There are just three clubs to choose from — driver, wedge and putter — and three shot types: high, mid, and low. The way shots react will also differ based on the environment, of which there are four: city, mountain, undersea and the moon. Thirteen different robots are featured, and they all have unique shot mechanics and power-up capabilities.
OTHER REVIEWS: ‘NBA 2K17’ | ‘Madden 17’ | ‘FIFA 17’
Unfortunately, everything had to be learned on the fly as “100ft Robot Golf” doesn’t have an actual tutorial. The game is fairly simple, but it took some trial and error to figure out all the swing methods, and even now I’m still not sure what all the power-ups are intended to do. Without a way to practice beforehand, taking shots from close range and putting proved especially difficult. The primary draw for “100ft Robot Golf” is the Campaign Mode, and it’s well worth playing through. The anime-style design coupled with intentionally bad dialogue and voice acting made for some genuinely funny moments in the story. There’s also a really neat twist right near the end. Unfortunately, the mode lasts only a few hours and offers no challenge from the CPU in the actual matches.
With only four locations and 36 different holes, the game quickly starts to feel a little too familiar. The atrocious commentary, which amounts to one-liners inserted at various points that often don’t reflect what is actually happening, doesn’t help in that regard. It’s made even worse by how often the quips are repeated. The commentary is slightly more relevant in the story mode, as events taking place are occasionally referenced. While the game offers online capability, all attempts to play have failed in the days since release. It’s unclear whether online matchmaking is broken or whether there simply aren’t others searching to play online. Either scenario essentially negates online as a feature, which is unfortunate because it would likely be chaotic fun and would extend the longevity of the title.
“100ft Robot Golf” has some clever ideas and an amusing story, but doesn’t quite come together as a completely satisfying game because of limited content and some technical issues. Still, it’s another example of independent developers taking a chance on unique concepts — and that’s something to be celebrated.100ft Robot Golf is available on PlayStation 4 as a digital download for $20. Bryan Wiedey posts sports gaming news and analysis daily at Pastapadre.com, is co-founder of the sports gaming site HitThePass.com, hosts the Press Row Podcast, and be reached on Twitter @Pastapadre .
