Sonic Golf

Sonic the hedgehog is an animal of simple tastes. He runs, he spins, he collects rings, and he bounces on the heads of anyone who gets in his way.

What he doesn't do is play golf.

Blue spiky hair is still frowned on in fusty clubhouses, and besides, the courses are dangerous places for a hedgehog, what with all those golf carts trundling around. No, Sonic and golf don't go together. The idea is as ridiculous as, say, worms hitting the fairway with a set of clubs.

Ah.

Yes, just as THQ Wireless released a spin-off Worms Crazy Golf game, now Sega and publishing partner Glu are doing the same thing with Sonic Golf. The theory seems to be that people who love Sonic will automatically follow the little fella into multiple game genres – an argument we're not convinced by, incidentally.

Still, at least the result is fun to play. Sonic Golf emerges as a very good title in its own right, marrying a fun 2D golf title to visuals taken straight out of the original platform games.

Each level sees you trying to hole out in as few shots as possible, boosting your score by doing it below par, and collecting rings and TVs along the way. Take too many shots and you lose a ball; lose all your balls, and it's game over.

There are three courses to play through in the Main Game mode, with individual courses and holes then available in Single Course and Single Hole options, once unlocked. To ensure you don't do this too quickly, there are three difficulty levels, with the hardest (Pro) including wind effects to content with.

The controls are simple, incorporating '4' and '6' to adjust your aim, '2' and '8' to alter the spin, and then holding down '5' to hit the ball, using a power bar. Meanwhile, the left soft-key switches to a view mode, enabling you to scroll around the level to see what obstacles are ahead.

Up to three people can play at once as either Sonic, Tails or Knuckles, all of whom have their own ratings in Power, Spin and Control, to add a little variety.

The first thing to note is that the controls feel simple and intuitive, so there's little learning curve on that score. Second, the game looks perfect, in the sense that you're basically playing in accurately reproduced levels from previous Sonic games (that of course includes bumpers and other scenery elements, by the way).

But third, there's plenty of depth to it. You can play by trying to get round in the least shots possible, but then come back and focus on the high-score elements, grabbing as many rings as possible, and hunting down secret passages.

Meanwhile, each difficulty level adds in enough new stuff to present a new challenge, particularly with the obstacles and enemies in Amateur level (the medium difficulty). In short, Sonic Golf has bags of replayability, giving you plenty of reasons to come back for one more round.

Naturally, hardcore Sonic fans might turn up their noses and wait for Sonic The Hedgehog 3 to hit mobile. It's their loss if so, because they'll be missing out on a damn fine golf game that keeps true to the spirit of Sonic's world.