Golf Club Nostalgia

Rather mediocre golf, a very beautiful everything else. If you just want golf - then just skip this one, there are lot's of better golfing games. But if you want more... Then grab it! The visuals, the music, the radio show, they all create a very distinct atmosphere, which is rather melancholic but very captivating at the same time. After first couple levels golf club swings become a meditative, background activity, which is just an excuse to enjoy the art and listen to the radio show. That's something you definitely should try for yourself.

My Video Review can be found here: https://youtu.be/Vy6KTkhk1ZU Is Golf Club Wastelands the game experience that one shouldn’t miss or is it just a waste of time? Here are the game pros - three storylines with at least two worth to follow, inventive level design, variable environments, perfect dystopian atmosphere, beautiful graphics, great music, narration and fully dubbed people’s stories broadcasted by The Radio Nostalgia From Mars. And here are the game downsides - not very interesting story of the main hero that needs to be unlocked, unpredictable power of strokes that changes by some non-linear curve, absence of skills or other RPG elements that could be developed, no information about the pars and no score or online leaderboard where one could compare his result with others. Pros: - three storylines - level design - variety of environment - dystopian atmosphere - graphics - music - The Radio Nostalgia from Mars Cons: - storyline of the main hero is not so interesting - unpredictable power of strokes - no skills or other RPG elements - absence of online leaderboard - no explicit information about pars - absence of local multiplayer This game could be much better with the predictable controls, some RPG elements, some score system with online leaderboard and also the presence of some form of a local multiplayer as a separate game mode. I have still enjoyed this game but ironically more because of the game atmosphere and radio broadcast than the golf itself. I am therefore giving this game Thumbs Up and VideoGaming Father’s Index 6+ out of 10 - still recommended but with some bigger discount.

In short, as others eluded, it's a casual golf game with a snippy storyline delivered over brief talking tracks, songs, and visual settings -- think NPR-style radio snippets From a gameplay standpoint, for me it was a pretty discouraging experience, resulting mostly from a power stroke control that seems to be aligned on the logarithmic (non-linear) scale. It made it fantastically frustrating to deliver consistent well-aimed strokes. Never had this kind of a problem with Worms or Scorched Earth (two games that share similar power/angle mechanics). It'd be great if the dev could add an option to configure the power stroke to be more linear. Then there's the soundtrack. I really wanted to love it. It's clear some effort went into it, but sadly for me it just didn't click. Then again, maybe the intent was to create a sense of boredom to go with the wasteland atmosphere? Not sure. Anyway, it's not that the soundtrack is "bad", it's just that after 5-6 minutes of listening to the same monotonous beat I get the urge for something more stimulating. It'd be great if the dev could add the option to include my own songs that would interlace with the radio stream. Finally, the story, and more widely, the experience stemming from the setting and the methods the game use to share its societal critique. I get that others found it engaging and captivating, but for me it just felt uninspiring and tiresome. Same as with to the soundtrack, not "bad" as such, just boring. In the end, after a few days that I found myself in need of a more invigorating simulation every time I close the game, I decided to just stop playing. So yeah, overall, not a game I'd recommend. But on the other hand, from a technical standpoint the game rocks! The vector graphics scale beautifully to 4k, I encountered no bugs, and the whole experience flew super smooth on a pretty average specs PC. Thanks GOG for its hugely generous refund policy!

I got this game for free at another place and thought I might share some of my thoughts about it here. It might be because I'm a fan of dystopian stories but I fell in love with this game rather instantly. The background story felt like it could happen in a near future. I'm old enough to have seen some signs of things that are in the the game, actually happening in the real world. The radio station added to the atmosphere even if I felt that the loop was bit short. A few more stories in the show would have been nice. The graphics suited the game even if I personally would have preferred them a wee bit darker. Game itself was simple with some funny surprises and shortcuts here and there and I don't think I've found them all yet. I didn't have any problems with the lack of consistency regarding the strokes since I saw them as part of the challenge. This game is more "a story told" than anything else but personally I loved it. I won't give the game five stars since it was too short but otherwise I recommend it for anyone who fancies a great story.