My review of the game

[zippyandgeorge]

To those new to the game the first version of this game is called Planet Minigolf and it was released on the PS3. I personally don’t understand why Planet Minigolf wasn’t a massive seller.

I have played this game for a while now.

To help me write the review I am going to also refer to Planet Minigolf. The reason being although Infinite Minigolf is good I think at the moment Planet Minigolf is better. With this being an early access game we can help the developers make this game better than the PS3 version. I have waited a long time for this new game.

For me one really good thing about Planet Minigolf on the PS3 is the course editor and the ability to upload courses that you have created. On the PS3 Planet Minigolf has over 67,000 holes. Most of those holes have been created by people at home using the course editor. If I remember right the game comes with 180 holes the developers created. The fact over 67,000 holes have been created by people at home should show you how popular Planet Minigolf is. People are still adding new holes they have created on an almost daily basis and Planet Minigolf came out in 2010.

A friend and I have been playing Planet Minigolf almost daily for about 3.5 years. We choose to play a 2 player random 9 holes game and on average play 3 x 9 hole games a day. As the game has 67,000 holes to chose from it is rare you play the same hole twice. The fact we have been playing Planet Minigolf almost daily for 3.5 years should show you how highly we rate Planet Minigolf.

In Planet Minigolf (the same will happen with Infinite Minigolf) you have different types of courses/holes. At the moment in Infinite Minigolf all the holes are cardboard based. In Planet Minigolf you have, wooden courses/holes, ice courses/holes, carpet courses/holes, a kind of scalextric race track type courses/holes, etc. This obviously affects things. For example when playing on an ice hole how hard you hit the ball would be different to how hard you needed to hit the ball if you were playing the same shot on a carpet hole. The physics when playing Planet Minigolf are excellent.

Apart from the physics another good thing about Planet Minigolf is the power ups. The power ups are

Remote control – when you activate this you control the golf ball and drive it a bit like a car. This is done with the sixaxis tilt function of the PS3 controller. The harder a shot you take the quicker the golf ball moves/drives. Using the PS3 controller when you start slowing down you can gain more speed by shaking the controller in sort of up and down motion then driving the golf ball again. I think shaking the controller up and down does something with the six axis tilt function/gyroscope in the ps3 controller but I may be wrong.

Helicopter - when you activate this your golf ball flies. You have to judge how hard a shot you need to make and how long you want the golf ball to fly for. Good for reaching high up places or flying long distances.

Glue – when you activate this it stops the golf ball from moving any further. This is handy when you need to be precise in where you want the golf ball to stop.

Magnet - when you activate this if you are within a certain range of the hole the magnet draws your golf ball into the hole.

Rocket - when you activate this it makes your golf ball go really fast and is good for getting your golf ball further and higher.

Big ball - when you activate this your golf ball becomes very large. This can be used to help you reach another power up or get over certain obstacles

Heavy ball - when you activate this if your golf ball is going downhill it goes faster. It is also good for dropping the golf ball from a height when the golf ball is in flying/helicopter mode. It can also be used to stop you going over the edge on certain slopes.

When used correctly and with a well designed hole the power ups can make holes really challenging but also really fun to play. Some of the holes that people have made at home for Planet Minigolf and uploaded are really fun to play and very challenging. You need skill to play the really good holes in Planet Minigolf.

So onto my review of Infinite Minigolf. Please note I am not an expert reviewer.

The graphics are excellent although some people may say they are a bit too cartoonish. The game play is very smooth. There is no issue with the graphics being juddery or stuttering. I can’t find fault with the graphics and I have them on max settings. I have played all the current courses and there was no issues at all in relation to graphics.

The physics of the game are excellent. I don't like the way the remote control power up stops after a few seconds. I prefer the control method on the PS3 for the remote control power up.

At first you only seem to have two characters to choose from as your player. One is female and one is male. I assume because of that you can’t have a 3 or 4 player game at the moment? I think you have to unlock other characters by getting points earned by playing the one player game.

