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I'm still three under par when my ball gets stuck in a floating ice cave.
In hindsight, I probably should've tried to go over the cave, but I was confident that I could navigate the frozen stalactites and stalagmites with one or two easy swings. Four shots later, I'm more than a little bit frustrated. No problem. I reach into my bag of tricks and pull out a sticky ball. One stroke later, my ball is stuck to the ceiling of the ice cave and I'm upside down, lining up a clear shot to freedom.
Super Stickman Golf 2 is not really a golf game, at least in the traditional sense. Sure, its two-dimensional courses all have nine holes and require smart use of a club to navigate, but they're also far too complex and imaginative to exist in the real world. Surreal, twisting landscapes in the sky, portals, magnets and moving platforms with sticky surfaces make this iOS game just as demanding and endearing as its predecessor.
Since the previous Stickman Golf release was among the best golf-themed videogames ever made, that's saying something.
Before Jordan Schidlowsky co-created Super Stickman Golf, he "wasn't really big into video games," he told me in 2011 when I interviewed him for Buttonless, my book on iPhone games.
Mostly, Schidlowsky wanted to make an app that would make a lot of money. His company, Noodlecake Games, released Stick Golf in May 2010, and followed it up with the vastly improved Super Stick Golf later that year.
After a notice from Stick Sports, the makers of games like Stick Football and Stick Cricket, Noodlecake decided to take the path of least resistance and avoid a legal showdown by altering the game's title.
The game's current logo, with "man" stuffed sideways in between "Stick" and "Golf," is an almost comical reminder of the original name.
Noodlecake has had Super Stickman Golf 2 in the works for over a year, Schidlowsky told Wired in an email interview. During that time, the two-man company has grown to eight people, and the company has had the resources to develop technology that allows it to easily port iPhone games to Android. It's been behind the Android versions of iOS favorites like League of Evil and Trainyard.
Despite the publishing side-business, Noodlecake proves with this sequel that it still knows how to do great original titles. Super Stickman Golf 2 improves on what was already one of the most entertaining iPhone games out there. The new turn-based multiplayer is perfectly executed, and the game's course designs have gotten even more interesting and challenging. Plus, I can dress my golfer up in a tuxedo and give him a pirate hat which, when equipped, turns all the game's water traps into pools of blood.
Why? Because Super Stickman Golf 2 has no respect for reality, no obligation to the believable. Just as the best classic videogames embraced absurdity to deliver a fun experience (dress Mario up like a raccoon and he gains the ability to fly!), Noodlecake uses the rules of golf as a basic premise for what is actually an imaginative hardcore strategy game.
It's unfortunate for players that the company allows players to buy extra powerups and even shot re-dos using real money. I have no doubt that the top 100 players on the game's leaderboard will consist almost entirely of those willing to spend money to win, thus invalidating the existence of the leaderboards entirely.
Maybe that doesn't matter. This game is so incredibly difficult that I never had a real shot of topping the scoreboard anyway. Still, I can't put it down.
Excuse me. I've got some gooey windmills to ride.
