The primary sport is definitely fairly enjoyable, although it’s probably not a complete sport. It’s known as Glad Gilmore: Golf Mayhem ’98 Demo, and it’s precisely what it feels like: a fictional long-lost demo of a golf sport starring Glad that exists within the movie’s universe. It performs and appears like an old-school golf sport at first. The twist is that you just run over to your ball in between every swing, and there are issues to do alongside the way in which, like collectibles to select up or golf kart fight tournaments to partake in.
It’s all rendered with a really ‘90s layer of polygonal polish and ends in a fistfight with Bob Barker that performs like a simplified Avenue Fighter. It’s fairly quick, with just one obtainable gap to play, however the “demo” actually nails the Glad Gilmore tone. It’s obtainable on the web and choose TVs as a part of a beta at Netflix. (Here are some details on how and the place you possibly can play these video games.)
The opposite sport leans rather more towards the commercial finish of the spectrum. It’s known as The Glad Gilmore 2 Match, and it’s mainly slightly Flash-style golf sport with three holes that, whenever you beat it, unlocks… a trailer for Glad Gilmore 2. Probably the most attention-grabbing factor in regards to the sport is the place you play it: it’s obtainable via Spotify’s mobile app.
Netflix’s plan for video games hasn’t at all times been clear. However earlier this 12 months, Alain Tascan, the streamer’s president of video games, told me that it was going to focus on a handful specific pillars going ahead. The thought was to “readjust and deal with fewer areas with extra intention,” like multiplayer video games and kid-friendly experiences, moderately than simply attempting every part to see what works. One other a kind of focus areas was video games based mostly on Netflix’s film and TV properties, which is the place the Glad Gilmore experiences are available in.
These tie-in video games are more and more turning into straight-up promotional autos. When the third and final season of Squid Game hit Netflix, for example, Squid Recreation: Unleashed received an enormous replace that included characters and different parts from the brand new season. It’s not not like Superman showing in Fortnite just as his movie hits theaters — or Roblox creators making their own Stranger Things games — besides, on this case, Netflix manages the entire course of and tailors the video games and updates to the associated property. As a substitute of creating a daily Black Mirror sport, for example, Netflix turned a fictional sport from a current episode into one thing you possibly can really play. Typically, these experiences are a lot smaller than what a typical licensed sport could be, form of like a digital model of a McDonald’s Glad Meal toy.
We’re prone to see extra of those. Glad Gilmore 2 could not have the identical international attraction as Squid Recreation, however it’s a film that folks have been ready for since 1996, and it’s arguably Netflix’s greatest movie launch of the summer season, which makes it a great candidate for attempting one thing totally different. There are many alternatives on the way in which, from the end of Stranger Things to boxing matches and different reside occasions, so it’s unlikely the experimental tie-ins are completed — although they won’t be as bizarre as a fist struggle with Bob Barker.