There are some good fun holes that have been created that show the potential of the game. Sadly like in Planet Minigolf there are one or two very easy holes where the hole is yards away from the tee.

How you control the power of your shot has changed from how you do it in Planet Minigolf. In Infinite Minigolf the further you pull down on the right stick on the xbox controller the harder you will hit the golf ball. In Planet Minigolf you had 3 choices of how you controlled the power of your shot. Personally I prefer the 3 click method in Planet Minigolf and would like to see it as an option in Infinite Minigolf.

As for the music it’s not great but also not terrible. For me it just tends to become background noise that I don’t notice much.

Compared to Planet Minigolf everything (except the golf ball) in Infinite Minigolf seems larger and somehow not for the better. It’s a bit difficult to explain what I mean. In relation to the graphics I prefer the scale that was used in Planet Minigolf to the scale that is used in Infinite Minigolf.

Also the graphics used for the power ups in Infinite Minigolf are too large in size/scale. The scale/size that was used for the power ups graphics in Planet Minigolf is better than the scale/size used in Infinite Minigolf.

The course editor is great. It is really easy to create your own holes/courses. Hopefully a lot of people who buy the early access version of Infinite Minigolf will create holes and upload them. Then by the time the game is finished it will have thousands of holes. Personally I think there should be a minimum length when a new hole is created. That would stop people creating boring easy hole in one type holes.

One thing I have noticed about the course editor in Infinite Minigolf is you don’t have a large area to create a hole and thus can only creates small holes (this may be me at fault but I don't think so). In Planet Minigolf you could create really long holes.

There are some great obstacles and traps that make this a really fun crazy golf game. It is nice to see new obstacles and traps that have been created that are not from the Planet Minigolf game. The power ups also make this a great game to play. They help make the game interesting and different from all other crazy golf games. It was nice to see the new bouncing ball power up.

I miss the online play but know that is coming soon. For online play to be better we need people at home creating holes as it will quickly get boring playing the same holes over and over. There just isn't enough holes currently to give online play longevity. I know that will change as more holes and courses get added.

I would recommend buying this game. Hopefully one day Infinite Minigolf will have more holes than the 67,000 Planet Minigolf on the PS3 has. To anyone who has bought Infinite Minigolf please create some courses. Just don’t create easy boring short hole in ones lol. Being serious if we create fun challenging holes the better it is for all of us especially when playing local random 9 holes and online random 9 holes.


If you have a PS3 buy Planet Minigolf and this game. When playing Planet Minigolf play random 9 holes games or online games. Playing online and random 9 holes you will see how creative some people have been with the course editor. You will also see how challenging some of the courses are.

You will then see how good Infinite Minigolf will (hopefully) be once it is fully finished.

As you will see in another post the developers have said they have reduced the speed of the ball and added more friction. This has resulted in this game not being as good as Planet Minigolf. They need to stop having too much friction and get the ball back to being as fast as it is in Planet Minigolf.

At the moment I would give Infinite Minigolf 6 out of 10. It is not as good as Planet Minigolf but it is an early access game. Although this is an early access game you can easily see the potential of the game. Our input can help the developers take this game from a 6 out of 10 to a 10 out of 10.

[zippyandgeorge]

One thing that irritates me about this game is you can lose a game because the other player played badly. I know opinion will be divided about this. For example you may be playing a fairly easy hole that you should be able to get a hole in one. Your opponent may be first. If they don’t hit the golf ball with enough power they will fall short of the hole. When you go to take your shot their ball is in the way and stops you getting a hole in one. Their bad playing stops you getting a hole in one. I would prefer it if the opponents ball became invisible when you are taking your shot. Then if they play badly you don’t get punished.

