Video Game Review: Frustrating Controls Mar ‘Planet Mini-Golf’

Printer-friendly versionE-mail page to friendPDF version

Video Game Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Being hopelessly addicted to the great “Zen Pinball” and a fan of golf games from the realistic (“Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11”) to the cartoonish (“Hot Shots Golf”), I was more than a little excited for Zen Studios’ “Planet Mini-Golf.” If they could capture the creative fun of an old-fashioned game as they did with “Zen Pinball,” I figured my new summer obsession had arrived. Sadly, it turned into my summer frustration.

Whatever can be said about “Planet Mini-Golf,” it certainly delivers bang for the buck. Priced at around ten dollars on the PlayStation Network, it features dozens of holes on several cleverly conceived and unique courses. Many DLC titles have suffered recently by not offering buyers nearly enough product for their money but “Planet Mini-Golf” features more gameplay time than most disc-based games.

Planet Mini-Golf
Photo credit: Zen Studios

Not only are there over 140 holes to play but the title also includes multi-player and customization options which allow player creation of new holes, which can then be shared online. Tournament play, golf course editing, and a promised “stream of DLC far after initial release” means that “Planet Mini-Golf” is a title that could be as time-consuming as any you buy this season.

Planet Mini-Golf Photo credit: Zen Studios

That is if you don’t destroy your controller trying to manage the controls. “Planet Mini-Golf” allows for three options when it comes to putting — “Easy,” “Three-Click,” and “Direct.” The first is a basic aim and push technique. The second is a standard meter with the first click starting it, the second setting strength, and the third determining precision. Finally, the “Direct” method means that the player merely pulls back on the left stick and pushes forward to hit the ball. None of them work quite right.

The biggest problem comes with trying to determine how hard one needs to hit the ball and the controls are wildly inconsistent. The same movement with the left control stick seems to produce different results every time. And the ball regularly bounces in and out of the cup with no consistency at all. The player never knows exactly how far they are from the hole or what the meters on the 3-click or Direct systems actually mean. It all feels like guesswork. Whether I got a hole-in-one or a triple bogey often felt like it had very little to do with my actual play.

The game is also cluttered with “Power-ups” that don’t really fit into the world of mini-golf. The player can hit the ball through power-ups that do various things like stop the ball dead in its tracks or make its trajectory Sixaxis controllable for a little while. With beautifully designed holes in unique locations, why add something out of “Super Mario Kart”? It’s an odd choice and it’s all the more frustrating because some holes can’t be completed without hitting the right Power-up first.

Admittedly, this golf game fan eventually settled into a bit of a groove with his favorite control scheme (Direct) and the game can be intermittently rewarding. It looks great (although it has ridiculous load times between holes and after shots), features immense variety of gameplay, and the intention to give players as much mini-golf bang for their buck as possible is a laudable one. What “Planet Mini-Golf” proves is that sports games, even arcade ones like this title, rely a lot on their control scheme. If those of “Planet Mini-Golf” had been a bit more refined, we could have one of the most enjoyable DLC titles of the year instead of one that falls just short of the green.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com