Reviews

An impressive first title from a new indie studio. Pretty artstyle and the novel concept of an RPG with golf replacing battles is a welcome mix-up of the genre that could've easily felt like a gimmick if it hadn't gone all-in on every possible application of the golf theme. There's disc golf, mini golf, long-range golf, virtual golf, and tens of other more unusual (and occasionally hilarious) puzzles that can be solved by whacking a ball with a stick. The core golf gameplay is as solid as you could hope, with fun course hazards and absurdly satisfying feedback when you hit that perfect shot, but it also leans fully into RPG tropes with golf club upgrades and a LoZ style items screen that fills as you unlock new abilities.

With the game hitting so many different beats however comes the problem that some fun ones go under-used. My personal favourite was disc golf and you only seem to be able to play it three times at preset points in the story, and can't come back to replay it when you feel like a round. The long-range driving mechanic is only ever used ONCE and then never mentioned again. I would've also appreciated a way to zoom out and see the whole course as you only get a quick glimpse of it at the start of the hole and then your camera movement is very limited, but the biggest complaint I have is how (despite the game doing well at running you through the basics) some of the more confusing systems go completely un-introduced. The game starts you off with a limited use super-move that can be used to make trickier shots easier until a stamina bar is depleted, and more of them gradually unlock through the story, but you're never told they're there and they only work in certain matches so even if you try all the controls it's easy to go "oh, that doesn't do anything," and never touch it again. It's very possible to go through the whole game without knowing they're there (a fact I know for sure based on the amount of people posting on reddit who did just that).

Another issue is the upgrade screen which does present a cool idea but needs a lot more explanation to stop it being so damn un-user friendly. There are 5 stats you can distribute points into, each affecting a different aspect of your shot, and each (aside from the self-explanatory "Power") have a bit of a vague description for what they actually do. Of the 5 identical bars 3 follow traditional game-logic that the fuller they are the better, but one of the bars drains all the others when you put points in it, and one needs to be perfectly balanced in the middle of the bar - actually becoming worse if you put too many points into it. You can also refund points, but only from one of the five bars, the other four lock them in immediately after spending, and if all that sounds as obtuse to you as it did to me you'd probably do well to look up an online explanation the first time you level up.

Golf Story has a tonne of personality, mostly conveyed through its painstakingly animated text boxes which all dynamically grow/shrink, speed up, and slow down to better convey the rhythm of its character's dialogue. The writing itself is often funny and very well done over-all but I did personally have a problem with just how much of a dick everybody is to your character. That might seem like an odd complaint at first but I found it genuinely frustrating that you can be demolishing your rivals while they're still learning not to hit into the water, then beating famous pro-golfers on your first try,and EVERYBODY will still be acting like your character's shit. It's like playing a game where every single character is Gary Oak.

Technically the game works alright, but does have a strange problem with scenes and sprites not being updated quite in time for the game's pace. This can be minor: like your character spawning with his club out only to quickly put it away and get it out again, or major: like a cutscene ending, flashing back to the final frame of the previous cutscene, cutting to a "the following day..." intertitle, going back to the end of the first cutscene before gameplay loads in, then your character standing next to their bed quickly snaps into their "asleep" animation so they can wake up and go back to where they were standing again. More harmful to the actual gameplay is how the game sometimes detects your shot as hitting the water when it landed squarely on land (not even close to the edge, I'm talking right in the middle of the fairway), putting you down two strokes through no fault of your own. Thankfully it's as rare as it is frustrating but, combined with the inexplicable quality of life shortfall of not being able to restart or back out of tournaments, your options if you get that water glitch on the first hole are either to carry on playing for 15 minutes - knowing fullwell you've probably already lost - or to completely exit and reboot the game.

While the Sega Genesis had plenty of mascots during its run, but none were more of a representation of the 90’s than that of ToeJam and Earl; two aliens from the planet Funkotron who looked and spoke like they would have fit perfectly as Nickelodeon kid shows back in the days of Rocco Modern Life and Hey Arnold.

The games themselves were fun, kid friendly adventures with unique humour and animation. However after two games, the funky duo left the scene, until a recent resurgence thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign to bring them back with developers HumaNature Studios at the helm, an indie studio run by one of the creators of the original series.

With ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove releasing today, we wonder if time has been kind to the funky Aliens or did the bass line drop a long time ago? ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove has our titular aliens flying around in their decked out spaceship (the Rapmaster Rocket) on a date with their sweethearts Latisha and Lewanda, flying around Earth while blasting some funky beats when they accidentally destroy the planet with a black hole generator. The ship then crashes and breaks into 10 pieces which is up to the group to navigate the broken pieces of the Earth to put everything back together.

It’s hard to describe a game like ToeJam & Earl, at its core it plays like a roguelike adventure game with randomly generated levels, items and enemies thrown into the mix, yet the action comes from avoiding dangers and finding the quickest path to get all 10 pieces of the Rapmaster. In fact, I worry about making the game sound kind of boring by putting in words when in fact, the game is an absolute joy to play.

This is mainly thanks to the game’s unique style. As one of nine playable characters, each with different stats and abilities (such as Earl’s ability to eat rotten food), players will have can move around a chunk of broken the Broken Earth which is randomly generated with Earthlings which can provided either danger, annoyances or be helpful. These can range from internet trolls, Alien fans, jackhammering construction workers, hula girls, to even Gandhi, each character is cartoonish in their own right and add a bit of charm as you explore the world.

To help our friendly aliens on their journey, they’re given a variety of presents to use, each with a different effect. Like the Earthlings that you have to deal with, some are helpful, annoying to just rude. Presents are always unknown when you first pick them up, but unwrapping them will instantly use the item, helpful or harmful, and give a slight amount of XP.

The thing is, when you’re playing ToeJame and Earl: Back in the Groove, you’re really playing a modern version of the Genesis classic. This is by all means not a bad thing as it comes with a large variety of improvements such as smoother animation and better controls which makes the roguelike gameplay and the randomly generated levels more appreciated.

The game is short; as it took me around 3 hours to complete my first playthrough, but the ability to unlock new characters and couch co-op gameplay, not to mention the charm of the game, makes it easy to come back to for family game time.

ToeJam and Earl is a great kids game with plenty of charm for adults who grew up on the funky aliens to enjoy. It’s easy to pick up and play with a great multiplayer and doesn’t out stay its welcome. If you haven’t played a ToeJam and Earl game, this is definitely a great starting point, and if you’re already a fan, you’re going to love Back in the Groove.