AC thVRsday
In his weekly column, Android Central Senior Content material Producer Nick Sutrich delves into all issues VR, from new {hardware} to new video games, upcoming applied sciences, and a lot extra.
Walkabout Mini Golf is among the finest Meta Quest video games ever made, and it is also the twentieth best-selling Meta Quest sport. This success has allowed the builders at Mighty Coconut to assist it for years, usually cranking out new programs and options for players to mess around with.
As we speak’s launch of the newest course, Raptor Cliff’s, marks the fruits of a trio of Walkabout-related bulletins, making April 2025 an additional particular month for the sport. Earlier than that, Mighty Coconut introduced it will fold six earlier DLC programs into the principle sport, with a nominal $5 worth enhance, practically doubling the variety of base programs. That is $5 whole for what used to price gamers $4 per course, and current gamers are getting that at no cost.
To spherical out the festivities, Mighty Coconut partnered with FormX Design to debut the Grip-to-Putter 3, the third era of my favourite VR {golfing} accent. All of this provides as much as a splendid month for the very best mini golf sport you may ever play, and all you may want is a Meta Quest headset or an iPhone to take pleasure in it.
The that means behind the apostrophe
You most likely noticed “Raptor Cliff’s” and puzzled if it was a spelling mistake. I believed the identical factor till I walked by way of the brand new course with Walkabout’s senior artwork director, Don Carson, and one of many stage designers, Henning Koczy. Because it seems, there is a very particular motive the apostrophe is within the title.
The rationale has a reputation, and his title is Raptor Cliff. He is the mascot for the roadside golf course attraction featured within the newest Walkabout Mini Golf DLC, and yow will discover his image behind the present store, proper on the entrance to the course (pictured above). Carson instructed me the course was designed particularly to evoke the sensation of the roadside sights alongside the Northwestern American coast within the Seventies, which he used to go to together with his grandparents when he was a child.
“There is no anachronism within the present store” that makes its theme inherently apparent, however you may draw from the vehicles on the highway that the course does not appear to be this in 2025. As a roadside attraction, the staff wished to emphasise that “this is not Jurassic Park” and that the dinosaurs assume you might be associates, not meals.
That every one begins proper in the beginning of the course as you putt your approach by way of the center of an enormous redwood tree, solely to be greeted by an enormous purple T-Rex with its tongue hanging out like a canine. Watch him lengthy sufficient and you may see his stomach shake as he scratches himself whereas watching you golf.
“All our dinosaurs are so very properly fed that they are similar to massive canines,” Carson instructed me, which helps allude to the concept this isn’t Jurassic Park.
“All our dinosaurs are so very properly fed that they are similar to massive canines,” Carson instructed me, which alludes to the concept these aren’t scary man-eating lizards such as you see within the films. A number of holes function dinosaurs extra prominently, like one the place you roll the ball up a Stegosaurus’s again, or one other gap the place you hit the ball right into a Brontosaurus’s mouth after which must putt between its legs on the following gap beneath.
There’s even a Triceratops that permits you to sit on its again, plus a brand new zipline mechanic, vehicles you may journey on (that truly transfer across the island), and a number of other new mechanics discovered all through the course. In a single part, I seen that you just needed to bounce a ball off an indication to make it to the following a part of the outlet, and I requested the staff how usually they construct for situations that may’t be performed in actual life.
“A traditional golf course would not actually do that. I form of neglect how tame a practical golf course must be. You’ll be able to’t get the ball off the bottom for concern of hitting one other patron within the head. So this unpredictable bounce off the signal might be not going to occur in actual life.” It is one of many many causes I really like mini golf in VR, and it is simply the beginning of what makes this course so particular.
A traditional golf course would not actually do that. I form of neglect how tame a practical golf course must be.
As I used to be admiring all of the little particulars discovered within the second caddy store on the course, Carson instructed me to maintain a watch out for little tales hidden alongside the best way as I progressed by way of the course. “Emma Mercado, who does all of the avatar equipment and avatar heads, additionally she does quite a lot of our set ornament, and she or he imbues a lot of the setting with little bits of story.”
