Who hates minigolf?

If you hate minigolf for some reason, you’re a sick son of a bitch. Unless your parents were kidnapped and dragged into a minigolf course and got killed right in front of your eyes, it should be one of the happiest places you can think of. And because of that, we are suckers for minigolf, whether it’s in the real world or in video games. So, if you own a PS3, and want to own a minigolf game, should you go spend $9.99 + $2.49 DLC for Planet Minigolf? Find out the hard way by reading every word we’re about to throw at you.

What you’ll notice first when you start playing is the beautiful, sharp graphics of the game. Players will most likely be focused on the golf ball in the course, which is kind of sad because there’s so many things going on in the background. I’m personally not a fan of 30fps in sports games, but with a physics engine made by Zen Studio (guys behind ZEN Pinball) I couldn’t complain much about the fluency of the game.

Having a good physics engine doesn’t mean Planet Minigolf is bound to the limitations of real-life minigolf; though obstacle situations are plausible relative to real-life, there are in-game items which can be used for your benefit. You don’t have to activate any items to finish the course, but if you’re looking for some arcade fun, Planet Minigolf provides just that.

Another feature we should point out is the control. We did not expect this many options for a minigolf game at all. The game gives you three choices of putting styles – Easy, 3-Click and Direct. Easy putting style is just a simple way to enjoy the game, but if you’re more comfortable with golf simulator controls, or perhaps want to use the analog stick, Planet Minigolf gives you that option as well.

Speaking of controls, Planet Minigolf supports the PS3 Move controller. On our PAX 2010 coverage article, we wrote that our Move experience was nothing to go crazy over, but with Planet Minigolf, it was a different story. Once we got used to it, Planet Minigolf and Move really complimented each other very well. It takes a little to get used to, and it’s usually a beginner’s error when using the Move controller for the first time. So does the Move give you an advantage? Probably not, but we would like to point out that it doesn’t give you a disadvantage, which is a huge element in motion-sensor vs. conventional controller experience.

We really liked how the difficulty changes the course. For the price, we thought we’re gonna get a handful of repetitive courses that change the CPU opponents difficulty. Man, we were wrong; Planet Minigolf actually provides different courses per difficulty; that’s a whopping 144 courses in total. And if that’s not enough,  you can actually create and edit your own minigolf courses, publish them so you can play them with your friends! Golf courses aren’t the only thing you can customize; your characters have unlockable fashion items too.

If you want even more out of Planet Minigolf, there’s a DLC called Stronghold Island. A nicely designed medieval atmosphere that provides even more courses to enjoy for Planet Minigolf.

If we have to complain, it’s the YouTube upload system. Planet Minigolf makes YouTube upload very simple and easy, yet we had a problem with our PS3 encoding the video. It could be our network, or it could be just our PS3 but somehow we could not get the video encoded without the audio stuttering. It’s a very odd problem, because we see a number of other players uploading Planet Minigolf Replay videos just fine with perfect video and audio. Also, the camera on the zoom mode was a bit difficult to navigate, giving us a limited view of the course. It was good enough but could’ve been better for sure.

To sum it up, it has beautiful graphics, plenty of minigolf courses with arcade fun, giving you plenty of puttying style options with customization. We couldn’t find any fault that would kill the fun of this awesome minigolf game, and value for the purchase is a sweet deal, considering the hours we’re about to spend on Planet Minigolf. If you’re looking for an arcade-style minigolf game for PS3, this is it.

Our Score: 8 /10

Feature-packed minigolf game. Totally worth your money if you like minigolf games.