iPhone Reviews 2.0

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Mini Touch Golf is a putt putt golf game by Try This Networks. $0.99

I really wanted to play a Mini Golf game on the iDevice to see how it would work. Since Mini Touch Golf had been out for a while I really wanted to try it out. I was impressed at how the game was played on the iDevice, but it really lacked some key elements to make it a good game. Firstly there only thing you get to do in this game is pull your finger back, let go, and see the ball move. There is no person actually hitting the ball, and this turns into more of a puzzle game with golf elements. The biggest turn off from this game is the lack of holes. There are only 18 holes in the entire game, no more courses or unlockable holes, you are basically stuck with a single course. As you would expect it is quite easy to master the different obstacles and soon this becomes a waste of space on the iDevice. The only thing that may keep you coming back is the online leaderboard, which is flawed anyway, but I will get to that later.

This game has one thing going for it that other games of the genre generally don't have, and that is decent graphics. The game is bright and detailed with all the different obstacles you find around the course. I found nothing to be pixellated and all quite good to look at. Sadly though this is as good as the game gets. The controls for the game are very easy to use, but the way the camera angle shows the game it can be quite frustrating. To hit the ball you start with your finger on the ball, and pull the opposite way to where you want to hit the ball. The further you drag your finger back, the further or harder the ball will be hit. Once you pull back you can change the angle of the shot if it doesn't look like it will work. The only back thing about this is that if you wish to do a bit shot and your finger gets to the edge of the screen, there is no way to cancel the shot or move the camera back in the desired direction. Overall the controls work quite well for this type of game and the bird's eye view you have on the courses.

The game has some in-game music and sound effects. The sound effects for Mini Touch Golf involve the basic sound of a putter hitting the golf ball, even though there is no putter anywhere in the game, and sound when the ball rebounds off objects. The in-game music is what I can describe as an almost circus like tune that replays itself the whole time. It is quite relaxing to listen to, but nothing spectacular.

The game as stated before is very short. The one course is played with the objective to get the lowest score possible. The pars are very hard to reach if you play this game correctly, but there is a serious flaw that automatically makes the game a waste of time. The leaderboard is obviously full of people who have used this tactic. When playing a hole, and you make a bad shot or the ball doesn't go into the hole then you can quite easily select the restart option from the menu. This doesn't restart the game, just the hole and the already made shots are wiped. This one bug just ruins what was left of this game for me. If you don't use the cheat then the game is quite a challenge. I often found myself struggling to make par on alot of the holes. If there were more courses this would be a great game, but sadly it just doesn't feel my needs at the moment.

A very polished game with great graphics and gameplay, but lacking in content. If I were you and wanted to buy a mini golf game, I would try to find a game with alot more courses and for a price like $1.99. The game below that I would say to buy this game if you liked that one, I would get that instead as it has more courses and has promised more to come. This is quite a challenging game, I was just very disappointed in the outcome of the final product though. It's best to stay away from Mini Touch Golf for the time being.

Gameplay- 4/10
Graphics- 8/10
Sound- 5/10
Overall- 5.5/10

I would recommend this game if you enjoyed- Mini Golf Ace

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