LogFAQs > #978340762

Game #29 Complete! Executive Golf DX

Throw This Quote On The Back Of The Box: "I didn't totally hate this and I always hate golf games!"

Final Thoughts:
This one grew on me the more I played it. I was negative on it after my first run, but honestly it might be one of the better golf games I've played. I HATE golf games. I don't know why. I remember my friend telling me he liked Mario Golf back in the day and it changed my opinion on him. He actually went to jail a couple of years back for driving on a suspended license. I'm not saying this is definitive proof of anything, but he was the only one of my friends to like Mario Golf and he's been the only one of my friends to have jail time. You know what, I am saying this is definitive proof of something and everyone who likes golf games is a hooligan.

What kind of works for me here is how silly and simple this whole thing is. I know Hot Shots Golf has this huge following, but I tried playing it one time and as soon as I had to putt on a 42 degree incline with a northeastern wind coming in from the Golf Coast, and then missed because I forgot to account for moon to be in its waxing gibbous phase, I was out. Here you don't have that. Whack the ball and maybe it'll go where you want it to and maybe it won't, who knows.

This really feels like golf-ish. It's golf mixed with billiards is the closest comparison I can think of. You need to do normal golfing stuff, but there's also a lot where you're accounting for angles and bouncing it off of a filing cabinet on the floor above so it'll careen up and over a lamp on a desk. I'm still not entirely convinced this sort of vertical golfing is worth the extra frustration and there were a couple of times where I'd bounce off some lighting fixtures, careen back over two obstacles and down a floor where I had to stop and seriously consider if my Playdate wouldn't look better if I smashed it with a hammer. It isn't quite "Bennet Foddy" level trolling, but it does get close to being rage game adjacent at times (intentionally so, if you listen to the developer talk about it).

Still, not a terrible game. Not even a bad one! I wish there was more of it. You get one four hole course going up and one four hole course going down and that's it. I mentioned the design was sloppy on my first playthrough, but I found out later on that's because it is procedurally generated. I get why the developer here thought that might be a good idea (especially with only eight holes), but to me it would've been better if they spent the time actually designing courses rather than relying on procedural generation. Especially because the whole point of this game is to time chase/score chase. My best time was like 50% skill, 50% because I got a couple of floors where the only obstacle was a chair. Sometimes I'd start a run, look at the layout of that first hole and think "nah" and just restart.

So better than I thought it would be and if you love silly golf games, maybe bump this one up a couple of points. Just be aware there is very little of it and the courses are procedurally designed. If you're fine with those two things this is probably a pretty decent game.

Also, since this is a Season 1 game we get a full interview with the developer if you're interested in listening about a game you'll probably never play! It's here: https://play.date/games/executive-golf/

Some fun tidbits:

• The reason it is in an executive building is because the guy wanted to do a vertical golfing game and then sort of thought about possible settings after the fact.
• The "DX" title is because when he pitched the game to the guy behind the Playdate, he essentially told him "hey Executive Golf Pro (the original name) is fine but I'm buying all these weird Japanese products online that have a DX thrown on the end for no reason and it'd be funny if you did the same." And the developer was basically like "haha sure you're writing the checks".
• The frustration here is intentional. He brings up Bennett Foddy directly which is fun because that is exactly who I was thinking of when I played this. This is the most Foddian Playdate game, imo, and that includes the game that Bennett Foddy actually made.
• I didn't bring it up in my write up, but a lot of the power-ups here are kind of dumb and that too was something intentional. The bounce all around and mess up your shot ball was basically included because he thought it was funny. The worst ball, the moon ball, is something he says "yeah I don't know what I was thinking there I wish I could change that some".

Should You Play It? Sure. It is free with Season 1, actually, so you have no reason not too! I hate golf games and I didn't hate this one so that's something. This really does reaffirm my thoughts that the Season 1 games as a whole were very well curated while the catalogue games are are wasteland of scum and villainy because I should hate this game and I don't.

Final Score: 5. The universe heard Johnbobb's complaints that a 4 was so close to cracking the top 10 and answered by giving him a 5 instead. This might be higher for some people depending on preferences. Too short for me and I feel like making this procedurally generated was a mistake. But it is kind of fun and kind of interesting, even with that (and the occasional control jankiness).

Games Completed: 29/142

Game Rankings:
29) HANA Spacetime Fantasy
28) Boogie Loops
27) Hidey Spot
26) Bub-O Collect
25) The Lushes Land
24) Nightingale
23) A Joke That's Worth 0.99 Cents
22) Whitewater Wipeout
21) The Botanist
20) Snak
19) DYG
18) Lost Your Marbles
17) Grand Tour Legends
16) Demon Quest '85
15) The Fall of Elena Temple
14) Flipper Lifter
13) Questy Chess
12) Slitherlink PD
11) Executive Golf DX
10) The Keyper
9) SKEW
8) Echoic Memory
7) Omaze
6) Sasquatchers
5) Castle Tintagel
4) Casual Birder
3) Zipper
2) Pick Pack Pup
1) Crankin's Time Travel Adventure