Golf Club Wasteland / Aspire: Ina’s Tale Bundle

Genre: Compilation / Sports (Golf) / Puzzle-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: Review codes for both games in this bundle were previously provided by the kind folks at Untold Tales.)

(Note: Golf Club Wasteland, included in this bundle, is also in Golf Club Nostalgia & The Cub Bundle, along with The Cub.)

Golf Club Wasteland / Aspire: Ina’s Tale Bundle, released on Nintendo Switch in 2022, is naturally a Compilation of the two games named in the title, both released separately on the Nintendo Switch in 2021.

I have previously reviewed both of these games. Here is what I thought of each of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Aspire: Ina’s Tale	Puzzle-Platformer	1	C+
tl;dr Aspire: Ina’s Tale is a Puzzle-Platformer about a girl trying to escape a machine-filled tower by absorbing “spirits” that allow her to influence the environment in different ways. The puzzles here are very good, but the game ends just when it feels like it’s starting to really get going, and what’s here is brought down somewhat by poor platforming and slow movement. Still, despite these issues, this is an overall pleasant experience that fans of Puzzle-Platformers should find to be well worth trying.
Golf Club Wasteland	Sports (Golf)	1	C+
tl;dr Golf Club Wasteland is a game that has players taking the role of a spacesuit-clad golfer playing through 2D Side-Scrolling courses in the post-apocalyptic ruins of Earth. The game’s social commentary is absolutely fantastic, bolstered by an in-game radio that gives an amusing look at the lives of humanity’s survivors. Unfortunately, the Golf gameplay is lacking by comparison, overly difficult and unforgiving, and too difficult to gauge where your shot will go. If you can tolerate these flaws, the excellent presentation and satire is more than worth giving this game a try, but this is not a game to get if your primary interest is the Golf itself.

In short, both of these games have some good things going for them, but also have some elements that detract from the experience – Aspire is too short and its platforming is less than stellar, and Golf Club Wasteland (later renamed Golf Club Nostalgia) is overly tough and unforgiving. Between the two games, I think Golf Club Wasteland edges out Aspire to be the stronger of the two experiences, thanks to the fact that the stuff that game does right works very well – so much so, that in the 2021 eShopperReviews Game Awards, this game was named as a runner-up for Best Sound Design, Best Story, and Best Sports Game, and won Best Song (Take My Hand by Ana Curcin).

I should also note that while, at first glance, these games may seem to share little in common beyond having the same publisher, they actually do make for a good fit – both games have a lot of focus on their story, with much of that story told through the game’s environments. Both games are also largely slow-paced Platformers of a sort, although each of them approaches Platforming in a very different way. Ultimately, I think these two games compliment each other well, providing something different to each other, while still having enough in common to make them make sense as a pairing.

And as always when it comes to bundles, that brings me to the question of the price tag. Unfortunately, that’s the place where this bundle falls short. At $23, this bundle is the exact same price that you’d have to spend to buy each of these games separately. There’s no added incentive to get the two games together, and although you’re not worse off for buying the bundle, there’s no reason you shouldn’t just buy both games on their own instead.

In the end, Golf Club Wasteland / Aspire: Ina’s Tale Bundle has some positive elements to it, but unfortunately, the value of these positive elements is dulled by the flaws these games have, and the overall package seems largely pointless when there’s no benefit to getting this bundle when you can just buy the games separately for the same price.

tl;dr – Golf Club Wasteland / Aspire: Ina’s Tale Bundle is a Compilation of the two named games, a side-scrolling Golf game and a Puzzle-Platformer. Both games have their positive qualities and compliment each other well, but they both have significant flaws as well. However, the biggest flaw in this bundle is the price tag – at $23, you’re paying exactly what you would pay to get these games separately. If either of these titles interests you, just go ahead and do that instead.

Grade: C

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