Golf Club Wasteland

How far would you go to play the perfect round of golf? If you're a die-hard fan with enough money, you might hit all of the most iconic courses around the world. But no matter how far you go, the man at the center of Golf Club Wasteland definitely has you beat. Forget about Pebble Beach or Augusta National, because he's going to play a few rounds on Earth. Now, that may not sound that far, but in this new game from Demagog Studio, all of society has fled a post-apocalyptic Earth in favor of living on Mars. This lonely astronaut traveled 250 million miles to play the perfect round of golf. Was it worth it? Let's find out.

Welcome to the 22nd century, where things have gotten so bad that humanity had to colonize Mars. Golf Club Wasteland takes place only a few years after a great catastrophe forced the surviving humans to board a bunch of rockets and populate Tesla City. But while everybody else gets used to living on a hostile planet where you can't even breathe the air, one man has decided to return to Earth to play the most extreme round of golf you'll ever see.

At first glance, Golf Club Wasteland has all of the trappings of the real sport. The astronaut may be in a big, bulky space suit, but he still has to hit the ball into a hole, all while avoiding bunkers and water hazards. The difference here is where those holes are located and what stands in the way. It's common to have a course that requires us to hit a ball through an apartment building or on the top of a bunch of high-rises.

As you get used to hitting the ball over the destruction and finally have a chance to take that second glance, you'll discover that Golf Club Wasteland is more about personal accomplishment than playing a sport. This is the kind of game where you probably won't even keep track of the score, at least not in the story mode. As the difficulty ramps up and the courses become more convoluted, you'll have to puzzle your way through the obstacles in order to find the hole. Forget about a par 3, because some of these courses will take ten or twenty swings just to get within putting distance. But the astronaut doesn't mind. He's just happy to be playing golf on Earth. And who can blame him?

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He does all this while listening to a radio broadcast from Mars that not only pumps in one of 2021's best soundtracks, but also helps to fill in some of the information about the great catastrophe and how the survivors dealt with colonizing another planet. We get this in the form of brief but effective memories from people who are nostalgic for the past. One man describes a harrowing story where he almost missed getting a seat on the rocket, while another woman yearns for the days when she could go clubbing with the girls. As frivolous as some of the stories seem, they each add a new color to the painting, revealing the tragic story of what happened and where things stand now.

As strange as it sounds, Golf Club Wasteland is the first golf game that actually made me emotional. I can't really get into the details without spoiling some of the plot points, but I can say that the story takes a few surprising turns that left me a little choked up. Even as somebody who hasn't fled the planet to live on Mars, I found myself strangely nostalgic for Earth and feeling that sense of loneliness as I golfed around the wild animals that have now made the planet their home.

What I like most about this game are the unique level designs, both when it comes to the backgrounds and the actual courses. Like I said before, you've never played a round of golf on this kind of terrain. Believe it or not, it actually reminds me of the music video for Dinosaur Jr.'s classic hit "Feel the Pain," which features oblivious golfers bouncing balls off of skyscrapers. The difference here is that everything is destroyed and there are a lot of not-so-subtle stabs at social commentary. I really like the look of the game and how Golf Club Wasteland manages to be both relaxing and disquieting at the same time.

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Unfortunately, this game is let down a bit by the gameplay. What we have here is a golf game that is almost too simple for its own good. You aim the ball with the analog stick and press the button to hit the ball. That's it. The challenge is dialing in the right angle and power, that way you won't accidentally send the ball into a big pile of luggage at the airport. Maybe it's just me, but I found it incredibly hard to judge where the ball was going to go, especially when the camera gets pulled out in some of the more epic levels. But as much as I would like to believe that the camera is the problem, I have to admit that even putting proved to be frustrating. Even by the end of the game, I never felt like I fully got the hang of the shaky aiming control.

More than anything else, what Golf Club Wasteland needs is a rewind button. There were so many times when I would get stuck in an isolated part of the course and have a hard time hitting my way out. Yes, you can always restart, but some of the later levels are incredibly long and complicated, so restarting if you get stuck at the end is not a great option. With the game barely keeping score as it is, a rewind button would make life on Earth so much better.

But even without being able to rewind, Golf Club Wasteland is still a fun game that is easy to recommend. I really love the course designs and how it genuinely feels like you go on a journey. It's also well-written and surprisingly emotional, two things I normally don't get to say about a sports game. Hot Shots and PGA Tour may play better, but I guarantee that this is the only golf game to reference Andrei Tarkovsky's brilliant 1972 movie Solaris. More than anything else, that is the difference between Golf Club Wasteland and every other sports game on the market.