This is definitely not your typical golf game. It has some puzzle and platforming touches, plus a zen vibe to it. The courses are more like dioramas you can freely navigate at bird's eye, so for me the experience feels closer to mini golf, even if you are performing all those powerful swings. Controls also set this game apart from the rest. They feel quite natural, a good implementation that honors both the ability and patience the real thing demands. The first hours with the game are fantastic. But then, something strange happens. Perhaps because knowing exactly where your ball is going to land eases things too much, the developers seemed to raise the bar by adding a number of new mechanics. Some of them are just weird, while others complicate things too much for a game whose beautifully simple gameplay should have remain its trademark.

Angry Birds golf. Nothing here but trial and error until you get full stars on each hole.

Part golf game, part puzzler, A Little Golf Journey is hard to put in a pre-defined box. Rather than being dominated with a sliding power gauge and then concerns like trying to get your hook or slice just right, the golf side of things is decidedly stripped down here. The focus, instead, being more on planning out your path to the hole, and perhaps taking up a special challenge along the way if you keep an eye out for opportunities. Of course, the fact that a bit of a clever narrative plays out as you progress just further adds flavor and just underlines the title’s distinctive charm. If you allow yourself to get bogged down by the lack of a traditional golfing feel, or perhaps the camera that isn’t always cooperative, it may lose some of its luster, but there’s no doubt this overall experience is the only one of its kind on the Switch… and that makes it worth a look. ****/2021/10/mini-reviews-october-19th-edition.html