Also On: PSVR
Publisher: No Goblin
Developer: No Goblin
Medium: Digital
Players: 1-4
Online: Yes
ESRB: E10+
As a golf game, perhaps the best thing that could be said about 100ft Robot Golf is that it’s an interesting anime game. And as an anime-inspired game, the best that can be said about is that it’s an interesting golf game. I don’t have PlayStation VR so I can’t comment on the game’s translation to virtual reality, but if the vanilla PS4 version of the game is anything to go by, I imagine it’s got to be gaudy and pretty nausea-inducing.
In other words, 100ft Robot Golf tries to be many things, but I don’t know that it really succeeds at any of them.
I mean, it doesn’t fail at any of them, either. It has moments of fun on both sides of the anime and golf equation. On the latter point, it has a much more intuitive driving and putting system than most other golf games in recent years, and that’s despite (or maybe because of) the fact it’s constantly switching up the mechanics and trying new things. You don’t need to worry too much about annoying little things like lies and inclines, which means that it’s well-suited to casual play. Also, it’s pretty fun to smash every building that gets in the way of your shots. It’s a little less satisfying to use your rockets and bombs, since those don’t seem to do much, but hey: you’re imitating Godzilla and working on your golf game at the same time, so that’s got to count for something. It’d probably count for a little more if it didn’t start feeling repetitive so early on, but points for inventiveness, if not necessarily execution.
The same goes for the game’s anime aspects. 100ft Robot Golf’s plot is pretty unique, to say the least: a group of people trying to resurrect the titular sport of giant robots playing golf, and doing so by going around the world and recruiting the sport’s former superstars. I can’t say the story drew me in, but then again, neither do most stories — at least this one had the advantage of making me stop every so often to say, “Wait…what?” And if nothing else, this game deserves kudos for making one of those former robot golf superstars a team of five adorable corgis who come together, Voltron-style, to form one great robot golfer.
I also have to give credit to the game’s announcers: they have a gift for snark. Like the golfing, some of the lines get a little old after you start hearing them several times, but on that first go-around, you’re pretty much guaranteed to at least smirk, if not outright laugh.
The question is, would I recommend 100ft Robot Golf? Truthfully, I can’t say one way or the other. On the plus side of the ledger, it has a lot of great ideas and a pretty decent sense of humour. Those positives, however, are counterbalanced with a hideous colour scheme and a feeling of repetition that creeps in unfortunately quickly. Ultimately, I guess, I’ll just go back to the comparison I made above, and let you decide for yourself: how much do you want to combine giant robots smashing cities and golf? If the answer is “a lot”, then I think I have the game for you.
