I really wanted to like 100ft Robot Golf. I really did. Just the name alone sent shivers of anticipation down my spine. I mean, what’s not to like. Giant robots playing golf in our major cities knocking down any buildings that might get in their way between the ball and hole. Honestly; the only way this concept could be better was if No Goblin had licensed Godzilla and his collective group of monsters to star in this game rather than the mechanical cast of Pacific Rim.
Sadly my hopes and dreams for this game were squashed almost immediately after launching the game for the first time; a game that I was reviewing specifically for VR but where VR seemed to be an afterthought. Not that it matters, because 100FR Robot Golf isn’t any better (it may be worse) in virtual reality – it’s just more of a novelty. Actually the entire game seems to be a novelty. It’s certain not much of a golf game; at least as we’ve come to know from other golf games. I mean, you only get a driver, wedge, and a putter, so how much reality can we expect.
There is a solo campaign mode that tells the story of some hilariously annoying characters presented as some of the worst animation panels ever – you know the ones – static art where only the mouths are animated to accompany the worst script ever delivered by the worst “voice actors” of all time. Even after finishing the story I’m still unclear as to whether these humans are piloting the robots or merely building them and turning them loose on the city. If the insanity of the story mode doesn’t hold your interest you can annoy up to three of your friends in 4-player multiplayer either locally or online. If you choose a round of speed golf you’ll get to play in split-screen mode to see who can sink the ball first. It’s worth noting that none of the multiplayer modes support screen and VR shared gameplay.
But we’re here primarily to cover this as a VR games and honestly, VR adds little to the experience other than a more panoramic view of the cities (courses) and a cool 3D presentation of the golfing control scheme unique to each robot. This might be the standard tap-tap-tap system or the more demanding squeezing of the twin triggers to build equal pressure for distance and accuracy. It was these unique control schemes that I enjoyed the most about the game, but even those lost their charm after 2-3 rounds.
For as slick as the varied 3D controls and meters hovering over the horizon were, the actual environments were definitely from the original PlayStation era. Simple flat textures with sprite-like trees and cloned buildings that break apart into 3-4 giant chunks (or maybe not break at all) dot the landscape, and all of these Gen1 graphics look even worse in VR. If your ball trajectory passes through a structure just knock it down or maybe blast it with a laser or whatever ability your chosen robot has. You can count on the game being constantly interrupted by banter amongst the golfers as well as repetitive commentary from the sports casters – admittedly, some of their quips are quite funny.
100ft Robot Golf is bad, but it is also intentionally bad. If it were a movie it would be on Mystery Science Theater 3000. And while I can respect and even appreciate intentionally bad content for comedy’s sake, I’d still like a reasonably good golf game at the heart of the humor. Even the discounted price of $20 seems a bit much for this unless you have a solid group of friends with wacky senses of humor. For those with a shiny new PSVR looking for a cool virtual golf game…better take a Mulligan and wait for the next one.
