Beach Mini Golf 3D is a character-based minigolf game, the courses of which are rendered polygonally. It turns out that three-dimensionality is a boon in a game that requires the careful consideration of physics across nonplanar space. Go figure! The courses are well designed and even feature shortcuts, if you're creative enough to find them. Apart from the jump to 3D, however, Beach Mini Golf is a pretty standard game of golf, with few surprises.
You play against three opponents, be they CPU-controlled or human. In the former case, you won't actually have to sit though the CPU turns. Instead, the computer-controller players' scores will be tabulated at the end of each hole. You will have to swap your phone around to play against friends, however.
Although you get to select from one of four characters, you won't actually see them during play. Instead, you control an eerie green arrow that's floated above the golf course...ever since that fateful night. The announcer tries to compensate by addressing you often, and by your character's name. He's pretty positive--even when you fail horribly--despite the forgiving par settings.
As there are no characters to render, the game's engine is taxed only by displaying the geometric solids that comprise the golf course from one of two selectable camera angles. The simple action is displayed smoothly, but it won't turn any heads. The most visual depth you'll encounter comes in the form of ramps that can be used to send the ball flying to other parts of the hole. Guide rails can be used in a similar fashion, although sending the ball careening off of them can yield unpredictable results.
Beach Mini Golf's sound is also adequate, if unremarkable. In addition to the announcer, an unobtrusive audio loop plays throughout the game, featuring the bittersweet sound of a trumpet, as accompanied by a rhythm section of maracas and bongos.
Beach Mini Golf 3D offers nine unique holes, each made more interesting by the use of the third dimension. It by no means reinvents the wheel, but it's an easygoing game with wide appeal. If you're looking for a minigolf game for your LG VX 8000, this one's worth considering. With an $8.99 price tag, it's a buck less to purchase outright than other V Cast offerings, as well. We would have liked to have seen a few more creative obstacles, like a laughing clown or the like, but Beach Mini Golf 3D is still a solid package.
