Let's Golf! 3D

When Nintendo first announced the 3DS eShop, it specifically made a point of noting that third-party developers were on board to deal out some downloadable gaming heaven.

As with many of Nintendo's recent promises regarding its stereoscopic 3D handheld, though, we're yet to see any such title surface - until now.

Gameloft's Let's Golf! 3D is essentially Let's Golf! 2 on iPhone with enhanced 3D visual effects. And while we seriously enjoyed that golfing experience on Apple's mobile, a number of porting issues leave the 3DS version feeling a little less spectacular.

Let's Golf! 3D doesn't make a good first impression. The move to Nintendo's portable console has added numerous laggy issues and jolting menus.

It's just a tad annoying at first, but when the game starts dragging its heels as you're lining up a precision putt, the issue becomes upgraded to 'must-fix'.

During the occasional freeze-up, too, button presses that I'd make would suddenly register upon the game unfreezing, leaving me overly peeved and over par.

We've seen this lagginess before when a game transitions from smartphone to 3DS, most notably with Asphalt 3D, and it's clear to us that it's going to be an issue for a good while yet.

Fortunately, once you begin to look past these nuisances, the game content itself is noteworthy indeed.

Over six different courses of 18 holes each, you're left to thwack your balls all over the green and into the hole. So to speak.

Gameplay is simple enough for anyone to pick up and play, while the experienced swingers can turn on Hard mode and try out some of the more demanding methods of play.

There's an incredible amount to see and do in Let's Golf! 3D: a fully fledged levelling system, lots of characters to unlock and customize, two-player hotseat option, and plenty of extra modes that boast special challenges and tons of flexibility.

To top it off, there are special hidden gold medals to be found on each course, and achievements to collect that help you easily track how far you've pushed through the game.

The main addition to this version of the game, of course, is the stereoscopic 3D effects. It's really not worth factoring this in when considering your purchase, though, as the effects in this game are nearly impossible to detect.

It's easy at times to forget that the game is rendered in the extra dimension, in fact, since such a poor job has been done with implementing the 3D effect into the surroundings.

For the relatively cheap download price, you're getting a version of Let's Golf! which isn't as good as the smartphone original.

It's still a really enjoyable experience, however, and well worth picking up if you don't have an iPhone or Android.