Minigolf Master
Mini Golf Master has nothing to do with knocking a ball through a clown's mouth, but is more of an arcade experience. Here you are presented with several highly creative courses such as a war-torn battlefield (complete with machine gun fire and land mines), a rooftop, and a city street. This is minigolf on speed. Mini Golf Master comes complete with 37 holes of zany fun. Each course is based upon a certain theme (space, war, etc.). It's actually fun to play, in a time-killing sort of way. The game is designed for hot-seat play, there is no computer opponent. So if you want to partake in a game of mini golf by yourself, it's going to be just that by yourself. If, on the other hand, you have a couple of friends (or your son or daughter) to play with, the game is much more enjoyable. The nice graphics and course designs are the two main bright spots in Mini Golf Master. The controls, cameras, and difficulty level lead to some problems. Striking the ball is easy enough. Simply click and hold the left mouse button and pull back on the mouse to generate back swing. There is a power meter that will activate to show you how much oomph you are putting into the shot. If you let go of the mouse button, the club swings. This doesn't sound like a big deal but why not have the first click activate the swing meter and the rest of the swing simply mouse driven without having to hold the mouse button in the first place? The camera angles are a bigger problem. The courses are pretty much insane and in order to have a chance to score anywhere near par, you need to have a good understanding of how the designer wants you to play the hole there is a trick to each one. But there is no overhead camera so you must pan each hole in order to set up a shot. It's a bit more encumbering than it should be. Mini Golf Master is a very difficult game (the courses are that loopy) and one gets the sense that the designers would not have it any other way. Luck plays a huge role in how well you play each hole. With land mines, invisible barriers, water hazards, force fields, sand traps, and machine guns that shoot your ball down the green, it's tough to plan a strategy. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. If the game were too easy there would be little to no fun to be had at all with the game and that's not entirely the case here.
ESRB Rating: E - Everyone
Genre(s): Sports
