With a minigolf game released weekly on mobile, it's tough for users to sort the fair from the middling. In truth, the minigolf scene has stagnated of late by failing to add rocket-powered balls or putting-related drinking games. Reaxion's Minigolf 2 is nearly identical to its competition, save for a Tara Reid analogue who lounges by each beachside green, sipping mai tais and spouting innuendos involving the words "stroke" and "hole." While it's not a bad minigolf game, it's not remarkable in any way, either.
The continual presence of Tara (in her various forms) is probably the only feature that differentiates Minigolf 2 from the babeless also-rans of the wireless world. Tara's speaking animation looks like it was done by adding and removing a few white pixels in Photoshop, which is pretty much par for Minigolf's graphical course. In later levels, Tara changes into a vampiress, a geisha, and even a male pirate! It's amazing what that girl can do with makeup.
The game lets you choose the skin and clothing colors of your golfer. However, he barely moves, so you rotate him around like a poster-board cutout. The dude only moves slightly to hit the ball, and the same animation is used for any level of stroke power. Sometimes your rather wooden pal gets in the way of your view of the hole. This happens anytime you have to take a putt from below and to the right of the pin; in such instances, you can eliminate the golfer from view entirely with the 0 key.
Fortunately, it's not all beachside swinging in Minigolf 2. There's actually quite a good variety of courses here, including a vampiric lair and a Japanese Shinto jinja (shrine), hence Tara's transformations. The great course variety adds a lot to the game's value, even if Minigolf's core gameplay is so generic. Indeed, unless you've never before sunk a virtual putt, it's impossible to get jazzed about this game. You just aim and shoot.
Minigolf 2 lets you upload your scores to an online leaderboard, called Gamarama. The handle you create in Minigolf 2 can apparently be used in other games that support Gamarama. So, if you're hoping to impress more folks than just supportive ol' Tara, you've got the means.
Strangely enough, Minigolf 2 didn't seem to feature any sound on the LG VX8000 at the time of our review, but it did include a sound toggle in the options menu. Turning it on and off had no effect, and there wasn't even a splash-screen ditty.
There's no reason to choose Minigolf 2 over any other putting game out there. A game in such an overcrowded genre needs to go the extra mile to stand out, and, in this case, Tara's bikini is the only feature fitting that description. Stick with Jamdat Mini Golf instead.
Editor's note 09/07/05: An updated version of this game has been released that corrects some of the issues mentioned in this review.
