Wonderputt Review

Wonderputt is a visually-stunning mini-golf game for the iPad. A port of the Flash original, the goal is the same as pretty much any mini-golf excursion: putt to win! Try to keep scores low while navigating the crazy courses. Scores in Wonderputt aren’t just based on low stroke numbers: there is actually a points system where birdies and such are worth a certain score that gets tallied up at the end. Then in later playthroughs, additional rainbow gems can be collected that add to the score, and make the Game Center leaderboards more cutthroat.

Wonderputt has an absolutely amazing look to it. It looks and feels like playing in an incredibly detailed painting, becuase that’s pretty much what it is. Then, the course shifts around, creating new permutations that are really quite unexpected at first. While they’re not perfect, they’re still great looking. The courses are inventive, and fun to play around on. The game isn’t available on iPhone for this precise reason: it’s so detailed that a lot would be lost if it was on the smaller screen. It would take a zoomed view, and a lot of the visual appeal would be lost.

The isometric perspective can make it difficult to line up shots. It’s thankfully easy, by pulling in the opposite direction, to see where shots are going to go, but making a straight line is difficult to do because of the angled view. Figuring out what is a hill and is a valley can be challenging as well. It’s part of the drawback of the visual style. Because of the complexity of the track, it’s the only one available, and the replay value comes from trying to raise the score on it, and eventually complete the rainbow on all the holes.

While the one course may wear thin over time, Wonderputt is an experience full of wonder (groan) for iPad owners to check out.