|| REVIEW || Golftopia (PC)
Developed By : MinMax Games Published By : MinMax Games
Category : Management, Simulation, Indie Release Date : July 21, 2020
Back when I first got into playing video games, it was in the computer lab at my middle school, and I mean really into playing video games. Prior to this it was just something to do when I was bored and there were no options. But when I really started to get into games, I got sucked in with simulation and management games. Things like The Sims and Roller Coaster Tycoon hogged all of my time. This love for management games dwindled until very recently, and I now find myself trying to drown in them once again. So when the opportunity to create and run my own golf course with Golftopia arose...well I just couldn't say no.
Before even getting started on your course itself, you'll be in full control of the map where you'll be opening your golf course. There are a bunch of sliders you can manipulate, letting you decide on everything from how rocky the map is, the water level, how arid, just about everything you can think of. From here you'll be able to tweak a couple economic settings as well, but once these are all locked in, you'll be taken to your map to bring it to life.
Starting up is pretty simple. The first thing you'll need to do is open your clubhouse, because you can't have players if they can't enter through your clubhouse. Any spot will do on your map, since it gets landed at from space with a big ship, so don't worry about how people will even get there. The clubhouse has multiple upgrade levels which will be fairly important as you continue to grow, since each upgrade allows you to create up to three more holes on your course. To begin, you can only have three, but as the game points out to you even a single holed golf "course" can turn a profit.
Creating the holes is a lot of fun. There's no limit to what you can do. Want to make a short and sweet par 3 that has potential to be hole-in-one all the time? A constant string of par 5's testing the patience of your club members? You can even go further if you'd like, it's completely up to you. Even the shape of each and every hole is customizable. All you need to do is place your tee spot, then place the hole itself, and then decide how you want it to look. This is done by using the games ground type tool, and "painting" where you want the fairway, green, any cut rough, and anything else on your course.
What's great about Golftopia is you can treat your full-size golf course like it's mini golf. You can decorate your entire island course with a menagerie of plant life, rocks, even attractive fountains and whatnot. However, you can also decorate the holes themselves too. Obstacles such as rings of fire, bumpers, bounce pads and fans can be placed alongside or directly on the fairways to either help or hinder your golfers. Want to encourage people to love your incredibly long hole? Set up fans so the ball travels further. Or want to mess with them and make your easy-drop par 3 a bit harder? Surround the green with bumpers to send the ball flying every which way.
This is a game that's incredibly addicting. The first night I fired it up I only intended to get a quick feel for things before really diving into it the next day. That was the plan, what actually happened though was I lost track of time and stayed up way too late spending way too much money on my first golf course and getting closed down due to bankruptcy. Needless to say my next course was much more successful, and I still have issues walking away from this game. So if you're a fan of management sims, Golftopia belongs in your library.
One final note, as of writing this review the game is currently in "Early Access" period. If there are any ground-breaking changes made to the game the would effect my opinions in this review, they will be reflected when necessary.
Game Rating : 8.5 / 10
Pick up the game HERE on Steam
A code for this game was graciously provided
to the site for purpose of a review
