Minigolf Mania is a 3D crazy golf game, I was going to do a Tiger Woods joke to tee off but I don’t want his lawyers after me 😉 So does Minigolf Mania score a hole in one or end up digging in the sand? Read on to find out.
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I have to admit I am a bit of a fan of golf games and minigolf is no exception, I am useless at real golf but I love playing golf on computers. Anyone can play minigolf, it is great for playing with friends or even by yourself. Minigolf Mania allows up to four players to play against each other in a turn based game.
There are four courses; one tutorial and three main which total a respectable 63 holes. The first is Golden Hills which is based on a farm location with rolling hills and ramps, Lava Island features dangerous lava making you take another shot if touched. Snowy Fields is your snow themed level with icy patches which make your ball slide further and finally the tutorial which is a mix of locations to ease you into the game.
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The locations and course designs all work well together and all have individual level designs so you are not left feeling like you have played a similar hole before. As with all good minigolf games the fun is in the level design and Minigolf Mania lives up to the expectations with moving platforms, ramps, carousels, spinning discs and other obstructions. I would have liked to have seen some of these used more often in the level design, for example the spinning discs are great fun to work out how to get past accurately but they only used in one hole.
Throughout the courses there are some special objects which will usually help you in your task to get to the hole. Super Beams when hit will propel your ball in the pointed direction, Super Springs will bounce your ball over walls or hazards, Stop Signs will abruptly stop your ball and Super Grow will increase the size of your ball so it can travel over larger gaps. When used they work very well and I think the balance between them featuring on the holes is just right.
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There are four playable modes to choose from, the Normal game allows you to play any of the courses; front 9 holes, back 9, full course or a single hole. There is also a timed mode which puts you against a clock to complete as fast as you can. The second main mode is Safari which again lets you choose the course setup but this time you must collect the animal(s) on each hole before the cup (the putting hole) will open. There is also a timed mode for Safari to play against the clock.
The game plays very well and was great fun by myself and also with a friend, controls work well and while the power of shots is initially hard to judge as you would expect, it becomes second nature as you play. The safari mode was a little disappointing, often the animals would be located close to the hole or on the usual path to it, so it was just a case of slightly adjusting a shot to collect them. I would have liked to have seen more animals or different locations to make you explore the hole a little more.
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Presentation is done well but I did find the menus navigation a little tricky at first with a combination of Left/Right triggers and the A button to set up the game. The graphics are used well and the 3D courses levels look fine and gives the game a clean look. The camera work is automatically controlled but you can manually move it if you wish to, sometimes you may end up looking at a wall, but a quick change of the zoom will fix that. The music suits the game very well with themed tracks for each course, they remind me a little of the N64 Conkers game. Sound effects are used well with an authentic putting noise, celebrations for good scores and background noises.
Minigolf Mania costs 400 :MSPoints: which is at the high end of indie games prices but for the amount of content it is worth the points. Either by yourself or with friends the game is good fun and perfecting each hole will take many hours to get that great score. Minigolf Mania gets two thumbs up from me!
You can find more information as well as download the trial and full versions of the game on the Marketplace.
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