If you love VR and you love minigolf, this is the game for you. This review will not be long due to the nature of the game but make no mistake, out of all the minigolf games on VR, Walkabout Mini Golf is the best one by a significant margin.
Gameplay
Right from the main menu, it does not hold back any swings. There is a wide breadth of courses, of which there are seven eighteen-hole courses unlocked by default, with night modes that can be unlocked by either meeting a score requirement or finding X number of hidden balls. On that note, there is one hidden ball on each hole, which can be used to customize your ball. There are also difficulty options in the form of choosing the front or back 9 and then the level of difficulty of the courses.
The night courses are more challenging versions of the same courses with different layouts, so you could argue easily and fairly that there are fourteen 18-hole courses, which is a total of 256 holes. Each course is unique and has its own obstacles. Despite this, the courses are very grounded in real-world mini golf inspiration rather than wacky gamey mini golf. Every course has its own unique environment and this all gels together to make it really feel like a mini golf theme, much better than Cloudlands 1.
There are no graphics options, but there are multiple gameplay options, including put strength, angle of the club, and so on, allowing you to get things to feel exactly right. On that note, the physics in the game feels good, absurdly good, actually. Everything feels pretty spot on, and you can tell the developers in Mighty Coconut really put a lot of love and effort into this and every other aspect of the game, and it has paid off in spades.
There are also some really nice features, such as a ghost you can see after each hit, a birds-eye view, and so on. There are some really well-thought-out features that make it excel and seem a step above every other mini golf VR game.
The game also has online multiplayer, but not just multiplayer for other SteamVR users, it has full cross-platform multiplayer. Given that this game is also on the Quest ecosystem, that means there should be a decent player base always available in addition to your friends making the package even sweeter.
Visuals
Visually, as mentioned, there are no graphics options. It seems to be a straight Quest 2 port, but the visuals work well and I have no complaints. It’s very serviceable and gets the job done. There are no real noticeable jaggies or anything that hinders the experience.
Sound
Again, there’s nothing to really talk about here, given the nature of the game. However, the tracks that go with each course are very zen and could not really do a better job. They serve their purpose as a soothing backdrop to what is on-screen and I can not fault them in any way.
Performance
Now, given my specs, which is an 8700K @4.7GHz all cores , 16GB LL DDR4 at 3600 MHz, and an RTX 3080 TUF OC, this is not exactly a great guide, but what I can say is at 210% super resolution, the game runs at a solid 120fps on my Index, looking very sharp and using just over 50% of the GPU. Given how high the 210% super sample, and the relatively high res nature of the Index, this is very impressive and I suspect that even a very modest VR rig should run it no problem, given that we are talking Quest 2-level graphics.
Conclusion
If you want a mini golf thrill ride with rock-solid physics and challenging, well-designed courses, there is nothing better than Walkabout Mini Golf VR. It is, in my opinion, by far the best in every single area and stands at the top of all VR Mini Golf games. It’s also very reasonably priced at £11.39, $14.99 USD, and $17.49 Canadian. Although I would love to see some post-launch support with additional course DLC, if you have a VR rig and enjoy playing mini golf, there is absolutely no reason not to buy Walkabout Mini Golf VR.