Golf vs. Zombies

While golf may have a reputation for being slow and stodgy, video game golf is a completely different story. It’s full of all kinds of weird and wacky scenarios, like towering robots using big cities as their destructive driving range or ninjas slicing through bad guys on the ninth hole. That’s the kind of energy you get with Golf vs. Zombies, a new game that is a delicious mix of sports and horror. Don’t let the walking dead get in the way of your leisurely stroll through the post-apocalyptic park in this fun and cheeky new mash-up. But is this sports game a hole in one or a triple-bogey? That’s what we’re about to find out when I review Golf vs. Zombies.

You know how golfers will say that the real winner is the course? Well, that’s definitely true when it comes to Golf vs. Zombies. This is the kind of golf game where nobody is keeping track of the score and you’re just lucky to survive from one hole to the next. The goal of this game isn’t so much to improve your handicap, but rather clear the course of brain-hungry zombies, collect bottle caps and pick up clues to how to stop this unholy infestation once and for all.

As the title suggests, this is a post-apocalyptic golf game where zombies have taken over the world. And because not even the end of the world is going to keep people from hitting the links, a savvy businessman named Billy has built an incredibly dangerous course around the remains of what is left of our civilization. This means slicing around a downed aircraft and putting next to a tank used in the unsuccessful fight against the living dead. As golf courses go, this is one of the most exciting.

Here's how it works: Our brave golfer swings and then is forced to defend where the ball lands from a wave of zombies. This is the structure all the way up until you land on the green – golf, zombie, golf, zombie, back and forth. The combat sees a few zombies pop out of holes and slowly walk towards our unmovable golfer. The trick is to use your swings to aim golf balls at the zombie’s heads, which is a lot easier said than done. With walkers coming at you from all sides, you’ll need to not only set up the perfect shot, but also tackle the undead enemies in the right order. Mess this up and our brave golfer will become somebody’s lunch.

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Like all zombie games, there are several different types of walkers to contend with. We graduate from the standard zombie to ones that have buckets on their heads, which will require two hits to defeat. There are also female zombies that will come at you with a frying pan. They’ll rotate between blocking their face with the pan and leaving it exposed, forcing you to time your shots perfectly. You’ll also run into zombie rabbits late in the game, which are pretty much exactly what you expect.

The good news is that we can buy upgrades and more powerful golf balls. Since a large part of the game involves you collecting valuable bottle caps, you’ll want to trade those in for a drone that lets you fly around the course, a tracker to see where the zombies are and platforms that can give you a big advantage when trying to avoid the living dead. Best of all, you’ll also be able to buy explosive golf balls that will kill multiple zombies all at once. There are also sniper, nuke and frozen golf balls, all of which can give you a big advantage when going up against the walking dead.

As a sports game, I would not call Golf vs. Zombies a deep simulator. In fact, it’s barely a sports game at all. We don’t get the typical niceties you normally see in this type of game, and the only reason there’s a par is to determine how many bottle caps you earn at the end of each hole. And while the combat gets upgrades and cool new balls to exploit, the core golfing experience largely stays the same from beginning to end. Sure, you can buy the drone and even power-it up, but it rarely helped me and was too cumbersome to use. Instead of jumping through hoops, I wish Golf vs. Zombies had a button that let me see an overhead of the course, like literally every other golf game in existence.

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I’m also a bit mixed on the gameplay. You aim your shot by holding down one of the trigger buttons, which gets the job done, but is a little finicky. In a game that requires you to quickly (and accurately) aim at a zombie’s head, I felt like the controls sometimes got in the way. This is one of those games that is frustratingly difficult at the start, but eventually becomes more manageable as you improve your aim and buy the more destructive golf balls. In some regards I actually like that learning curve, but the game feels a bit too aggressive early on. I could see somebody play a hole or two and not have much fun at all, mostly because it’s too hard to deal with several zombies coming at you from all sides. Even when you’re an experienced golfer, there are some cheap parts of the course that feel like the game is cheating.

That’s annoying, but my biggest complaint about Golf vs. Zombies involves the course itself. Don’t get me wrong, I like the look of the game and the various bits of post-apocalyptic flair. That said, I wish the holes were a bit more diverse. They all take place in the dusty desert, which definitely looks like the end of the world, but is also a bit limiting. I wish that we could take our golf carts to other parts of the fallen world, like the torn-apart cities and strongholds. After so many holes that largely looked the same, I was hoping for more color and backgrounds. Unfortunately, the game keeps us trapped in that desert setting, which both makes sense and is really disappointing.

Thankfully, that’s the only thing I found disappointing about Golf vs. Zombies. After getting used to the gameplay and buying the upgrades, I had a lot of fun taking on this monster-filled course. It has a good atmosphere, a cheeky sense of humor and surprisingly tense fights with the undead. I wish the golf part of the game had been better fleshed out, but this is a fun genre mash-up that delivers on the promise. If you’re a fan of golf and a fan of zombies, then you’re going to have a good time playing Golf vs. Zombies.