Behind the counter within the present store in the beginning of the course, yow will discover a pair of dinosaur slippers and a half-eaten container of fudge that an worker clearly broke into. However the true enjoyable tidbit to be taught was that Emma has an virtually obsessive curiosity in inserting “jilted amorous affairs” scattered all through a number of programs.
“There was all the time some vignette someplace the place somebody had damaged up with another person. You possibly can inform by the association of props,” Carson instructed me.
“My favourite being up within the rooftops of Venice. Somebody had clearly whipped out an engagement ring and also you see the wine’s been knocked over and the flowers have been thrown off the roof and are leaning up towards the chimney.”
All of it matches so properly collectively within the theme of every course, which Carson instructed me was particularly deliberate out to supply one thing for everybody all year long. Course dimension and complexity are further issues made by the staff, and whereas Koczy instructed me that holes are usually designed to be between 60 and 80 sq. meters, bigger programs like Mount Olympus require a bit extra space.
However Raptor Cliff’s was designed to really feel cozy and heat, “like a visit to summer season camp,” as Carson put it. The nice and cozy glow of the solar and the straightforward pleasure of a roadside vacationer attraction present a beautiful break to your cramped legs and bored mind, one thing that, paradoxically, matches fairly properly in our modern-day-to-day, the place so many people sit on our rear ends for hours at a time.
The nice and cozy glow of the solar and the straightforward pleasure of a roadside vacationer attraction present a beautiful break to your cramped legs and bored mind, one thing that, paradoxically, matches fairly properly in our trendy day-to-day, the place so many people sit on our rear ends for hours at a time.
Discovering the best membership
Whereas I’ve named the YOGES Adjustable Size membership the finest Quest 3 accent for VR golfers for fairly a while, FormX’s new Grip-to-Putter 3 simply took its place as the brand new finest. The earlier Grip-to-Putter 2 design did not work very properly for the Quest 3 as a result of the controller is tracked otherwise than the Quest 2, so FormX went again to the drafting board for the third era.
Whereas it does not function the adjustable size function of the YOGES membership, it does provide a extra helpful function for Walkabout Mini Golf: a bodily grip-to-putt deal with. See, Walkabout has this intelligent in-game function known as grip-to-putt, which makes your membership clear till you maintain down the grip button in your controller.
This mechanic lets you follow your swings with out concern of hitting the ball till you are prepared, nevertheless it’s not attainable to make use of with a standard golf membership controller attachment since you may’t attain the grip button whereas holding the membership deal with. The Grip-to-Putter 3 has just a little set off on the deal with that you just press and maintain to activate grip-to-putt performance, and it really works in addition to you’ll hope.
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And that is not the one factor that is actually nice right here. Most golf membership attachments are a little bit of a ache to get arrange, as you sometimes have to slip the wrist strap by way of a tiny gap and wrap it across the deal with to maintain the controller from flying away. With Grip-to-Putter 3, you simply slide the controller right into a chamber and lock it in with just a little inexperienced sliding mechanism. No wrist strap, no customized battery door, no trouble in any respect.
The one damaging factor I discovered with the design is that when inserting the controller, typically it is simple to push it too far into the chamber. This causes the grip button to be held down, negating the grip-to-putt performance. It is a simple sufficient repair — simply pull the controller up a bit till it clicks — however I performed by way of greater than half the course earlier than realizing grip-to-putt wasn’t damaged due to a sport bug, fairly due to the bodily controller’s positioning.
Nonetheless, this solely occurred as soon as, and now that I am conscious of it, it will not occur once more. I really like utilizing golf equipment like this as a result of they add actual weight and membership physics to your digital membership, which finally ends up translating into higher scores in my expertise. For those who’re on the lookout for the last word Walkabout Mini Golf membership attachment to your Meta Quest 3 or Quest 3S, that is the one to get.
When solely the very best will do, FormX Design’s Grip-to-Putter 3 gives you superpowers that different gamers want that they had, full with the true weight of a golf membership behind each swing.
