Mark Frost’s The Greatest Game Ever Played tells the story of golf’s most legendary amateur, Francis Ouimet, whose victory in the 1913 U.S. Open stands as one of the most notorious upsets in the sport’s history.
Legendary as it might be, that game was probably boring, that book is probably boring, and the Disney movie based on it is also probably boring. Let me be clear: I do not care about anything unless there’s lasers in it.
Thankfully, Super Battle Golf just arrived to save the sport from its own mundanity with lasers and rockets aplenty. Its unique approach to golf, where players race across the fairway to sink the ball as fast as possible while sabotaging their buds in multiplayer, is turning heads: developer Brimstone announced in a Steam community blog post that it sold 100,000 copies in just 48 hours.
The post reads, “WOW. OK. THANK YOU!!! That is just so absolutely amazing and I am filled with so much joy. Reviews are sitting at 97% Overwhelmingly Positive, and we’ve been reading every review, forum post, message board taking in all your amazing messages and feedback!”
It’s certainly an impressive turnaround given that, as the post states, the game was thrown together in just “4.5 months.” I’m not quite sure if it counts as friendslop given that it’s competitive rather than cooperative—maybe partyslop or tourneyslop is more accurate—but its combination of inexpensive thrills and inebriation-friendly multiplayer make me think it’s striking the same chord with people.
Super Battle Golf seems to be just another example of how videogame golf, like minigolf, improves upon the venerable, ecologically deleterious, and often exclusive sport by breaking down the barrier to entry and distorting its rules as if through a funhouse mirror. If you’d like to hit the links yourself, the game is available on Steam.
