Mini Golf Master

Rating:
Summary: Mini Golf is not too Mini a game!
Review: I am a single mother with two boys with no future plans of ever stepping on a golf course. I thought my seven-year old son would enjoy the eGames Mini-Golf that I purchased months ago when I stumbled upon it at Rite-Aid. There are eighteen holes in this golf universe with the capability of up to four players. This is one of those games that I just popped into the CD drive and hoped my son would figure out on his own.

I have absolutely no knowledge of the game of golf and have only played miniature golf once in my lifetime. I can honestly state this is completely over my head and totally confusing when trying to decipher the options to choose for playing eGames Mini-Golf. I have watched my son play golf on many courses over these months but never tried my hand at the game.

There are three choices for using the putt. This is either push, pull and then easy targeting can be clicked on when either of these are entered. I became confused with the push and pull options and went back and forth. In the end I chose push, but I was always going in the wrong direction.

Three other options are for stroke play, hole winner or croquet rules. I had to choose stroke play because the name was enticing but later switched to hole winner and noticed no difference with either of these. I probably should have gone with croquet.

When I completed these options there was a button to click for customize, which I thought meant these options would be initiated. Instead I had more decisions to make for a game I was a first time player at. These options seem more inline when playing with more than one player.
This is very complicated for me to handle and since I have no idea the points system I saw no incentive to this game. I did like going over the sand and many times got stuck in corners and could not move around. Whenever I would figure out what I was doing I was notified I had hit the stroke limit.

If you want to see what is going on when playing eGames Mini-Golf you can access the mini panel via the space bar. The arrows will scroll the screen and the best key to note is the escape key to quit the game when you get fed up. When there are multiple players you can press enter to see the names and F1 will show an overview, end button brings the scorecard and pgup is the hole overview.

I started playing the space golf course but grew tired of the strange looking courses, one had lightning bolts that the ball had to dart around. With the earth options I got a nice snow scene with the sounds of wind in the background, much better than the space jargon and sounds. One of my scores was 50 over par. There is a screen to the right that offers tips before you hit the course with what to expect.

One of them noted the following, " Make sure you make it to the bottom of the crater in one hit... The par for this hole is a little low..."When playing in the earth course I liked the lighthouse one because the sounds of the ocean were in the distant and you had three holes to dunk in and then drop below. All the courses start with you having to move closer to the ball. There are drops, lakes, sand, and collision courses to pass by. There is one construction site with men underneath manhole covers. My son was able to pass them by but I gave up and hit escape.

I believe this sums up the game nicely, " Miniverse - The universe of mini golf is arcade-style miniature golf with an isometric user perspective, 3D rendered scrolling playfields, and an advanced physics engine". This is out of my league and too difficult for me to figure out. My son gets excited when he hits the ball in the hole and has spent hours playing this before giving up today in frustration. I have a feeling I changed the settings he was used to and now have to get it back to his comfort level.

This would be the game for anyone who has an interest in the game of golf and the knowledge of the terms and options needed to challenge others in this game of strategy.

For me personally there was a lot to absorb and I was not comfortable moving the mouse in opposite directions and could never get the hang of push or pull the putt. I could get used to sitting in motorized golf carts though.