Super Inefficient Golf

Genre: Sports (Mini-Golf)

Players: 1

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Review:

Super Inefficient Golf is a Mini-Golf game released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2018. This game reimagines the sport being played not by striking the ball with clubs, but by planting remotely-detonated mines on the ball and getting it to the hole with precision detonations.

The presentation here is good but nothing special, making use of colorful 3D visuals with some decent environmental details, but a bit of pop-in here and there. Could be better, could be worse, but overall it works well enough for its intended purpose. This is paired with a bouncy, forgettable soundtrack that works well enough for the sort of silly tone this game is aiming for.

As for the gameplay, I think this approach to golf is refreshing, and I’m glad to see a golf game that does away with the “press the button at the right time for your swing” mechanic that so many games in the genre use. Rather, this game’s use of explosions to propel the ball takes the game back to its core basics – this is a game about physics, and about judging the angle and strength the ball is being hit. In addition, this game allows players to place up to four mines of different colors, meaning that players can supercharge an explosion by adding more of the same color, or they can create multiple explosions that go off at different times – useful if you need to change directions midway into a ball’s journey.

Of course, this can amount to a lot of trial and error, but thankfully the game makes it super-easy to restart a level, without any loading screen or delay. This can lead to a lot of experimentation, and makes it a fun game to try to exploit the level’s design to your benefit – in many levels, careful placement of mines can bypass an obstacle course entirely.

For downsides, some levels include claustrophobic sections that make it difficult to see where your ball is in relation to the rest of the level, even making it tough to see which way is up. Also, the lack of multiplayer really limits this game’s replayability. On that note, this game can be completed in a matter of a few hours. At the very least this is made a bit easier to swallow by the game’s low $8 price tag, though I really do wish this game came with more options and multiplayer features. Heck, a course builder for this game would have been a phenomenal addition, but unfortunately there’s no such mode here.

Still, for a smaller take on Mini-Golf that puts a fun and literally explosive spin on the formula, Super Inefficient Golf is well worth a look for fans of the genre. It’s only going to be a brief distraction, but it’ll be a pretty enjoyable one.

tl;dr – Super Inefficient Golf is a Mini-Golf game where players propel golf balls through courses with explosives rather than clubs. It’s a fun concept done well, but this game really could have used more content and features. Still, it’s fun while it lasts, and its relatively low price tag makes it worth a look for anyone interested in a Golf game that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Grade: C+

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