Quick Review: Golf Gang

Sometimes all you need to wind down and relax is a bit of mini-golf- wait, that’s not relaxing.

Starting off easy.

Developed by Lazy Monday Games, published by Curve Games and released on May 19th, 2022, Golf Gang is mini-putt with a twist, just how I like it. Classic of this sport, you’re given a series of 18 greens in which to send your golf ball, but the tricky part is to actually get there. And there isn’t just one course... there’s eight. That means... *pulls out calculator*... A lot! All the way from a classic golf course to an alpine resort, passing by the beach, a science station, and a Halloween world... the classics. There’s two courses per difficulty level, though you purchase seven of them using the in-game currency.

Tossing your ball while it's already in flight? Yep.

The difference? You can shoot your ball again while it’s in motion. To counterbalance this new freedom, you have a gauge that refills between strokes – and the stronger your previous stroke was, the longer it takes to recharge. The courses are designed with this in mind; some elements automatically refill your gauge, like red balloons in midair that must often be hit one after the other to cross large chasms. To further ease the new gameplay, the ball doesn't need to get in the hole; it only needs to get very close to it. This change makes sense, since we often need to aim at the flagpole while the ball is flying and moving.

No longer enough to be shot at the flagpole,
now it has to take a deltaplane too?

In single player, there are three game modes. There’s Classic Golf, where all that matters is how many strokes you need to get to the hole on each level. Then there’s Time Mode, where all that matters is the time you took (with Bronze, Silver and even Gold medals to boot). Finally, the actual Golf Gang calculates both your strokes and your time into a letter grade for each hole, from S to F, cumulating your grades across 18 holes and giving you the average at the end. In all three modes, a better performance means more gold balloons (the in-game currency), which can then be spent on color trails for your ball, new eyes painted on it, a hat and/or an accessory, or a full-on new ball design.

Some of these courses really overdo it with
hazards. I especially hated the moving jump pads
in the Science Station course.

Multiplayer lets you choose either of the three modes, whether you want all 18 holes, or just one set of 9 in any unlocked course; and you can also choose to add up to four unlockable Modifiers, turning the game into a party! And really, that’s what the game feels the most like: An absolute blast when multiple players fight each other across the courses, racing for the flagpole/competing on strokes, with Modifiers to spice it up. And the greens are designed with tons of obstacles, to make it even more challenging in multiplayer. In fact, I’d argue that there are too many obstacles on every course. It becomes too much, especially on higher difficulties. It’s nuts. And makes the game a lot less enjoyable as a solo player, since we’re then left to face all of these on our own. What’s more, it feels as though the ball's maximum speed is much slower than in other mini-golf games

The red balloons return on every course, but each
one has its own gimmick. The winter courses
have ice, Autumn Breeze has strong winds,
Haunted Hollow has "ghost" balloons that move,
Sky Temple has portals...

Oh, and can I mention the controls? Everything is done with the mouse, absolutely everything. You throw the ball by holding down the Left-Click and pulling back to determine the speed. The mouse is also how you control the camera, and you can only send the ball forward in the direction the camera is pointing! I hope you’re good at repositioning on the fly towards the exact direction in which you want to go! It’s especially bad in the aforementioned “balloons in midair” issue, where a single missed stroke means having to start over from the first balloon. This, combined to the obstacles, made for a game that I felt was more frustrating than rewarding, an issue I didn’t have with other golf games.

Maybe it really is better in multiplayer, where you can share in the chaos. Can’t say I see myself playing it solo all that much more, despite the completion challenges present (like getting a Gold medal on every time trial).

Golf Gang is available on Steam for 9.99$ USD.