Infinite Minigolf (PlayStation 4) Review

Zen Studios honed their craft on making Zen Pinball games which entailed a slew of microtransactions to offer a variety of ways to add flavour to their exceptionally competent products. The developer seems to be beginning to bring a similar model with Infinite Minigolf, since, from the outset, the core game only really has three variety of themes: a gigantic bedroom, a Halloween-esque graveyard, and a Christmas-themed winter wonderland.

Outside of the cosmetics, there really is not much difference between the settings, since all courses are built with the same prefabricated assets (that come in their respective themed flavours), and only really serve to add to the atmosphere. It must be mentioned that, while playing in VR, the oversized bedroom creates a very surreal sensation of being very small, almost as if the player is in the film Toy Story.

This is a fairly prototypical minigolf game, but with a very slick and friendly presentation. It definitely has that generic Dreamworks vibe going on that is popular with the kids, but thanks to VR it has the advantage of immersion rarely seen in golf. Upon beginning the game proper, users create an avatar and can then choose to partake in the various modes.

From tournaments to practice and everything in between, the developers got it all accounted for. The interface is very clear cut and accessible, and everything loads very promptly. When a themed area is chosen, all new courses are very quickly loaded up and rounds of minigolf can begin with no fuss. This is pretty much a true pick and play casual minigolf game that kids could enjoy.

The actual gameplay itself is standard yet polished. There are various power-ups that the ball can acquire that can make matches a bit more interesting, instead of a regular plain-Jane game of golf. There aren't a vast amount of 'em, but they get the job done, like for example the spring ball or the remote control ball, which help out less experienced golfers.

Infinite Minigolf makes things more exciting by including a currency and levelling system, as well as a slew of challenges to be completed. Earning coins and tickets to get articles of clothes for avatars and levelling up is par the course in a game that will lean on a micro-transaction model but none of it ever interferes with the core game of golfing or playing in tournaments. The expected implementation of future micro-transactions will likely be more currency, and possibly more themed play fields in a similar way how Zen Studios expanded their pinball titles.

The real headliner of Infinite Minigolf is by far the course editor. It is easy to drop a lot of time into this feature and to agonize over the minutia over making the ultimate course. It is also very easy to make a very simple course in a few minutes. The controls do take a bit to get used to in the course editor and the interface is also much more confusing than anything else in the game, but after a while it starts to make sense.

Other than being a more immersive experience, there really is no benefit or change with the PSVR headset. The avatars are shown in the third-person, and other than aligning shots and aiming with arrows, there is not much else to the gameplay. Infinite Minigolf really doesn't need VR at all to be enjoyable, since it offers a perfectly fine, casual-friendly minigolf experience on its own.