In my first foray into Mini Golf whether through gaming or real life, I must say I think I’ve been missing a lot.

Mini Golf Wacky Worlds ($2.99)

Glu Mobile wasn’t kidding when they added the word wacky to this mini golf game. From colorful worlds of epic proportion to the sizzling first character, Mini Golf Wacky Worlds brings you a whole new golfing sensation to and only for the iPhone.

Presentation

Let me start of by saying I’m inexperienced when it comes to mini golfing. You can read and ask Daniel for comparisons as he reviewed Digital Chocolate’s Mini Golf 99 Holes. However, I don’t think I’ll be alone in noticing that ‘Wacky Wolds’ graphics are a step up from 99 holes.

The design are better rendered and the colors are flashier, and in my opinion, I like this one better. The colors pop out and stand out. The sounds complement the look in every way. You wouldn’t hear any whining from me on this part.

Controls

The controls are all touch based. On your first hit per hole, you need to first pick the location you’re going to swing. The next is to determine which direction to swing. After that, you can adjust the swing power bar on the right corner. The higher the bar, the stronger the swing is. Each configuration is confirmed by a little checkmark.

To the left of the screen are three buttons and from top to button: change camera view (zoom farther in/out), play video of the whole hole and the pause button.

Gameplay

Wacky Worlds come with 3 modes,  and four worlds with 9 different holes each. The modes include Tee Off, Gopher and Timed. With Tee Off, you have to hold yourself under a certain amount of strokes. You get scored depending how many times you had to swing: Par, Eagle, Birdie, Bogey etc… just like a regular golf game. In Gopher, little gophers pop up and besides having to go on par with what the hole is asking, you have to hit gophers for bonus scores. Timed, as you have guessed, is Tee Off against time.

There are currently four worlds: Tiki Links, Sky Lands, Arctic Nine and Cheese World. Each world present a unique environment and soundtrack to go along with the little monsters that make that world difficult. For example, Sky Lands features bugs while Arctic Nine feature cracked frozen river thinggies.

You’ll never get bored as even the 9 holes within a world are drastically different for each other. You get to shoot the golf ball through a bird’s beak, go down a double 360 water slide, water AND cheese (yes cheese!) falls.

On top of that, some strategy is required in the game for you to finish with the fewest number of strokes. You sort of have to approach the game as a blown up billiard table and watch out for angles. Of course, there are some shortcuts which may or may not be too obvious. Just gotta watch for them.

Lastly, points turn into money in which you can use to purchase new characters, design their clothing, buy better golf gear and more. The whole game is well thought out and planned.

Suggestions

One of the things the game suffers from is way too many button clicks. When launching the game you get:

1. One click for language selection
2. Another for enabling sounds
3. The jumping Glu Mobile logo
4. The game’s title screen
5. Main menu where you can select new or continue game
6. Choose mode
7. Choose world

Numbers one and two are easily removable. Please make the game remember the last settings. Also, the game requires a quick play mode, for those who want to jump in on the action right away.

Two last things: add a restart hole button. Change the game’s icon please. It’s way too plain and nothing wacky at all about it.

Conclusion

I might’ve made the game sound a complete mess with how many clicks you need to go through to start the game. In reality it’s just items 1 & 2 that need to be removed. However, do not let this hinder your view of a totally amazing and enjoyable game. This game is definitely Glyder caliber in terms of depth and design.

Watch out for your lady character do some amazing acrobatics like this one below. Mini Golf Wacky Worlds holds up to its name and offer more beyond that. Colorful and completely playable and definitely worth your money!