The review is below, but when you're done reading, feel free to get a free Steam game over in my giveaway
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Sights & Sounds
- With the indie minigolf game market already more than a little saturated, it really takes a lot for something to stand out. Wonderputt Forever, visually speaking, certainly manages to catch your eye
- Virtually every hole on each course is brimming with colorful detail. The game uses a rich and diverse palette to match the trippy and varied level designs
- I usually have a pretty good memory for music, but I had to go back and check out some YouTube playthroughs to recall this game's tunes. It's a bunch of meditative electronic music that evidently doesn't leave much of an impression
- The sound effects were pretty nice, especially the ambient ones providing a little auditory context for the scenery you putt your ball through. Not a huge thing, but it gives your ears a little more to latch onto in the void created by the uninspiring soundtrack
Story & Vibes
- Every now and then, you'll stumble across a little indie golf game that manages to layer a narrative (or at least a little lore) into the repetitive task of smacking a ball around. This isn't one of those games, though
- No, you just hit the ball into the hole, ideally in as few strokes as you can
- I do like how each course feels like a little stroll through a city, so that's nice, at least
Playability & Replayability
- Wonderputt doesn't really deviate much from your general minigolf formula. It just introduces some obstacles and mechanics (floating the ball through the air with a helicopter attachment, skipping it across water hazards, bouncing off platforms jump pads, firing out of cannons, etc.) across its 3 courses. In other words, it's a bunch of physics-based stuff that you've probably seen in a dozen other minigolf games
- It's not that there's anything wrong with the courses, mechanics, or level design in this game. It's just hard to really find anything unique or terribly exciting here. What the Golf? more or less plumbed the depths of what you can do mechanically in a game like this already, so it's a little hard to be impressed by anything contained here
- Beyond your traditional 3 courses, there's also a modifier-laden endurance mode that I didn't really delve much into. I was on a plane and landed before I could get too far
- These so-called "Geometry Trips" seem to represent a few meaty hours of post game content--if you want to think of it like that--but I wasn't really interested in continuing to play them. I probably wouldn't feel motivated to boot this one up until I fly again, and even then, there are more enticing options lurking on my Steam Deck
Overall Impressions & Performance
- The fact that I haven't touched this game since the plane ride I downloaded it for more or less encapsulates my impression. It's a fine enough way to pass a couple of hours in a cramped 737 economy seat, but it doesn't really have many tricks beyond its slick visuals
- Even so, it scratches that minigolf itch pretty well, runs well and looks good doing it on the Steam Deck, and has a fair asking price for the amount of content you get
Final Verdict
- 5/10. A pretty-looking minigolf game that offers a few physics based challenges, but there's not much in the package behind that
----------
Sights & Sounds
- With the indie minigolf game market already more than a little saturated, it really takes a lot for something to stand out. Wonderputt Forever, visually speaking, certainly manages to catch your eye
- Virtually every hole on each course is brimming with colorful detail. The game uses a rich and diverse palette to match the trippy and varied level designs
- I usually have a pretty good memory for music, but I had to go back and check out some YouTube playthroughs to recall this game's tunes. It's a bunch of meditative electronic music that evidently doesn't leave much of an impression
- The sound effects were pretty nice, especially the ambient ones providing a little auditory context for the scenery you putt your ball through. Not a huge thing, but it gives your ears a little more to latch onto in the void created by the uninspiring soundtrack
Story & Vibes
- Every now and then, you'll stumble across a little indie golf game that manages to layer a narrative (or at least a little lore) into the repetitive task of smacking a ball around. This isn't one of those games, though
- No, you just hit the ball into the hole, ideally in as few strokes as you can
- I do like how each course feels like a little stroll through a city, so that's nice, at least
Playability & Replayability
- Wonderputt doesn't really deviate much from your general minigolf formula. It just introduces some obstacles and mechanics (floating the ball through the air with a helicopter attachment, skipping it across water hazards, bouncing off platforms jump pads, firing out of cannons, etc.) across its 3 courses. In other words, it's a bunch of physics-based stuff that you've probably seen in a dozen other minigolf games
- It's not that there's anything wrong with the courses, mechanics, or level design in this game. It's just hard to really find anything unique or terribly exciting here. What the Golf? more or less plumbed the depths of what you can do mechanically in a game like this already, so it's a little hard to be impressed by anything contained here
- Beyond your traditional 3 courses, there's also a modifier-laden endurance mode that I didn't really delve much into. I was on a plane and landed before I could get too far
- These so-called "Geometry Trips" seem to represent a few meaty hours of post game content--if you want to think of it like that--but I wasn't really interested in continuing to play them. I probably wouldn't feel motivated to boot this one up until I fly again, and even then, there are more enticing options lurking on my Steam Deck
Overall Impressions & Performance
- The fact that I haven't touched this game since the plane ride I downloaded it for more or less encapsulates my impression. It's a fine enough way to pass a couple of hours in a cramped 737 economy seat, but it doesn't really have many tricks beyond its slick visuals
- Even so, it scratches that minigolf itch pretty well, runs well and looks good doing it on the Steam Deck, and has a fair asking price for the amount of content you get
Final Verdict
- 5/10. A pretty-looking minigolf game that offers a few physics based challenges, but there's not much in the package behind that
Wonderputt Forever's courses are less about trying to shoot under par and more about appreciating the surreal absurdity of each level. But no individual images really stand out and after a while, it all starts to blend together into a pastel slop.