single player royale mode doesn’t entice you, the splitscreen 2-4 player mode may do instead. Golf Guys shines in this mode and whilst its certainly not an Everybody’s Golf beater, there’s some party fun to be had. I did have some minor lag when trying out four player mode on some of the more colourful and busier locations, which was a shame when the controls are timing based.
Where things got a little fuzzy for me was the upgrade card system. A hangover from mobile roots, as you level up through playing the game, you unlock credits to spend on card packs. Cards unlock new balls, character skins and clubs. Balls and clubs can be upgraded eventually if you collect enough duplicates of the same card and so you can reduce the wind effect, make clubs more powerful or allow the ball to bounce more or less. It felt very grindy and also allowed you to outsmart the AI more over time as you get better equipment. Sometimes the AI then seems to get better too but its all a bit vague and fuzzy. The game released with DLC packs for more accessories but really, the game needed more holes to play as you’ll burn out after 20 minutes easily.
Whilst I appreciated the simulation of a battle royale setting, its the lack of playable content that keeps Golf Guys from reaching the top tier league. Sadly, this game is just about par but since its so cheap and cheerful, its a low risk buy if you are still interested.
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