Whilst golf can sometimes be seen as a staid sport, or a good walk ruined if you ask some, the mini and crazy variety is rarely anything of the like. In fact, for many folk it’ll be the crazy golf courses found the world over which play host to the majority of their real life golfing skills.
That trickles down into the virtual world too, with the likes of Golf With Your Friends mostly upping the more realistic offerings from 2K and EA. At least it does if it’s fun you are after.
But there is most definitely room for another crazy or mini golf game to muscle in on the market, and that means House of Golf 2 from Starlight Games is a welcome one.
Glossing over an Xbox omission of the original House of Golf, the sequel comes to console with a lot on offer. There are single player rounds to take in, you can do the same with some local sofa-based friends in tow, or you can attempt to climb online leaderboards across similar rounds, live tournaments or shorter, one-off competitions.
The thing is, there’s one big thing missing from House of Golf 2 – online play, namely with friends. It seems a weird thing to leave out, harming it considerably when you consider the games it will be going up against.
You can probably surmise from the game title what House of Golf 2 is all about. It’s a crazy golf game that is set in, well, a house. This means you’ll be found putting your way to glory, through numerous holes and courses that are all house themed. Some of these will take you through the kitchen, or the lounge, the garage or attic even. What you can be sure of is that every single hole has been really well designed; full of chutes, ramps, pathways, obstacles and items, ensuring your A-game will need to be brought if you’re ever hoping to hit under par.
We’ve been extremely impressed with how Starlight have designed the holes in House of Golf 2, with some items and toys ripped straight from our childhood at play. Throw in some portals, hot air balloons, cannons and the like, and getting your golf ball from tee to hole in the fewest shots can be rewarding. Everything is super bright, clear and concise visually too, and that means working out an optimum path to putting glory is always a cinch, no matter how much is going on with each hole. Don’t ask us what is going on with the aggressive controller vibrations upon sinking putts and switching between player shots though…
Shooting low is the main aim of House of Golf 2, with Beginner and Amateur tournaments opening up further levels, unlocked depending on your ball playing skills. No matter where you’re playing though, you’ll want to consider the hole prior to teeing off, utilising the free cam to plan your shots. From there, House of Golf 2 really opens up.
It controls very much as you would expect, with some decent ball physics in play. Lining up a shot, fine tuning things, setting power levels and slamming hard on ‘A’ will see your ball manoeuvre its way through the various holes. And whilst – like many golf games – judging power and accuracy is initially tricky, it’ll only take a few rounds before you begin to understand what you need, and when you want it.
Trial and error is very much a buzzword for House of Golf 2, and only by playing rounds over and over will you really start to shoot low and earn leaderboard placings. But that’s fine, because this is a fairly swift play, particularly if you decide to skip the sweeping ‘hole overview’ and instead rely on that free cam.
House of Golf 2 wants to give you more though. Local multiplayer golf works well and, should you have friends or family available, does the job. But it’s a massive shame that House of Golf 2 doesn’t allow for proper online multiplayer. Yes, it’s fine to be able to chase leaderboards, especially if your mates frequent such a space, but for us a crazy golf game lives and dies on social interaction; something that is missing here. If that loss isn’t an issue for you, chuck another half point onto the score at the end of this review. We’d suspect many will end up in our camp though.
At least online tournaments help ease the pain somewhat, whilst hidden medals on each hole encourage replayability. As does the practice mode which offers up various medal-type stars too, whilst Trick Shot scores continue adding to House of Golf 2 options.
Chuck in unlockable ball skins and a decent number of courses, and House of Golf 2 should well be considered by anyone looking for a new mini or crazy golf game. The single player side of things is fantastic, at least short term, and if only there was online multiplayer play included, House of Golf 2 could well have been found pushing Golf With Your Friends for a place on game session rotation.
As it is, House of Golf 2 shoots close, but just fails to see the final putt sink.
