WHAT THE GOLF? | Nintendo Switch Review
Updated: Nov 19, 2021
It does not happen all too often, that a game appears which openly makes fun of itself, but this is exactly what WHAT THE GOLF? does. This game is about golf, but not about golf. Confused? Well, a lot of the time, you will be asking yourself, “What the…?”. WHAT THE GOLF? was developed and published by Triband and is available on PC and Nintendo Switch. For the purposes of this review, I played the Single-Player Modes on the Nintendo Switch Lite. There is also a multiplayer feature available, with a level editor available only on the PC version.
WHAT THE GOLF? advertises itself as a “golf game for people who hate golf!”. I absolutely love golf, so I was a bit reluctant when beginning this game and had no clue what to expect. The result? Absolute hilarity from start to finish. Let me set the scene - you are on a golf course with multiple twists and turns. You are standing beside the golf ball propped up on its tee, aiming your first shot and fine-tuning your power. You are desperate to make it to the flag on the other side of the course in as few shots as possible – after all, this is golf, and people with the basic understanding of golf will know that your goal is to putt the ball in as few shots as possible. Then you remember that this game hates golf, and as you press A to hit the ball, next thing you know, your player is flying half-way across the course. You are greeted with a sometimes funny, sometimes cheesy pun as you reach your target.
You have a main campaign to start you off, but there are also daily challenges available where you must complete a set of holes in as few shots as possible. Your score will then be compared with other users. When you begin the main campaign, you initially complete a few introductory holes as a tutorial type – you do not really need the tutorial to be honest, as the only thing you discover in this is that when you are hitting a soccer ball, it works differently than a standard item. You can hit the soccer ball as many times as possible and you do not have to wait until it stops. I found holes with the soccer ball or car to be a lot more straightforward as I found myself mashing the A button to reach my destination. Once the tutorial phase is complete, the game begins and you find yourself in a lobby, where you will have to hit a ball into a selected hole to enter a level.
I must say, that once I arrived at the lobby, I got a Good Job vibe to the game, as while you are aiming the ball into the hole, you have the opportunity of smashing or colliding with other obstacles. Each hole in the main campaign has three different difficulties, with the third difficulty rewarding you with a crown upon completion. I found this not to be all too clear at the very beginning – I would complete the first difficulty of each hole and progress to the next hole. However, after a while, you will find that the crowns are required to enter new areas, resulting with you starting again at the beginning and completing the other two difficulties. Of course, with each hole, you will need to complete each section to progress to the next section and that desired crown.
The premise of the game is so much fun, that you cannot help but laugh at the silliness. I lost my breath from laughing on a few occasions, where I would expect a certain object to move, and next thing I notice there is something else moving instead. No item is safe from being hoofed from one side of the screen to the other. While I can safely report that no actual animals were harmed in the making of this game, do not be surprised if you have to catapult a sheep across the golf course. This game also gives a cheeky nod to other games, such as Super Mario Brothers and Angry Birds, and that can also be heard in the very quirky music, which mixes a range of vocal instruments along with some background music – a parody of the Super Mario theme can be heard with the words “What the Golf” substituted into the melody. The main campaign can get quite tiring after a while with the same types of challenges appearing again and again. Luckily there has been an update with the introduction of two more fun arenas, “It’s Snowtime”, and “Sporty Sports”. I found Sporty Sports, in particular, to be very entertaining, as multiple sport types are introduced, mainly in the area of track and field. There is also a multiplayer function which allows for local play, which I am eager to test out at a later date with a willing subject – more than likely the ever-suffering better-half.
Would I recommend WHAT THE GOLF? for the Switch? – 100% yes. Regardless of whether you are a golf fan or not, as long as you have some sense of humour, this game will entertain. The multiplayer feature will also add to the amount of hilarity in this game. The single-player mode can get tiring to a point, and can also be completed relatively quickly, so there may not be all too much replay value with the main campaign. However it seems that Triband are doing their best to keep this game fresh with the introduction of new levels and modes. The Daily Challenges will also keep you on your toes. I would be happy to recommend adding WHAT THE GOLF? to your Switch game collection.
Tina’s Rating: (yells) FOUR out of 5.
For more information on WHAT THE GOLF? please use the following links... Triband - Developer | Publisher | Facebook | Twitter | Website
Many thanks to Triband for the Review Key.
WHAT THE GOLF? | Steam Store | Nintendo eShop