One timeless American pastime seems to be the introduction of
mini-golf. Indeed, at one of my local malls, the same mini-golf course
of 18 holes operated for almost half a decade before it had to close
down. How many rounds of mini-golf could one person take before it
became all too boring? Mini-golf, in reality, has about as much to do
with golf as the Harlem Globetrotters have to do with competitive
basketball. Inmar's treatment of it is no different.
The piece de resistance of this title is really the Diesel engine. I
think the mini-golf game is merely a motif for the developers to show
what they can really do with a proper 3D engine in a Pocket PC
environment. Diesel Minigolf (DM) has the ability to support up to four
(hot-seat) players on a set of 18 holes all rendered in luscious 3D
textures. The vibrant colours of obstacles, water hazards and trees all
show the strength of the underlying engine that powers this title. As
attributed to all 3D engines, you have the opportunity to rotate (though
not in complete 360 degree freedom) and zoom to adjust your gameplay. I
have always found these features on the PC platform to be a bit spurious
and more for aesthetics. Usually, people will rotate or zoom to get a
better look at the action and unless there is an obstacle, the human
mind can usually adapt to the changing spatial elements on-screen. In
DM, it becomes useful to rotate or zoom not only because of obstacles
but also due to some of the brutal course designs, which feature sudden
drops or climbs in height. Some layouts even force you to do a quick
right angle turn. Obviously none of these are standard golf fare but
like my analogy with the Globetrotters, you are here really to pull off
trick shots.
Alongside an impressive visual engine, DM also includes a wide variety
of sound effects from the usual ambient water sounds or birds to an
easy-listening soundtrack. Audio can be quickly toggled on and off. To
actually perform a stroke, you simply tap on the screen and drag towards
the ball as if your stylus represented the blade of the putter. This is
a pretty immersive way of doing it. Indeed, one of the primary
challenges other golf titles made to the de facto PC franchise, Links,
was the concept of swinging with your mouse. Of course, this increases
the chance for foul-ups because our motion will never be as perfect as
the classic three-click swing that Links pioneered. In DM, you have to
be even more mindful since the space you have to work with is smaller
and the margins for error even less. You are definitely not going to
make any pars if you play on a moving train or subway.
With that said, the developers did not exactly aim this title at the
golf enthusiast. They call each stroke you make a hit and count the
nominal par for each hole as a plural "hits". The golf aids that one is
accustomed to in traditional golf games seem to be missing as well.
When you initiate the overhead map, you get a clear direction where the
ball must travel with arrow indicators. However, height perception in
this game is a little hard to visualize and is not helped by the uniform
green colours that run rampant everywhere. In a typical golf game, an
overhead grid is applied to illustrate the various depressions
throughout the green. This helps the player identify breaks he or she
might use to propel the ball towards the hole. Such a feature appears
lacking in DM.
Inmar has definitely shown that a slick 3D engine is possible on the
Pocket PC platform. DM is a visually attractive game and the
audio-visual mélange it presents is enticing. However, with only 18
holes and the inability to automatically generate some replay value has
to be questioned. The eye candy is not entirely without its faults.
Zoom in extremely close and you will see the quality of the textures
degrade. Moreover, it lacks some of the features and feel of real golf
games. Yet after seeing this title in action, I believe a full-fledged
golf game is definitely not out of reach for these developers.
Ratings:
[08/10] Addictiveness
[17/20] Gameplay
[14/15] Graphics
[07/10] Interface/controls
[07/10] Program Size
[05/05] Sound
[03/05] Discreetness
[12/15] Learning Curve
[ N/A ] Multiplayer