Either the idea is inherently brilliant or inherently stupid: A miniature golf game based on Mike Judge's misbegotten brainchildren Beavis and Butt-head. Then again, the same can be said for Beavis and Butt-head the phenomenon, so maybe minigolf and the duo are made for each other. And if that's the case, then Bunghole in One is a bad twist of fate, because although it looks authentic and its 18 holes are creative, it doesn't control well, it fails to engage itself with the characters from the show. Sure, it's worth playing through the holes, but chances are once is enough.
Each hole takes a distinctive setting (such as a grocery store) or theme (such as nachos) from the Beavis and Butt-head mythos, from the obvious to the more obscure. You have to shoot through the living room, the classroom, and the burger joint, though you'll also brave more sinister challenges like the cheese volcano and the cemetery. Most of the characters from the series, even the minor ones, make cameo appearances throughout the courses. You'll get to see nerd kid Stuart in his natural habitat, complete with train set, microscope, and other nerd paraphernalia. You'll find the duo's classmates loitering about (with Daria notably absent, since she got her own lousy show). You'll visit the auto shop of Todd, their shades-wearing hero, and you'll run across two smelly old guys who look suspiciously similar to the title characters at the dump. Every hole is introduced with a nice 3D flyby, while the gameplay takes place from a fixed overhead perspective where you can scroll around at will. All the courses look great - though they're 3D-rendered, they look just like the stark, gritty, colorful Americana settings of the show.
You can play through the course as either of the heroes, as well as hick neighbor Tom Anderson, hippie teacher Mr. Van Driessen, surly ex-con Todd, or the nerve-wracked Principal McVicker. The choice merely determines which character you'll see swinging a golf club in the upper left-hand corner, and whose commentary you'll hear as you make or break your shots. Up to four people can take turns on the course, and computer ghost players will fill any blanks so that you'll hear three other characters bickering on every hole. It's a good idea, but it's poorly executed - all you get is a bunch of speech samples blatantly ripped from the show, and you can imagine the awkwardness when the sound bits are spliced together in an effort to create dialogue. What's worse is you'll hear the same awkward lines over and over, which sucks most of the personality out of the game, or otherwise just sucks.
You also don't actually see the characters walking (or bickering) on the course. You'll wish you could get a different angle on a shot sometimes, when you can't quite tell how the slopes and valleys will affect your aim. At other times, you'll mess up seemingly obvious shots because the aiming isn't represented well onscreen. The holes themselves are pretty nice at least. Some are straightforward miniature golf fare, with a swinging door trap or something to add a little challenge and variety. Other holes are more surreal, like Coach Buzzcut's military obstacle course hole, complete with live landmines. A few of the holes are really tough, but you'll be able to score near par without too much effort on most of them. And since you only have those 18 holes, that means you'll be through with the game faster than Butt-head can surf through the channels. If there were more speech and interaction between the characters, there would have been an incentive to play through these holes more than once.
