Jamdat Mini Golf E3 2005 Hands-On Report

We got a chance to sit down with Jamdat's 18-holed tiki-themed minigolf game. Casual gamers looking for the chance to play minigolf need to look no further than Jamdat's entrant into the genre, which is slated to release sometime this summer. The game consists of one full course that is entirely tiki-themed, although it seems apparent that Jamdat is open to the idea of expanding upon the game with differently themed courses later.

Jamdat's minigolf is quite cute, featuring cartoony characters that respond similarly to those in the Hot Shots series, with cheers of pars and birdies, and sighs for bogies or worse. You can select between two playable characters, both of which have unique responses to your playing abilities.

Gameplay is extremely easy to pick up and will appeal particularly to casual gamers. On each of the 18 game holes, you position the ball, pick the trajectory, and then influence how hard you hit it. If you want to get a better idea of the hole ahead, and it's one of the longer holes, you're able to set the game into pan mode and scope out any part of the course that you want to see. Courses are littered with tiki-themed distractions, such as the kowtower, who will potentially be prone when you hit the ball, knocking it right back at you. There are also windmills and other classic minigolf obstacles, including bridges with kickback physics that will send the ball back to you if you don't use enough momentum to get over it.

Jamdat mini golf also features two-player pass and play, where you and a friend can face off as you would on a real minigolf course. You can also keep tabs through an in-game scorecard.