Minutes must have gone by while I was staring at the blinking cursor on my computer screen, waiting for me to type some fancy words that would become the introductory text for my What the Golf?! preview. You’ve read that right. I’ve spent the whole afternoon playing a golf game. Who would have thought that? Triband studios definitely thought that, because What the Golf?! is a golf game for people that hate golf. And boy do I hate golf. That’s why I will tell you all about this game now.
What the Keyboard Sports?!
You might recall that a during last year’s Gamescom Triband invited us to come and play Keyboard Sports. But that game still hasn’t been released so why are they developing an entirely different game already, you ask? The answer to that question surprised us too. Keyboard Sports actually got picked up by a big publisher that had plans to turn the project into a much bigger game fit for retail release. While initially planned for release in 2018, these developments pushed Keyboard Sports back for an unknown amount of time. We’re sure when the time is right, Keyboard Sports will resurface again.
Soon after Triband started work on a new project that would eventually become What the Golf?! Judging by its name alone you might suspect we’re dealing with a plain and boring golf game. However, What the Golf?! is everything except a golf game. It’s best described as a physics-based anti-golf game where you get to golf anything. Houses, goats, cats, goals, golf clubs or even your golfer. Anything goes really. Name it, golf it.
Anything golfs.
So how does it work then? Simple. In front of you is an item you need to golf to the hole. The path towards the hole is almost never straightforward. Expect the unexpected. Things never really pan out the way you’ve planned them at the start and each and every level contains elements that will make you go.. “what the f&*^?!”.
The first few levels are easy and are obviously meant to show you the ropes. When playing What the Golf?! On PC (we’ve been told the game is also being ported to tablets and phones) you control your “ball” (whatever item may be in front of you) with your mouse. When you click the cursor a big arrow will appear. This indicates the direction you will launch your projectile in. When the direction is set, moving the cursor away of towards your projectile will increase or decrease it’s speed. That’s all there is to it. The amount and type of obstacles in your path is what’s actually effecting the game’s difficulty. While you play you’ll gradually be introduced to new types of balls (like a “sticky ball” or a “spider ball”) that force you to think outside the box and come up with intuitive ways to get to the hole. There are also different type of levels (many inspired by other gaming franchises such as Flappy bird or Super Mario) that will make sure things stay fresh and unpredictable.
The (W)Hole Game.
Like Keyboard Sports, What the Golf?! doesn’t take itself too seriously. This often results in humorous situations. The game cracks jokes at you each time you’ve completed a level. Some so clever or dull they almost always manage to make you giggle. When talking to the developers at Gamescom, one of them jokingly commented: “We thought of releasing the game as is and actually release the rest of the game as DLC called “the (w)hole game”.”
The humor in the game will probably be the main reason why you’ll keep coming back too. If you’d like to give the game a spin before release, it would be good to know the devs are hosting small tournaments weekly by releasing single levels. You should try one since this will also help you understand the concept of the game much, much better. If you like me still hate golf games but like this particular golf game, then check out What the Golf?!’s steam page! If big publisher keep their hands off this one, What the Golf?! should be out early 2019 on PC.
