Mini Golf Wacky Worlds for iPhone

Mini Golf Wacky Worlds lives up to its name delivering an out-of-this-world putt-putt experience. With colorful characters and crazy courses this mini golf game serves up a driving range bucket’s worth of wackiness.

Mini Golf Wacky Worlds features five courses to play on—Tiki Links, Sky Lands, Arctic Nine, Cheese World, and the newly added Roof Rave. Each of the nine-hole courses have distinctive themes keeping things fresh. The most important aspect of a good putt-putt experience is course design, and developer Glu obviously understands this. Each course is more exiting and inventive than the last with loads of challenging obstacles and cool contraptions that transport your ball closer to the hole.

While real life mini-golf courses often have you shooting your ball through tunnels and timing your shots to avoid some mechanical swinging arm, Mini Golf Wacky Worlds takes thing to a whole new level with cannons that blast your ball across the course, little boats that deliver it down a river, or even birds who gobble it up and spit it out closer to the hole. Everything about this game is wonderfully wacky and fun.

There are three modes of play to choose from—Tee Off, Gopher Golf, and Timed Golf. In Tee Off, you play through all the courses in order, though you can choose to play any course without having to unlock them. In Gopher Golf, you shoot the nine-hole course while trying to avoid pesky little gophers that pop up and steal your ball. In Timed Golf, you have to complete each hole in a set amount of time regardless of how many shots it takes. Each of these different modes of play adds to the game’s replay value, providing hours fun.

You can play as four different golfers, though three of them have to be unlocked by earning points while playing. Each golfer has unique strengths and weaknesses as well as distinctive looks. In addition to unlocking characters, you can put those points to use by buying upgrades in the game’s pro shop—items like new clothes, putters, and accessories. The clothes and accessories are just for looks, but the putters actually improve your golfer’s game. (Note that there’s a problem with some special putters not working properly in version 1.2; Glu says it’s working on an update.

The game’s controls are really simple and effective. To start, you slide a finger left or right to position your golfer, then, with the same sliding motion, you aim your shot. Once you’ve got everything lined up correctly, you use a power meter to determine how hard to swing the club and then press a button to take the shot. The simple and intuitive controls allow you to just pick up the game and start playing.

While Mini Golf Wacky Worlds’ graphics aren’t the best I’ve seen on the platform, they’re pretty good. The courses are all brightly colored and whimsical, and the character animations are entertaining. Even with all the crazy action going on, the game ran smoothly with only the occasional lag here and there.

Mini Golf Wacky Worlds is a fun game with lots of replay value and a pass-and-play-style multi-player option. This app is well-worth the price and loads of fun.

[Tim Mercer is a technology enthusiast, graphic designer, and blogger, whose blog, digital-artist-toolbox.com, offers free resources to the digital artist and graphic designer.]