Crazy Mini Golf Review

Having a Wii console has always been a bit of a double edge sword. While most of the games on the console use the addition of the Wii Remote well, there are always some games that seem to get it so wrong it’s like playing with a broom handle. So here comes Crazy Mini Golf.  While this game is a bit of a mixed bag, does it do enough to make par or is this game just another double bogey?

As soon as you start off you know you’re going to be in for your average mini-game, game. The copy I had to review came with the Wii golf club, which connects to your Wii remote so you can smash your lamp shades while playing. Even though I do feel this was supposed to give you a more realistic feel and swing to the game, you rarely use a full swing and it  seems to be bundled just as a piece of “bloatware”. Having said this though, the attachment does work very well with other golf games on the Wii, such as the golf in Wii sports.

So the game is crazy golf, and that’s basically what you get. You have two game modes to choose from: either play a single hole or go for championship mode. Championship mode allows up to four players to play one of the four courses which are available to you, although you will soon realise, like I did, that you must complete courses to unlock new ones. Championship mode also allows you to play the full 18 holes if you want, or just the front or back nine.

Once you have chosen which way you will be spending the next three hours shouting at the TV screen, you can choose your style of controls. The two available are arcade mode and simulator mode. The only real difference is that in simulator mode you actually have to swing your Wii remote forward to take your shot, where as in the arcade mode you only swing back then use the B button to gage your shot strength. In my personal preference I feel that the simulation mode is the best as this allows better power control when trying to get those trickier shots.

Just before you are released into the game you have to create your character, and once again this is starting to be the standard of “lets rip off the Miis and not use the current Miis saved”, even though they are on the console and would be a lot quicker to use in the game.  No, instead you have to create your own NuYu, which is a cut down version of the Mii creator. But don’t worry kids, because you can save your NuYu’s to your Wii controller and can take them around to your friends houses and use your own character to play them with.

Anyways, after you have created your character (mine looked like he had lost his sanity a long time ago!), I headed off for what I thought would be a quick 9 holes of crazy golf. What I didn’t expect was the letdown of the pixelated graphics, the lack of decent controls and the fact that most of the courses look like they took someone 10 minutes to create.

First then: the graphics. While I know the Wii is the least powerful of the next generation of systems out on the market, and I know that I shouldn’t be expecting wonderful HD graphics, I still expect something that doesn’t look like it was an original PlayStation game. Mostly everything in the game at one point looks pixelated, and the over-sized novelty heads look stupid and under detailed. While I suppose I shouldn’t be criticising a game which probably was never supposed to be a HD wonder, I still feel that it should at least look fresh and clean rather than something that looks outdated and just plain old.

On to the music then, and while I wasn’t expecting a wonderful score like Zelda or Final Fantasy I did expect something that didn’t add to my frustration, but alas with its chirpy chirpy music in my face after about 5 minutes I couldn’t take any more and decided to mute the TV. But I did hear that the sound of the club hitting the golf ball is just right.

The controls are okay, but again with any game that is reliant on the Wii remote, it can sometimes get a little lost. I did notice that when swinging the club the receiver for the Wii remote would not work well, and would end up not recording half of the power I put into the shot. While there really isn’t much to say on the controls, as it is a simple swing motion which the game does quite well, it is still a bit jerky at the best of times. The golf club you will use twice and never again, as it adds too much weight and doesn’t give you the freedom to put power into your shots.

When everything is said and done, Crazy Mini Golf is just another mini-game and should have been part of a selection of games rather than on its own. While the ideas are good and I can see where the developers where going, the game does feels rushed and unfinished. The lack on integration with the Mii’s as well as the sometimes dodgy controls and even worse bolt-on golf club, this game won’t break any records but you may break a light bulb or two.