When I think of miniature golf, I think of swinging pendulums, obstacles, animals, and all sorts of crazy characters, all trying to create havoc as you attempt to score that elusive hole-in-one. It's an activity that just about everybody can relate too, whether you played as a kid, or perhaps took a date too on occasion. No. 2 Games and eGames have teamed up to bring this beloved pastime to the PC in their title, MiniGolf Master. However, this isn't your regular minigolf game, it uses creative and sometimes awkward courses that you certainly wouldn't find at your favourite miniature golf course.

MiniGolf Master is an arcade-style miniature golf game. It features 37 holes in all, including 36 3D-rendered miniature golf holes, 1 training level, and a hidden bonus hole. Each course is based on a theme the likes of war, space, jungle, winter, cityscape, etc. What makes MiniGolf Master so unique is that each course comes complete with a set of course features. For example, while playing on the war-themed course, my ball was the victim of an air strike. On the space course, my ball was the target of a UFO abduction. It's safe to say you want to avoid such obstructions if you're looking to at least par the holes. There are course features for just about every hole in the game, including catapults, quicksand, parachutes, springs, land mines, and much more.

MiniGolf Master features incredible course designs. Most courses are several screens in length and many of the holes are multi-leveled. You'll need to take advantage of pipes, cliffs and other means in order to advance your ball to the actual hole itself. The biggest problem with the size of the courses is the camera angles used to represent them. Since the courses are pretty much insane in terms of length and difficulty, you really need to see the whole course in order to figure out which is the best route to take to the hole. However, there is no overhead camera available, so you have to literally pan the entire hole in order to set up a shot, for every shot. This can become fairly annoying, extremely fast.

Graphically, MiniGolf Master is extremely pleasing to the eye. The courses are all designed with great detail. Particle effects such as rain, snow, sparks and flying debris are featured, and combined with lightning effects, offers a unique atmosphere for each and every hole. Visually, it's one of the better miniature golf games to date.

The interface is less than desirable. A mouse based interface is employed that offers three different putting methods. The push putt, easy pull putt, and standard pull putt all basically involve clicking and holding the mouse button, pulling back on the mouse to generate the swing, and letting go of the mouse button to complete the stroke. A better system, which is seen in most golf games, would be to simply click the mouse button to activate the swing and power meter, followed by a second mouse click when the desired power has been attained. It's ridiculous to believe that you can get a feel as to how powerful your golf swing is by pulling back on your mouse. Such a design will never fly in my opinion, at least not to avid golfers who are looking to play a few holes on their PC when the sun isn't shinning.

MiniGolf Master is only designed for hot-seat play, meaning there are no computer opponents to play against. If you wish to play against a friend, you'll have to do so on the same machine. There is no Internet or LAN play offered either.

MiniGolf Master is a difficult game. Many courses are tricky and the addition of some extremely creative hazards will surely cause frustration for some gamers. You'd think that a miniature golf game would play more to younger audiences, but in this case it plays to older audiences as well. MiniGolf Master isn't going to eat too many hours out of your day, but it will offer a fun diversion on those rainy days.

Graphics [15/20]
Sound [9/15]
Gameplay [21/30]
Funfactor [14/20]
Multiplayer [1/5]
Overall Impression [6/10