Minigolf Maniacs

Reviewed by: DeathDude

Positive Points: Excellent courses
Pretty good music/sound effects
Easy to start playing 

Negative Points: Cheesy golf announcers

Genre: Simulation

Size: 137.07 MB

Requirements: Windows 95/98/2000
Pentium(r) 450
64MB RAM
OpenGL graphics accelerator
240MB available hard drive space
DirectX 8.0a

Questionable Content: None

Editor rating: 4.8

Homepage: http://minigolfmaniacs.sourceforge.net/

Download location: http://files.filefront.com/Mini_Golf_Maniacs/;3867975;;/fileinfo.html

It is sad to see when projects are canceled quite late in the development cycle and in some cases even when the game is completed or very close. It happens because of a variety of factors, rising costs for example or no support from a publisher. Which is actually the case with this game, Minigolf Maniacs had been in development by Dynamix in 2000, when Sierra pulled the plug. Still before a tale of a lost game happened, something happened that allowed the full-uncompleted version to be released. So the game which was actually close to completion, is available in all it's glory and what a promising game it was turning out to be. With some very interesting courses, many different modes, great music and sound effects and very easy to get into and start playing, make this a great all around mini golf title.

Note: Now another note should mention, there is a nice modification that has been developed by a group of individuals who had been in touch with former Sierra employees and the mod essentially completes the unfinished game. With extra holes and features and bug fixes that were not yet implemented, highly recommended to download it to really enjoy the game, you can get the mod here. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=23062

Now when you first start you have many different modes to try. You can jump in right away with tournament mode, or try your hand at practicing different holes. Also many different varieties of play from stroke play, to skins, to even coin collecting where you try to collect as many coins as you can while still making the fewest amount of shots as possible. Also there is speed run, where getting a fast time and low score is the key. You can then pick your character you only have five at first and even the style of your ball, putting style and much more. There are many options to choose from and it will take you some time to experience them all should you choose. The characters you choose are also rendered nicely and each of them have lots of different animations and expressions that you will see as you play the game.

Once you are in the game, all you have to do with the default putting option of easy is aim. Click your left mouse button and hold it down till you determine how powerful you want your shot, release and away your shot goes to the hole. Your goal is to get the fewest number of shots, the least amount, the better. 

The courses themselves are very nicely designed. Each one presents a unique challenge and some will really make you think about how you will make the shot. There are also different themes presented such as winter, the Wild West and more as you play the game. The music and sound effects in the game are top notch, which is expected since this was going to be a commercial game and the developers nailed it nicely. The choices they used to ensure the music is there but it will not interfere as you play the game.

The game, as mentioned earlier, is also easy to start playing, stick with the easy putting option at first as it really makes the game much easier to get into. If you like later on, you can change it up to the true putt and tri click putt if you want a challenge. Do not forget that you can always practice the holes before entering the tournament to plan your strategies and see how to approach different shots. Also there are power ups you can collect in the game to give you an advantage against opponents, this is only available in the practice and other options, but not available during the tournament.

There is also a hole editor, where you can make your own courses, and you can head to the mod site I listed in the second paragraph to get some custom holes. So if you want to add some more variety feel free to use the editor which was a great option to have as it does add to the replayability of the game.

The only minor point should mention is that the game has in tournament mode, golf announcers. Yes that's right like the real game there is golf announcers who make such comments as "Nothing fancy here, just needs to make a good putt." Moreover, many more of those nature, pretty cheesy in my opinion, but somehow expected such a thing to happen in this type of game. It is not a bad thing as they mostly comment at the beginning of the hole and the end of the hole so it is not constant chatter thankfully as your planning your shots so that's good.

This is definitely a fantastic mini golf game and you should definitely try it if you are a fan of the sport. In addition, make sure to download the mod as well to really complete the game and fix up some issues you will not regret it. So check out Minigolf Maniacs and see it for yourself.