Super Stickman Golf

You know you've found a great sports game when the subject matter becomes almost irrelevant.

With Backbreaker, Virtua Tennis and Flick Kick Football, you could conceivably hate the sport and still love the game, and Super Stickman Golf is another one that's all about the purity of the mechanics.

In reality, golf is merely a hook to hang Jordan Schidlowsky's attempt at a physics puzzle-platform game, featuring a stickman, a club, a ball, a chip-tune soundtrack and all manner of headaches to overcome.

Presented in ultra-basic two dimensional form, you simply line up your trajectory, tap to fill up the power bar and tap again to confirm the shot. From there, it's 261 holes' worth of painstaking trial and error as you attempt to avoid the inevitable water hazards and sand traps, not to mention the dreaded forces of gravity.

The further you progress through the 16 available courses, the tougher the challenge, but to balance out the horror, the game gradually provides you with an arsenal of power-ups, such as new clubs, special balls or the ability to retake a fluffed shot without penalty.

Since it's been out for a while now, you might wonder why we've only just got around to covering this highly regarded effort. Well.

The big news of the latest update is, of course, multiplayer, and with two to four player support over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and Game Center match making, it brings all the ugly drama of competition to an already teeth-grinding affair. With online leaderboards to fret over in addition, you know that this isn't going to end well.

So even if golf brings out your inner chainsaw-wielding Alf Garnett, face your demons with this playful physics-based catharsis. All yours for $0.99.

Used under license from Eurogamer.

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later.

Download Super Stickman Golf