Golf On Mars
A low–gravity hole–in–one
$2.99 From Captain Games, captaingames.itch.io
Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 8.0 or later
This game’s simple, open– ended style lends itself well to casual gameplay, and its stark color palette looks remarkably pretty. There is no end — the developer says there are roughly 25.7 billion holes — but each one is short, making it hard to put down.
At first glance, the game is about as simple as they come, but it has enough depth that it’s never one–dimensional. You’re presented with a ball set in a red Martian landscape. Drag your finger to adjust the aim and strength of your shot, then release to launch the ball towards the hole. You can add topspin or backspin
with a second finger while you hold down the power meter to help you overcome some of the harder levels. There’s also a hidden menu (tap the top–right corner) that lets you adjust spin, zoom out, mute the game, and hide your score.
For what is on the face of it such an unassuming game, it’s surprisingly involving. Scoring a spectacular long– range hole–in–one is deeply satisfying, while some holes are devilishly tricky, even early in the game. After 25 strokes you get an option to skip a hole. This will likely happen to you more than once, as no matter how good you are the game’s level–generation system means some holes are literally impossible. To reduce the stress of these encounters, it may help to turn off the score counter in the hidden menu. It’s the only real hiccup in an otherwise exemplary casual game.
THE BOTTOM LINE. A great little time–waster that is exceptionally hard to put down. ALEX BLAKE
GREAT