KMGR of Mini Golf Wacky Worlds

Image by Snap Man via Flickr

Mini Gold Wacky Worlds, from Glu, uses their pretty decent 3D engine in a new way, and the result is quite pleasing.

Mini Golf basically has you only using the putter, and play on 9 holes of interesting terrain. You rely a lot on bouncing the balls off the edges, and avoiding the special "traps" and such on the course, while go as few strokes as possible, just like regular golf, but if you went OFF the "green", you lose a stroke.

In this game, you have three 9-hole courses (must complete first course below par to unlock second course, and so on). Each of which are quite imaginative, and some have multiple paths where you must choose the "safe" (but more strokes) or the "danger" (less strokes, but more chance of ball going off course).

You start by choosing your starting position... You can slide your golfer left or right. If you prefer you can alter your profile first... Default golfer is female, but you can choose a male as well, and later, unlock even more avatars using "points" you earned by playing. Then it is time to aim... hit LEFT/RIGHT, then use UP/DOWN to determne putt strength. Finally, hit OK to hit the ball and see what happens! Repeat until you get the ball to drop into the hole.


Some holes have special "conveyers", "transports", and such for the balls, even chutes, ramps, bridges (even moving bridges). Put the ball in one side, and the ball comes out the other side. Obviously you want to cross the bridge when it is down, and don't fall off the sides.

You get a full 3D course review when you first arrive at the hole. You can also use the left softkey to switch among the 4 different viewpoints, from regular "3rd person" view to almost a bird's eye view of the course between you and the hole, and two views in between. So you can't say you are not sure where to hit the ball toward.

The physics are "relaxed", and it even has a Tiger Wood's PGA Golf-like feature where you can "nudge" the ball after you hit it (you buy this ability with the points you earned, among other abilities).

The points you earned can buy you special abilities, such as nudging the ball, jumping the ball, more avatars, and so on. They clearly help you do even better on the course.

Besides a regular round, the game also has timed golf (i.e. speed run: finish a hole within the time limit) and gopher golf (hit the gophers on the course). These would definitely require the special abilities you earned with your points.

If you crave recognition, there is also "achievements" you can go for, such as "never go out of bound in the 9-hole round".

Unfortunately, I don't see a high score or hall of fame table.

The graphics are good to excellent. The 3D worlds are imaginatively wacky in a cartoony way but close enough to reality as not to be disturbing. The courses themselves are quite good, and each course are appropriately themed: sky, snow, and forest (not order) are rendered well, and the 3D "fly-through" showcases the course very well indeed, with a 3D camera following the ball after you hit it.

Sound is quite boring, I admit I play with sound off usually.

And note: this game is considered a premium game, at $5 per month, instead of the usual 2.50 or so.

All in all, Mini Golf Wacky Worlds is pretty good non-violent competition that has a lot of play-life on your mobile, with multiple game modes, abilities to "buy", and achievements to go for. The high price may be a turn off though.

Overall rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: full 3D minigolf with good graphics and all the extras
Cons: no high score table, high price (for a mobile game)
Verdict: a game the whole family can play... if you want to share!