Vertiginous Golf

So I got a new game...  Vertiginous Golf

I know very little about this one.  I saw it was part of a bundle I picked up today, and I thought I'd give it a shot.  All I know about it is that we're going to be mini-golfing in a dystopian future. A steam-punk dystopian future, to boot.  That's the extent of my knowledge on this one.  Should be interesting.

I remember a long time ago, playing a game that I think was called 'Crazy Golf' on the computer, back when I think I had a 286, and a 286 didn't have enough oomph to actually play the game.  So I used to play it over at a friend's house.  It had all sorts of bizarre courses, moving platforms, warps, and other obstacles intended to make life interesting.  Ah.  I found it.  It was called Zany Golf.  Now I remember some of the courses - I think the hamburger one was one of my favorites.

Anyway, let's see what "Vertiginous Golf" is like.

I can now honestly say that I can agree with the game's description: Vertiginous Golf is a steam-punk, dystopian future mini-golf game with all kinds of impossible courses.

It's a slightly strange game; right off the bat - no kidding - you're electrocuted through the brain in order to get into the action.
If this is VR of the future, I'll take mine without the migraine.
The controls are simple enough, I used the mouse to play, but it looks like there was support for a game controller as well.


Each course begins with a little fly-through of the course so you can get a feel for the overall layout.  Once that completes, you have the option to fly through again, under your own control, through the eyes of your ever-present hummingbird.  Because obviously hummingbirds are what were missing from mini-golf games all these years.

Hummingbird-cam

 The game plays fairly well.  Swing the club, see where your ball goes, and repeat.


 The obstacles were fairly less clever than I was hoping for.  Most of the time, you're dealing with moving conveyor belts or fans.  I was once or twice inverted on upside-down carpet, or knocked into by moving pyramids, but most of the time, the courses were more elegant than unusual.


There is a lot of variety in the course layout.  Some had lots of moving parts, some just had difficult angles to traverse.  All of them seemed to have a lot of thought put into their designs. I noticed that most of the time, you're playing on ornate carpeted surfaces.  It gives the game an elegant feeling. 


Another feature of the game is online multiplayer.  I didn't try that out, so I'm not sure if there are many people out there to play with or not.  But if you have a friend who wants to play with you, having an opponent might breathe more life into the game.


During my first play-through, I did pretty terribly.  I swear, the one time I scored less than par was pure luck.


The menu system was pretty interesting.  The little displays are on moving arms that position themselves as seen below when you approach this apparatus.


A nice feature included with the game is the option to create your own courses.  If you've ever wanted to try your hand at making a mini-golf course or two, here's your opportunity.  It looked like the tools provided were pretty good, but I didn't make my own full course.


What I liked - The game was easy to get into, the controls were simple and responsive.  The graphics were nice, and the holes were pretty creative.

What I didn't like - Many times, my ball ended up soaring off the course because there wasn't a barrier where I thought there was.  Sometimes you could hit invisible walls and ricochet off them, sometimes you couldn't.   I didn't like the inconsistency there. 

In the end, I don't think I'll play this one that much.  I think I would have enjoyed it more with someone else playing against me, but on my own, it just felt lifeless.

Thanks for reading.

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