Walkabout Mini Golf VR Review
Fast Facts
Walkabout Mini Golf
Developer: Lucas Martell
Publisher: Mighty Coconut
Website: https://www.mightycoconut.com/minigolf
Genre: Casual, Sport
Platform: Oculus Rift S
Age Rating: PEGI 3
Release Date: 24.09.20
Price: £10.99
A code was provided for review purposes.
Lucas Martell’s Walkabout Mini Golf promises a mini-golfing experience with easy to learn controls and themed environments. But does the game score first place or is it under par? Find out in this Rapid Review.
Golfing Basics
I’ve always thought that mini-golf lends itself perfectly to the medium of VR. With its simple controls and physics-based gameplay, the game is the perfect fit for the Oculus platform. Walkabout Mini Golf uses a one-handed control scheme and thus only one controller is used. I’m sure I don’t need to explain how to play mini-golf but the controls feel intuitive, and a teleportation mechanic gives the option to hit the golf ball from whatever location best fits. As well as this, the golf club can turn transparent and phase through obstructions. This is good as it allows fine control over an otherwise awkward manoeuvre.
Like in a real-life game of mini-golf, the force of the hit changes the speed and distance the ball travels. The physics are excellent with the ball responding exactly how it usually would. When the ball inevitably went out of bounds or just teetered on the edge of the hole, I felt it was my doing and to no fault of the physics.
Overall, the controls felt precise and most importantly, realistic, which is an impressive feat considering the fact that I was using a small Oculus controller and not a golf club.
Layout of the Green
Walkabout Mini Golf features four different environments each consisting of 18 holes. I found the four environments to be varied with good course design. Ramps, twists, drops and gaps combine to form each of the 72 holes. Ditching the realism, the layouts allow interesting courses with unique jumps and nice use of elevation with the areas fully utilising this design choice by having the courses traverse a mountain.
Tapping the A button offers a diorama of sorts, showcasing the world layout and a table of par scores. It is the little touches like that in a game that I always welcome. The diorama feature isn’t needed per se, but its inclusion makes the experience that little bit more special.
A colourful low poly design is used and this translates very well to a VR headset. I greatly enjoyed looking around a torch-lit cave in this low-poly aesthetic before leaving the cave and overlooking the tropical shores. The teleportation option offers traversal of this terrain and I often found myself ignoring the golf and losing myself in the relaxing environments. There was an excuse for me to explore every nook and cranny of Walkabout Mini Golf as hidden “lost balls” are scattered across the courses. Once these balls are found they can be used in-game. Once ten balls in each area are discovered or a score below par is achieved, a night mode is unlocked. I couldn’t notice a change to course layout but seeing the courses at night offered even more of a relaxing experience.
Play With Others or Do It Alone?
It’s clear that the game is designed for multiplayer however I had fun in singleplayer. I did not have any known friends to play with, so I used the automatch and was paired with a fellow mini golfer. Overall, the online functionality worked well with voice chat and a shared world.
In order to test out the remaining courses alone, I listened to a podcast via my web browser and alongside the ambient noises, I completely lost myself in the game for an hour, taking in the environments. I never thought mini-golf would be escapism for me but here I was, separated from the “real” world and absorbed in the worlds and gameplay of Walkabout Mini Golf.
Final Scores
Overall, Walkabout Mini Golf offers responsive controls, clever course layouts, and excellent low-poly world design. Even though I played alone, I still loved my time with the game. This game is designed for multiplayer and I fully recommend Walkabout Mini Golf if you have some friends to play with or want to unwind in a relaxed golfing environment.
Rapid Reviews Rating
You can purchase Walkabout Golf here.
You can read our VR game reviews over at vrgamecritic.
