Test Zoo Golf Club: Wasteland – Nintendo Switch – Endeavor

Imagine for a second you were transposed into the karmic driven world of Earl. So we fly to Mars and rebuild our civilization, visiting our former home planet for only a few easy rounds of golf. You can roughly imagine the structure of the golf club: Wasteland, which I have been able to test over the last few days.

I outlined the events surrounding the latest golf game for the Nintendo Switch roughly with the words I wrote at the beginning. As the initially unknown protagonist you find yourself in a destroyed earth in the meantime and play one of a total of 35 holes. However, as a player the shadow of a creature unknown to you repeatedly adorns the screen and the screen texts between the holes give insights into their thoughts. So as you travel through different stages and finish golf courses, you gradually learn more and more about who you really are playing, who sees you and how humanity has departed from the earth. In terms of narration, it is supported by the Mars radio station, which not only emits soft sounds in the ears, but also reveals additional details about events.

While the story may seem like a classic open world adventure, you basically get a pure gameplay. With a stick you can determine in which direction and with what force your player is swinging the club and the stroke is carried out by pressing a button at the end. The goal is to reach the hole, even if the number of your attempts in the first round of the game plays an obedient role. However, if you are interested in many wonderful background information about the story, you can try to master the levels with as little effort as possible. This helps to open up more information. The story really unfolds only when the three-hour title is played a second time. But since goals are not so difficult, you want to be on the ball. Unfortunately, this is not the real challenge.

If my interpretation has so far been interchangeable, you will recognize the title’s appeal after the latest developments. Individual holes are not only designed to be true to the details, but also to make the system believe in itself. Initially you will find yourself playing in the ruined meadows, playing in the gaps, uninhabited houses of all kinds and hitting the ball through a former airport. A package carousel is waiting for you. The variety is really huge. This is because not only individual scenes, but all kinds of new elements are introduced in individual stages. For example, squirrels stealing your ball or the wind pushing the ball forward.

The system then comes with a fantastic soundtrack that can be categorized somewhere between depression and entertainment. It goes to your ear after a few minutes and is so much fun to pause for a while to hear it. Some pieces make your legs shake happily as you master the course. Golf Club: Wasteland buyers can also count on the fact that the soundtrack is available. You will also find a 55 page graphic novel about the story in the game, which will immerse you even more deeply in the adventure. But there are many little things in the game that are only visible if you look closely. One of the most beautiful details for me is how our player gets angry and shakes his head when he stops the ball just before the hole. Such subtleties show very well how much joy went into the development.

In the end, you have to critique the controls and some levels. For one, I couldn’t get used to the restrictions even after my second run. The strength and adjustment of the path was a bit unclear to me, so there were repeated failed attempts. This is especially annoying because some courses have alternative summaries. However, these are usually difficult to achieve using a control system. In addition, the levels are all different, but I missed a real challenge. For example, some game elements are used only once, and the combination of these is very rare. There could have been a lot more potential here than a challenge for more experienced players.