How 'Dangerous Golf' turns the world's most boring sport into explosive fun
Long ago, Alex Ward had the crazy notion that staged car crashes could make for a good video game. So he got to work on it with the team at Criterion Games, and the Burnout series was born.
Now Ward is back with another crazy notion. The gist: Golf is a boring sport, but it doesn't have to be. You just need to throw in some explosions, and rooms full of fragile valuables. Make it fun. Make it deadly. Make it Dangerous Golf.
You May Also Like
"Golf's boring, golfers are boring and golf games made for golfers are really boring," Ward told Mashable during an office visit to show off the upcoming game.
"I like Caddyshack, by our lord Harold Ramis. I like Tin Cup with Kevin Costner ... playing with a rake and a shovel, and bouncing [the ball] off a portable toilet. Golf is so dull that you have to make it larger than life."
Dangerous Golf does away with virtually everything you know about the sport. Fundamentally, each "hole" is a three-shot challenge. But don't call this miniature golf. There are no humans wearing funny pants. No clubs. No par. There's just a ball and a room full of breakables.
Each hole starts with a "Smashbreaker" challenge that tasks you with causing a certain amount of destruction on your first shot. Fail, and you'll have to spend your second shot trying to land the ball in the hole.
If you complete the challenge, however, your second shot becomes the Smashbreaker. Hitting the ball sets it on fire and turns it into a sort of guided missile; you can then use your controller to move the ball around, both to choose what you want to break and to position yourself to sink the final putt.
The magic is in the setting for each hole. The open space of a golf course wouldn't work in Dangerous Golf. Instead, you're smacking balls in cluttered kitchens, fully stocked museums and ornate dining rooms.
Here's a look at what playing through a "typical" hole might look like:
"Our game is never going to be set on a golf course because there's nothing to hit," Ward said. "We wanted to [focus on] physics and destruction."
There's more to the game than just that three-stroke process, of course. Special abilities like "pistol putt" (which give you a laser sight, for finer aiming) and modes like "bucket blast" (in which you use rolling buckets to cause destruction) offer more depth.
In another mode, the ball is glued to each surface it strikes, planting a bomb in that location. With a limited number of "glue" shots in your arsenal, you've got to spread your explosives around the room to maximize destruction.
"Golf's boring, golfers are boring and golf games made for golfers are really boring."
Then there are the secrets and silly bits. Switches that open doors to hidden rooms. High level tournaments (Masters knock-off "The Terribles" and an Open spoof called "Sorry, We're Closed"). There's even something called "Golden Ketchup."
"In every level, there's a golden bottle of ketchup," Ward said, grinning at his imminent dad joke. "That's the secret sauce -- that's a bonus."
All of the extra bits are there to support the game's key focus: turning rooms filled with valuables into rooms filled with debris. No matter what kind of shot you take, a marvelous chain reaction of destruction follows.
Then comes the trick shot. Each hole ends with you trying to put the ball in the hole, just like regular golf. The difference here is you're encouraged to take chances and line up elaborate ricochets. The game is generous about helping your ball into the hole. It's possible to miss, but perfect aim is not required.
In that sense, Dangerous Golf is a natural descendant of Burnout's imaginative "Crash" mode. There, minute adjustments to your car's steering and velocity dramatically influence the score earned when you cause a wreck.
It's the same in Dangerous Golf. Where you send your smacked ball and how you steer your Smashbreaker have a profound effect on the amount of destruction you cause, and the amount of money you earn. Both games turn their simple core concept into a skill-based challenge.
"Trick shots are just fun, and they're really empowering," Ward said. "I'm as passionate [about] trick shots as I ever was about two cars hitting each other and blowing up."
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Topics Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
