3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures, the latest addition to Sierra Online's selection of casual sports games, combines golf with the type of gameplay that's usually reserved for billiards. Players putt through 36 obstacle courses, littered with hazards that include creatures that knock the ball out of place to explosives that can destroy a person's score.
Although players select from four different characters, they lack unique characteristics. Ultra Minigolf offers only two methods of control, the first being the single-click method, where players hold down the mouse button until the power meter reaches a desired level. The second, called "3-click," involves a little more skill, since players use a series of clicks to set the power and add spin to the ball. Players then try to achieve the best score using both power-ups and creatively bounce the ball off objects and sides for trick-shots. Many of the courses also offer secret areas that either help players get ahead or lead to hole-in-ones.
Ultra Minigolf's straightforward gameplay makes the game extremely easy to pick up and learn, while the creative courses offer some very nice challenges like a course that turns into a pinball game, where players can use flippers to hit the ball around and pick up power-ups. Power-ups range from lowering a person's score (it becomes entirely possible to win with 0 hits) to jumping over obstacles. Unused abilities carry over from one course to the next, but players can only have one at a time.
Unfortunately, some of the courses seem radically different from another, and require some time to learn. Although the game was designed for a casual audience, the game is missing a practice mode. So players sometimes have to struggle and suffer through some embarrassing scores while learning a difficult course.
Scoring well across a series of courses unlocks more courses, but the game doesn't offer much else in the way of rewards. changes the background graphic, but nothing else. Players must settle for that good feeling they get when their name displays on the scoreboard. Not an online scoreboard, but a personal scoreboard to show off to friends or admire during down time.
Multiplayer only comes in the form of hotseat, which works well, but it would have been nice to see some online options. All courses become available in multiplayer, so specific themes may be selected or players can choose their favorites and create a custom tournament. The game plays pretty much the same way, except more power-ups become available in multiplayer, giving players more ways to get ahead, including blowing up an opponent's ball or knocking it off the course.
An included map editor allows users to design and email custom maps to each other. However, tiles for custom maps look mundane, with generic twists, turns, bumps, sand traps and water hazards, but no options for making radically creative maps similar to the outer-space ones. Additionally, while the map editor allows players to add power-ups, it doesn't include options for putting in the creature obstacles that the main game often employs.
For the most part, 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures serves as an entertaining distraction that comes at a low cost. While lacking in depth, the game achieves in providing challenging gameplay with easy to use controls. The game can be purchased directly online or through Xbox Live Arcade.
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