Golf with Your Friends is a mini-golf game that is available on Steam and it has the feel of a brilliant party game to enjoy with your friends. Allowing for both local and online multiplayer, you can ensure that entertainment will be close by and with the cheap price and marketplace opportunity to regain your investment, this game has great potential.
“While this may be fun for a basic experience, there are more fun ways to spend your time.”
There are multiple game modes that allow you to have unique experiences, and to tweak the settings to your liking. The classic game-mode is as you would expect, a vanilla golfing experience that allows you to try and get the best score on a level playing field without the bells and whistles. While this may be fun for a basic experience, there are more fun ways to spend your time. Customisation settings such as low gravity and random ball shapes change how you approach the course. Stars, eggs and cylinders are among the array of shapes that can dramatically change how the holes play out. Items are given out through random chance after each hole to customise balls. Hats and trails change the visual experience and completionists will ultimately love them.
The game is very enjoyable when played semi-seriously. Using collisions against opponents to prevent a perfect shot is both fun and amusing. Be careful not to pot them though as their stroke won’t count! Use positioning wisely and you may be able to use this mechanic to your advantage. Certain holes are also prone to many collisions that can turn catastrophic due to the environment. Rolling logs and jumps are just some of the features that can devastate your score.
The game has some problems and glitches can halt enjoyment. Becoming stuck in the environment is a rare glitch that ruins the experience. Long gutter areas which make shapes such as cones near impossible to complete. The number of courses could be a bit higher, but the developer is still supporting the game and is rolling out updates; a pirate-themed course is next on the agenda!
“While it is still in the early access stage of development, the game is overall solid and enjoyable.“
One problem with golf games is that they quickly become stale, making them better as an occasional experience. I feel that Golf with Your Friends creates the optimal experience the first time round. For example, courses are not memorised for the perfect angles and not knowing which tunnel leads to the hole creates a feeling of anticipation which is lost after the second or third round. This doesn’t mean that the game has a low gameplay value. It’s just that the excitement falls off when ball placement is consistent: no more false moves! How you take that is up to you though.
Golf with Your Friends is now available on Steam for £4.79, and I would highly recommend this game for those looking for a party game to enjoy with friends. While it is still in the early access stage of development, the game is overall solid and enjoyable. I wouldn’t recommend this for a single player experience however as most of the humour comes from the banter of the players competing together rather than the sole gameplay itself. This game is highly underrated. Not many games live up to expectations when they are in early access and this is one of the better experiences. Whilst normally opposed to buying them, this was a very enjoyable experience for me. Overall, a brilliant game when played in the right circumstances.