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Genre: Arcade/Sports

Format: Download

Developer: Mondo Robot

Publisher: Freeverse

System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.3.9, 1GHz G4 processor, 256MB RAM, 32MB VRAM (Intel GMA 950 chipsets supported), 50MB hard drive space

Review Computer: 2GHz 20" Intel Core Duo iMac, 1GB RAM, 256MB ATI Radeon X1600

Network Feature: No

Processor Compatibility: Universal

Price: $29.95

ESRB Rating: N/A

Availability: Out now

Demo: Download full demo (35.6MB)

What we have here, dear gamers, is a missed opportunity. When Freeverse announced the release of a miniature golf game, I was thrilled. Long have I believed the Freeverse characters and the company's sense of humor were well suited to a miniature golf sim. Burning Monkey Mini Golf. Perfect. I can't think of a better match.

But this isn't Burning Monkey Mini Golf. There are no monkeys. There is no burning. The game wasn't developed by Freeverse, but by Mondo Robot. So, okay, Burning Robot Mini Golf? No. The sense of humor I was looking forward to isn't here. In fact, there aren't even any characters here. Your player is the ball. That's pretty much it, aside from a tiki mask of your choosing that floats above your ball, there's no character to represent you, and there's not even a club. Where's the personality?

It'll sound petty, I guess, but with very little to separate one miniature golf sim from the next, personality is actually quite important. Since there's not much of that here, Tiki Magic Mini Golf has to rely on graphics and the overall gameplay. Mondo Robot actually addresses each well, but then other problems start to show up.

First, though, the game. Tiki Magic contains three courses, comprising a total of 54 holes: Lono's Lagoon, Lost Temple and Fire Mountain. They all fit the south island theme, but each has a slightly differing personality with its own hazards. One interesting aspect of Tiki Magic is that I developed no preference on which course to play. Usually, in miniature golf games, I find a course or two that I really enjoy, while I never go back to others. Although each course has a couple of annoying holes, they're always offset by the good ones, and I found each to be on the same enjoyment level.

Although there are three courses, there's only one style of gameplay. And oddly, it's not straightforward miniature golf. On each hole are various gems you can collect if your ball runs into them. Collect enough gems (and often, it's impossible not too), and you can spend them on portals that'll automatically take you closer to the whole. Collect ten gems, and you'll receive one stroke off your total.

There are also beverage cups scattered about that will randomly help you or hurt you. Hey, just like real exotic beverages! And finally, Tiki Magic whirlwinds will hurl your ball further down towards the cup, up into the air for gems or into a wall.

This is all well and good, and it does add another dimension to the game. Unfortunately, it's the only dimension. If you want to play just a straight round of miniature golf, you can't.

What you can do is play with up to six people. You're all at the same computer, though. No networking. And unlike most miniature golf games, there's no way to upload your scores to the Internet for bragging rights. Both are curious omissions for a Freeverse-published title.

Freeverse mentions "state of the art physics" on their website, but I didn't find this to be true. How the ball rolled varied wildly on different holes, it never seemed to follow walls properly, and there when times when my ball was moving way to quickly to actually sink into the cup, but sink it did. Speed therefore didn't really matter, and that's good, because it wasn't always easy to control.

And yet, none of these are the game breaker. That comes in the form of what I assume to be a programming bug. When playing in Window mode, as you're aiming your putt (done by sliding left and right for positioning, and pushing forward and backward for power), the cursor can go off the window. If this happens, and you click on your desktop when you go to putt, you actually put Tiki Magic in the background. To putt, you have to have to figure out where your cursor is, put it back in the game window, click once to activate the game, and click again to putt. This obviously doesn't come into play if you're in full screen mode, but why even offer a window mode option if you're not going to make sure it works?

On the bright side, the graphics are gorgeous. Many of the holes are quite long, and the settings are very attractive along the way. Camera control is good, too. You can spin around the ball even while it's moving, and if a wall is blocking your view of the cup, both the cup and the ball will show through the wall so you can still aim your shot.

The music is also pretty good. It captures the light-hearted feel of the game, and ties in nicely with the island theme. It's exactly what you'd expect (and want) from a miniature golf game.

It's just too bad the rest isn't. Tiki Magic Mini Golf just feels unfinished to me, as if they spent all of their development time on the graphics, and therefore had to abandon the physics engine, the game features, the player animations and the difficulty level a few weeks to soon. Oh, did I not mention the difficulty level? That's because there isn't one. The first time I played each course, I finished about 10 to 20 under par. You tell me...what's the incentive to go back and play again?

Apply these graphics to another game, and you may have something here. As it stands, there are better miniature golf shareware games out there that'll cost you about $10.00 less but provide more enjoyment and a greater challenge. Seek them out. Tiki Magic Mini Golf, pretty much like a real magic show, is best left for the kids.

The neighbors' kids; not your own.