Hugecalf Studios' golfing/racing hybrid title, Turbo Golf Racing, is a fun time. It's a wacky arcade game that sees you using cars to launch oversized golf balls through maze-like environments, taking many cues from Rocket League.
Mechanically, Turbo Golf Racing is comfortable doing its own thing, with the golfing angle pairing wonderfully with the smooth controls. You'll be using turbo, power-ups, and the like across the game's two primary modes. The first mode — and the lesser of the two — is Race, which gives you unlimited hits on your ball as you try and get it into the hole first across three matches. You're competing directly with other players, so most consumable power-ups like missiles or shields serve their greatest purpose here. The other primary mode is Golf, which is more like traditional golfing. You get one touch on the ball per "drive" and you're trying to be as far under par as possible across five matches — or 18 holes in the offline mode.
While Golf mode makes less use of power-ups, it leaves more time to drink in the vibrant and varied environments. Each region has a distinct look, even if the actual courses themselves tend to blend together after you've run through a few. The vibrancy and pseudo-futuristic aesthetic also borrow heavily from Rocket League, as do the controls, ensuring that picking up the title is a breeze.
Hugecalf even takes its monetisation cues from Psyonix, with loot boxes, a battle pass, and all manner of cosmetics present throughout. Outside of a menu to pick your game mode, nearly all other menu options are connected to the title's economy. But we think Hugecalf knew this beforehand, as the game awards free items and goodies at a higher-than-average rate.
If you're looking for a brief distraction, Turbo Golf Racing delivers a sizeable amount of fun in an admittedly slim package.
Comments 6
@gbanas92 Thanks for the review! Forgot that the game came out, was wondering if it was any good. But I do have some things about your review that seem unclear or are not mentioned, that I think your readers should know. TLDR:
I was confused about the mention of microtransactions, because I went to the PlayStation Store to see how bad they were in terms of cost. But there were no currencies available to purchase, only a few packs of cosmetics. In my quest to clear up my confusion, I read the (currently) only review on Metacritic (where I found out about the other stuff), and I checked out the Steam page for the game, where I realized that I owned it (got the Early Access version in a charity bundle, apparently) — so I booted it up to confirm.
The in-game economy looks like one that would be used for microtransactions, so I understand, but the way you described the economy and the mention of microtransactions in the Cons might lead people to think that there are currencies that could be bought with real-world money.
The single-player mode is only Time Trials, so I understand not mentioning it in the review because it seems inadequate, and thus irrelevant — but I figured I’d give it a quick mention.
The lack of local multiplayer is a big one, for me at least. My sister likes playing Golf With Your Friends with me, and I thought it could be another game to try, so that would be a dealbreaker for me (if I didn’t already own it, of course!). Could be another bullet point in the Cons.
Only minor criticisms, though (and I understand that this is a Mini Review for a low-profile game, so you probably couldn’t go further with the details). Thanks again 👍
@Impossibilium Thanks for the feedback - I’ve removed the con about microtransactions, an error on our part.
@Quintumply No problem, I figured as much. I remember from another comment section (with some silly controversy about the Pros and Cons) the fact that the review author might not be the person that writes the Pros and Cons.
I think you should still look at the wording in the review though; it still mentions “monetisation” like Rocket League, which might be misleading.
(And sorry for the pedantry. I have no idea why I care about this so much 🤓)
While clear it's inspiration I'll say this it may not have the same depth/polish but I mean I can play GTI Club with a more less overdone soccer mode, tomato mode and bomb mode if I wanted over Rocket League but still arcadey charm.
This is a fair idea and kind of gives off the Hotwheels Beat That I found for Wii one of the more theme park kind of levels that kind of gave off golf course vibes.
So yeah more arcade sports games with vehicles and interesting level design many golf games can have in an arcadey sense is a fair idea if done well I approve.
Not into the visuals but the courses look fine enough but I bet they won't be that great and if it's lacking depth then hmm yeah that could be a problem. But sometimes the simplicity can be a charm just to a degree.
@Impossibilium The microtransactions one I would chalk up to more of a semantic thing. The "microtransactions" were in regard to those very same cosmetic packs you mentioned. So not the more contemporary "currency" microtransactions, but more what they were at the dawn of the movement.
The time trial mode I do mention, but only sorta vaguely haha. That's the "offline" mode in that 2nd paragraph. Definitely easy to just either overlook or interpret as something else it seems like haha.
As for the wording about monetization being like Rocket League, that's still true. The PlayStation Store packs are the same general structure as the early Rocket League days, back when it was a pay-to-play game. So no keys or buying loot boxes with real money or anything like that, but the game's economy is also very much set up to make that transition into a full-blown F2P game should it decide it's ready to do so.
And fair point on no local co-op! It's definitely the type of game that would benefit from it too!
@SuntannedDuck2 Yeah you could argue that simplicity has a charm to it in this case I'd say! It was a perfectly pleasant experience, with some high points, just lacking some of that polish or depth you'd want in a handful of key areas to really ensure it has that extra bit of staying power!
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