Carved deep into an Arctic glacier lies a mad scientist’s lair and the latest course to join the already incredible collection of courses in Walkabout Mini Golf. Ice Lair, is yet another craftily designed course for the hit VR game and you’ll need to keep your cool to take on the holes in this chilled-out course.
Ice to meet you
The first hole of Ice Lair takes place outside of the subterranean hideout of a scientist mastermind hell-bent on World domination I presume (what else do mad scientists do?). At the first hole, you are greeted with an icy Arctic backdrop. Like every other Walkabout Mini Golf course, you’re free to wander about and explore as you please and explore I did. I must have spent a good five minutes or more just exploring this wondrous landscape before I even hit the ball.
After the first hole, you descend into the lair where you will meet the mad scientist Puffin henchmen who are scattered throughout the hideout. The Puffins are adorable yet somewhat unsettling as they watch you play every shot, I am sure I even heard one laughing when got a double bogey on one hole.
When you descend into the hideout and start playing the intricately designed holes, you’ll encounter some new mechanics that Mighty Coconut has added to this course. To keep with the theme of ice and freezing the developers have added an ice-cold freeze blast to some holes. If your ball passes through the freeze blast it instantly turns into an ice cube, this makes your ball slide speedily over the ice patches. But it slows down quite a bit on grass surfaces.
If you have managed to get your ball turned into something more suitable for vodka and coke rather than mini golf, you can always defrost it on the holes that have heat patches on them. The heat patches are often found around the actual hotel itself and offer a great mechanic as you try to hit the ice cube hard and straight enough to land on it and hopefully roll into the hole.
A chilled-out challenge
If you have played Walkabout Mini Golf before Ice Lair is what you have come to expect from the game’s course design. Even the simplest-looking holes can be deceiving, What might appear to be a straightforward birdie could end up turning into a bogey or worse if you’re not careful. That’s what I love about Walkabout Mini Golf, it’s always challenging and there are so many ways to tackle the holes to try and get the lowest score.
Even with its challenging holes, especially on hard mode, Ice Lair and Walkabout Mini Golf, in general, is never a stressful undertaking. It remains one of the most chilled-out, relaxing games on PSVR2.
Like mini-golfing in a James Bond film
The overall design of Ice Lair, from the challenging holes to the overall aesthetic of the mad scientist’s hideout is superb. Mighty Coconut made a great choice in music for Ice Lair and it sounds very spey-movie, James Bond-esque. The lair itself is filled with control panels, machinery and notice boards adorned with the scientist’s devious plans. And of course, there is the aforementioned Puffin henchmen.
The hard mode course also features a new cool Foxhunt for players who want to grab some cool new Ice Lair-themed stuff. And like other courses in the game, there are craftily hidden golf balls to find throughout the holes.
Mini Golf Ice-Capades
Ice Lair is a great addition to the existing large number of excellent courses available in Walkabout Mini Golf. The next instalment of the Evil Lairs series features fantastically designed holes and will provide plenty of challenge whether you are playing a round in easy mode or hard mode.
The setting of the mad scientist’s lair is extremely well crafted with an awesome evil lair aesthetic. Ice Lair is a great new course to play on and explore and showcases perfectly why Walkabout Mini Golf is one of the best PSVR2 games there is.
Review code kindly provided by the develop
Walkabout Mini Golf: Ice Lair - The PSF Verdict
Ice Lair is a great new addition to the huge variety of courses already available in Walkabout Mini Golf. The mad scientist's hideout setting is great. Not just for playing mini-golf in but for exploring to find the lost balls and solve the Foxhunt. It's like something straight out of a spy film. The new hazard mechanics that turn your ball into an ice cube make each hole a unique challenge whether you play on easy or hard. Highly reccomended.
