Have you ever woken up in a mysterious secure golfing compound to find out that all your money has been stolen and you must earn back your stolen cash via a series of weird golf related challenges? Obviously, the answer is yes, it’s a tale as old as time itself and the latest title from developer Luke Muscat replicates this common and everyday occurrence. In Normal Golf game you wake to find yourself help captive your £100.000 has been stolen from your bank account and the faceless perpetrator behind this crime commands you to complete a seemingly never-ending list of tasks to earn your cash and freedom back.
This one is going to test you…
The tasks themselves are not necessarily golf related such as removing old advertising billboards or destroying watermelons, but you must use the time-tested medium of golf to complete these tasks i.e. smash them to pieces by hitting golf balls at them! The mechanics themselves are alarmingly accurate and its almost as the developer used my golfing talent as a base for this game. Just hitting the ball itself is a challenge you must simultaneously control the pitch, direction and power of your swing via several different inputs whilst also keeping an eye on different factors such as wind speed. This sounds easy however in practice its infuriatingly difficult and just like in real life I averaged at least 200 swings per hole.
Watching your golfer scuff the ground or Wildy over hit the ball is common as you flail the club around like a whirling dervish, and not to worry if the short game is more your thing putting is equally as hard as you have to compete with random obstacles like bowling pins on the green. The courses and challenges you have to complete get ever more chaotic and hard to complete however the feeling of satisfaction when you finally sink your ball is incredibly satisfying. There are several hidden bonuses to find during your round of golf and on multiple occasions are very well hidden such as been challenged to hit a gong by chipping your golf ball from the green over the club house into the parking lot!
Incredibly frustrating but extremely satisfying.
Sometimes a game can aim to be deliberately frustrating and difficult, and this can be a fine line as if it’s too frustrating it just becomes not fun to play Normal Golf Game succeeds in getting that balance as when you finally complete the hole the feeling is fantastic. The controls are hilarious and all but impossible to master, I recall an old Atari 2600 golf game I had where your swing would rotate in 360 degrees sometimes the ball would end up behind you or in any direction but towards the hole, and this game follows that logic except Normal Golf Game manages to make this fun and engaging.
The only let down is there is no online or multiplayer option as I feel it would work well being able to play together however my 9-year-old son and myself spent hours taking it in turns making shots and he absolutely loved this game in fact he asks daily if we can play together so you can in a way play with others if you want too.
Normal Golf Game looks and sounds great, the courses themselves are all nice to look and enjoyable to play. The jaunty jazz music is also a stark contrast to the weird gameplay and slightly sinister story The game also ran perfectly with zero issues on PC and my handheld device however I found it incredibly difficult to play using controller inputs on my Legion go even more so than using mouse and keyboard so I would only recommend handheld if you want a challenge. Usually, I hate sports games I have never seen the point in them; however, I loved Normal Golf Game the mental story combined with the ridiculous and unapologetic level of difficulty make this game a very challenging and fun experience. If you are looking for a simple game to test your patience you cannot go wrong here, and I would recommend giving it a go if only to see if you can manage a sub-100 first hole! If you do want to try Normal Golf Game you can find it here.
