The Most Realistic Golf Game Ever Created
Normal Golf Game, a new title from Fruit Ninja creator Luke Muscat, is being hailed as the most realistic golf game ever made. The game deliberately makes the simple act of hitting a golf ball infernally difficult, requiring intense concentration and precise mouse movements to control a ragdoll stickman golfer. In the demo, which includes only one hole, the author took 428 strokes and nearly two hours to complete it.
A Return to the Duffer Experience
Unlike traditional golf video games that are easy to master, Normal Golf Game replicates the frustration and difficulty of real golf. The player must move the golfer's arms with the mouse while adjusting stance and clubface angle using keyboard keys. The perfect shot is achieved only about 10% of the time, mirroring the struggles of amateur golfers. The game's humor, script, and bonus objectives—such as destroying signs, striking hidden gongs, and landing the ball in giant toilets—keep players engaged despite the challenge.
A New Era of Challenging Controls
Normal Golf Game is part of a growing trend of games that make control methods ludicrously challenging to replicate real-life experiences, following last year's sleeper hit Baby Steps. The author suggests that this approach could lead to football games where players control legs with two joypads or platform games played on a converted treadmill. The game is expected to be a hit in multiplayer settings, where friends can compete and mock each other's struggles.
According to the author, Dominik Diamond, "This is an intelligent attempt to do something different with the golf genre and such attempts should be supported. Great art should always be difficult."