[zippyandgeorge]

The developers need to make sure they are doing all they can to make sure the fans of Planet Minigolf know Infinite Minigolf is out and to also to let new people know about Infinite Minigolf. Hopefully the fans of Planet Minigolf will have ideas and opinions on how to help the developers improve Infinite Minigolf and make it better than Planet Minigolf. I think most people who have the PS3 version wil buy the new game. Well if they have a PC that is. I realise some gamers are console gamers only.

[Scytharia]

Thanks for the review Zippy! As I could never play PM due to the lack of any console, I was very interested in Infinite Minigolf. Well I am still interested in but as I wanted to wait for the online MP first anyways, I'll probly wait even a little bit longer now. Seen some short early access preview on YT yesterday and while I liked what I've seen there, I ABSOLUTELY (and please devs, give us the option to turn this off!) hated the character behaviour. I get it, you probly aim for a younger audience as well but I guess there are also a plenty of "old" gamers who are there for the putt putt fun only. So please, please, let us turn off these hipster, selfie, social blabla emote crap the 2 chars seem to show off pretty much after every good shot, now that I would appreciate a lot! No, I don't hate youth, I just want to concentrate on the game, not on my hipster char, showing off every 5 seconds ^^ o/

And yeah, as already mentioned twice here I think, please think of the scale/size of the powerups/blue thingy megingies, they seem a tad too large/big. Other than that I am really looking forward to this game and I hope many do, so that there will be tons of courses. I'd really love to see a crazy, silly - and good! - fun minigolf game on PC. Maybe it could even get the Trackmania of Minigolf :D Best luck devs & thanks for the review again zippy! o/

regards,

Scy

[zippyandgeorge]

@ Scytharia there is no need to have an option to turn off the good shot celebration animations. You simply press the A button on your contoller and the game moves onto the next hole or player. I am not sure what the keyboard key is to do the same.

[zippyandgeorge]

I would like to say I am not an expert games reviewer. My review was coming from being a fan of Planet Minigolf. I still think Infinite Minigolf is worth buying now even though it is an early access game. It is fun to play but does have room for improvement. The game developers have asked for our input into how they can make changes to Infinite Minigolf to make it better than it is now. We have the chance to help take Infinite Minigolf from being a good game to an excellent game.

In regards to Planet Minigolf I think it is one of the most underrated games ever released. I have been gaming for about 42 years. My first home console was the black and white tennis game. I have never played a game daily for about 3.5 years and not got bored like Planet Minigolf. As I have said before me and a friend daily play about 27 random holes (3 X 9 holes) in Planet Minigolf. As there are currently about 67,300 holes we could play daily for another few years and still have holes we haven’t played.

If the game developers take on board our feedback of the game as it they develop it then Infinite Minigolf could be as good or even better than Planet Minigolf. When I say could be as good as Planet Minigolf I am not saying that Infinite Minigolf isn’t good. It is good but could be better.

One thing that is going to help is for people who have bought Infinite Minigolf to create well thought out holes that are fun and challenging to play. Then upload them. Some of the home made holes that have been created for Planet Minigolf are really well thought out, challenging and great fun to play. The same can be done in Infinite Minigolf.

[Scytharia]

Thanks zippy! Being able to skip those cheesy, annoying character animations is good enough, didn't know that! And yeah I will get the game at least when the first major update is out which should contain the online multiplayer. Those games are supposed to be played with friends - at least I think so - and as none of my rl friends are in any way interested in (mini)golfing, I gotta play with online friends :) But yeah, I defo will get IM, really looking forward to \o/

[zippyandgeorge]

My friend and I went thorugh a phase of playing loads of mini golf/crazy golf games. We even used emulators to play games released in the 80's 90's and 2000's. Planet Minigolf and Infinite Minigolf are by a long margin the best crazy golf games ever released.

[zippyandgeorge]

I think I realise why I don't like this game as much as Planet Minigolf. In a way it's too childish. I think this game is aimed at young kids between about 4 -11 year old. That is why it now has cartoon type graphics andt the speed of the game has been slowed down.