Turbo Golf Racing is a crazy game, one that interestingly combines rocket power RC type cars with the game of golf. Sometimes I feel like a kart racer, sometimes I feel like an offshoot of Rocket League, Turbo Golf Racing is a pure arcade experience, and one that contains a lot of hidden depth and nuance. While the core gameplay is quite easy to master, it takes countless rounds to gain any competitive edge.
While the gameplay and overall experience of Turbo Golf Racing can be quite exciting and enjoyable, it is certainly not without flaws and flaws. Since the game is in open beta, it makes sense that there will be some hitches along the way, both in terms of gameplay and presentation. This is a great fun game, but it can be made even better with the following fixes and changes.
6 More gameplay modes
The core gameplay mode in Turbo Golf Racing is a race from point A to point B where players must guide their large golf ball to the glowing hole at the end. Of course, it’s just as easy when players deal with hazards on the course, falling off the edge of the stage, and rivals’ power-ups and shenanigans. This core mode is great to play, with each round of three stages lasting up to ten minutes. It’s a fun online mode to return to again and again.
In addition, there is a solo mode to practice in the different stages to earn stars for fast times. However, outside of the two mentioned modes, there are no other gameplay modes to engage with. This is unfortunate because the game can easily make use of a team-based mode, some mini-games, or even full-fledged golf or mini-golf single-player or local multiplayer games. I hope the developers build on the strong foundation they have to add future game modes and experiments.
5 Better Stage/Biome Diversity
The different stages in Turbo Golf Racing feel and play more or less the same. Each futuristic phase seems to take place high in the sky on some sort of floating platforms or islands. While this makes for a fun, larger-than-life experience during each round, it’s hard not to feel the repetitive nature of these stages after playing a dozen games online or in solo mode.
While there are technically different “themes” for each area i.e. Wild, Industrial, Mountainous, etc., they mostly look and feel like the same areas with some color and palette changes. Adding some more over-the-top and cartoonish stages could do wonders for this game, especially since the game already relies heavily on the arcade-style gameplay. Hitting your ball to the hole in a tropical ocean paradise, ski resort, haunted forest or even an amusement park can be quite magical when implemented.
4 Controls need some fine tuning to stay competitive
For a game currently in open beta, it’s pretty impressive how smooth and polished the moment-to-moment gameplay actually is. Driving the rocket-powered cars feels responsive and quite heavy, yes, even when flying at tremendous speeds towards the golf ball with a full power boost. However, despite the overall shine, the controls could certainly use some work, at least when it comes to providing players with better nuances.
For example, drifting in this game is set to a button (on Xbox) that doesn’t feel natural when accelerating and boosting. It would make sense if the brake were also the drift action, but this is not the case. While the buttons can be remapped from the main menu to some degree, many players won’t mess with this. The default controller setting should always give players the most important actions at their fingertips. In the case of this game it would be acceleration, boosting, jumping/tricks, using an item and drifting.
3 Add more item pickups and powerups
The fact that Turbo Golf Racing combines elements of kart racers in the form of a few different item pickups and powerups, making this sports-adjacent game stand out from the crowd. Currently, the game has a boost vial pickup, a homing missile pickup, and a shield powerup. These three elements are simple and help keep the action going without too much bloating, at least in the game’s open beta state.
However, the sky is the limit when it comes to coming up with even more pickups and powerups to add to the game if the developers want them to. A game like this will continue to grow and evolve as the player base finds new ways to move faster, use the stage environment to their advantage, and find quirky ways to use the items. Specialized offensive and defensive items, as well as items related to the big golf ball could really help Turbo Golf Racing extra special in the long run.
2 More platforms equals more players
This is a simple point, but deserves to be mentioned here. Currently, Turbo Golf Racing is only available on Xbox and PC in open beta. Thankfully, it’s on Xbox Game Pass, which means more players will probably at least check out the game to see if it’s something they enjoy playing. In order for the game to have a long-term player base, the developers should aim to bring the game to other platforms at some point, namely Nintendo Switch and PlayStation consoles.
As long as cross-progression and cross-platform play are a priority for the dev (Hugecalf Studios) and publishing (Secret Mode) teams then Turbo Golf Racing could easily compete with similar sports-adjacent arcade titles and other live service games.
1 Refine and polish the user interface
One part of the game that seems to falter is the user interface. From the main menu to the game’s matchmaking lobby to the end-of-match screen, Turbo Golf Racing often comes across as a budget experience, one that lacks the finesse and flourishes that other bigger titles might have. Sure, it’s not a huge deal breaker, but a more tidy and polished UI could enhance the game’s already enjoyable gameplay and lively presentation.
Many players may think that this game looks like a different kind of live service game or worse, a boring mobile title. I hope the development team refurbish the menus and UI to really make this game shine and stand out in a crowded market.
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