I have nothing against golf. It is a rather sluggish affair, however, which involves a lot of wandering from A to B before finally landing that tiny ball in an almost as tiny hole at the end of a long trek. Okay so maybe I do have something against golf because Bomb Golfing Volume 1 is definitely more to my liking: propel yourself through the air by way of rocket (bomb?) jumping and do your best to smash right into that end-of-course flag. Kaboom!
Oh, don’t worry – the protagonist in this one is, somehow, completely immune to explosions. Laser beams, on the other hand… now those are a problem. Avoid them. Trust me. Or try jumping through one, see for yourself. Yeah. You’re gonna have to be real careful where you place that bomb, choose the exact right moment for detonation, and on top of all that, there’s the character’s momentum to consider. Especially in later levels, where you’ll have to angle trick shots explosions with the utmost precision to separate failure from success.
Bomb Golfing is a puzzle-ish platformer where your central tool for movement is also your main mean of destruction.
Things don’t start out at such a high level of volatile madness in Bomb Golfing Volume 1 though. Early on, you’re introduced to the controls and the lay of the land makes everything seem relatively nice and simple. Just gotta somehow reach the flag, carried by the momentum of an explosion, no other obstacles. But as you can tell from the screenshot above all this text, the difficulty most certainly ramps up. It did take me a while to figure this out and the game does not explain it either, so here’s a little hint: destroying the ‘source’ block of a laser beam will get rid of the hazard entirely. Sure must be nice to have infinite bombs.
Ah yes, might be good to mention how the 18 levels in Bomb Golfing Volume 1 are all unlocked from the get-go, each featuring what appears to be a set of bonus objectives: one for ‘minimum blocks blown up’, another for ‘minimum total bombs used’. Interesting. Should add some replay value for those who fancy themselves a bit of a video game completionist. As for me, I was ready to call it quits upon reaching the halfway point.
By then, I felt like there wasn’t anything new coming up, and honestly, the controls and/or physics are a bit off, considering what certain levels demand of the player. Might not be the case for everyone, but it is certainly something to keep in mind once the fuse is lit.
Bomb Golfing Volume 1 is available on itch.io, for free.
