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| I'm sure to make it to the hole now, right? |
- Reviewed by: Mark Goninon
- Developer: Blacklight Interactive
- Publisher: Blacklight Interactive
- Release Date: 30 January 2016
- Time played: 6 hours
What is it
Golf With Your Friends is a multiplayer mini-golf game developed by Blacklight Interactive, a small indie development team of 3 people located in Brisbane, Australia (Hurrah for Aussie-made games!). The game was released as part of Steam's Early Access program on the 30 January 2016 and was originally slated for release towards the end of that year, however the game is still in Early Access and it's now January 2018. The developers claim that more features will be added this year such as a Level Editor, additional game modes, controller support, hot seat as well as more courses.In its current state, the game already has quite a few features such as 12-player multiplayer, 7 courses (with different themes), ball customisation (yes, Team Fortress 2 isn't the only game to have collectable hats), player-created servers, private rooms as well as one custom mode called "Dunk".
Standard games play very much like a normal game of mini-golf where you have 18 holes to play on per course and you have to complete it in the lowest number of strokes to win. The game is entirely mouse-driven so the mouse is used to not only aim your shots but you also use it to determine how powerful the shot will be (a power bar assists you in determining this).
How I got it
My friends suggested I get the game (since it is Golf With Your Friends after all) but I've been holding out mainly because of my vow to enact austerity measures on my Steam library - however, that all changed during Christmas 2017 since after buying some cheap X-mas pressies for friends during the Steam Winter Sale, I received many in return (I have generous friends)! So, thank you SirWraith for this copy of Golf With Your Friends, otherwise I wouldn't have had a chance to give it a try!What I like:
Wacky themes
Currently there are seven courses and they all have different themes: there's the fairly conventional "Forest" theme along with "Oasis" (Ancient Egypt), "Twilight" (nothing to do with glittering vampires), "Haunted", "Candyland", "Ancient" (Aztecs and dinosaurs?) and "Pirate Cove".Seven courses
There are seven 18-hole courses you can already play on in this Early Access version of the game and the developers have more planned.Ball customisation
You can customise your golf ball with not only different colours but hats and trails as well (that you unlock through the course of the game).Australian server!
Hurrah. See, there are benefits to having an Australian company develop the game 😉.Steam Achievements
Not only does the game have 32 Steam Achievements to earn but you can also collect hats for your golf balls as well as trails (these are automatically populated in your Steam inventory the longer you play the game). You can even sell these items on the Steam Market (but good luck getting anything more than one cent for most of these items)!No Steam Trading Cards to collect though...
Great fun for those who like mini-golf
The game is a no-frills mini-golf game (well, except for the ball customisation and additional modes) which is exactly what you want if you're a mini-golf aficionado: challenging mini-golf courses that you can play with up to eleven of your friends... |
| Argh! Too - much - pink! |
What I dislike:
Great fun for those who like mini-golf
Unfortunately, the game's strength is also its weakness: not everybody likes mini-golf and just like the real mini-golf if there is a huge difference in skill level between players the game is not going to be too much fun. Worse, some of the holes are actually really difficult to recover from – i.e. if you decide to go the wrong way or you simply can't get the ball to do the loop-the-loop, you're going to run out of strokes which puts you at a severe disadvantage (sometimes there's no slow and safe way, only the risky one). Yes, I know real mini-golf is like that at times too but this makes it harder for the casual player to get into the game, despite the game targeting that demographic.Occasional connectivity issues
There have been a couple times when trying to play a three-player game with someone else across the country that the connection would be lost, but thankfully it's infrequent."Great soundtrack"
Don't be fooled by the Steam tag "Great Soundtrack"; the game doesn't have a soundtrack at all. Mind you, this is probably preferable for those that like to play without distractions but just thought I'd mention it anyway.Occasional glitches
You get the occasional graphical glitch or clipping issue while playing the game but nothing too serious.Short
It takes under three hours to complete all the courses currently available in the game so unless you like playing the same courses over and over, you'd better hope you enjoy the "Dunk" game mode as there's not much else to do. Fortunately, the developers are working on a level editor, more courses and more game modes so this should help increase its replay value.Score – 8/10 (Pretty Good)
Despite still being in Early Access, Golf With Your Friends is a fully functional multiplayer mini-golf game. If you're able to find the aforementioned friends to play with who are as crazy about mini-golf as yourself, you're bound to have a fantastic time with this game.Is the game worth $5.99 USD?: Definitely. Considering the price is expected to go up once the game is fully released I think you get plenty for your six American buckaroos, provided you can get a bunch of friends to play with you :).
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[ LINK: Official Golf With Your Friends Website ]
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