It’s been a huge week for mobile gamers with the release of Pokemon GO, but that’s not the only great mobile game to debut this week. Super Stickman Golf 3, the newest in the long-running series of golf games, released earlier this week. For fans of the genre (and for people who don’t want to go outside to play Pokemon GO), the game is a godsend, offering classic arcade-style 2D golf action with a couple of interesting twists.
While the game is relatively easy to pick up and play, mastering it takes a bit more nuance and work. But hopefully, by the end of our Super Stickman Golf 3 guide, you’ll be racking up hole-in-ones (and hole-in-zeroes) in no time.
The basics
The best way to learn a game like Super Stickman Golf 3 is to jump in and play it. If you haven’t played a Stickman Golf game before, the controls are simple. First, you set the trajectory of your shot, then you tap a button to set the shot’s power. Finally, tapping the shot button one last time causes your little stick guy to smack the ball across the map. Do your best to try to remember the power of each shot you hit, so that you can use that knowledge to get your eye in on shots that might require more finesse.
An important thing to note, and something that’s easy to miss, is that your shot isn’t locked in after you set your shot’s power. If you mess up the timing on the power meter, you can still adjust the angle of your shot to compensate.
After you hit the ball, you can then set the ball’s spin to influence the way the ball rolls after it hits the ground. The sooner you set the spin after you hit the ball, the more power the spin will have. This is why it’s super important to plan your entire shot’s trajectory beforehand.
As you approach the hole, you’ll transition from a nondescript golf club to a putter. Now, any golfer worth their handicap will tell you that you drive for show and putt for dough, which means that as good as you are approaching the hole, it doesn’t mean anything if you can’t sink the putt.
Putting in SSG3 is — luckily — fairly easy since you only have to worry about the power of your shot. That said, the putter is woefully underpowered, and you will be disappointed if you try to finesse shots that roll slowly into the cup. Err on the side of more power when putting and you’ll avoid disappointment on the green.
Hazards and shot planning
There are many different terrain types and hazards in Super Stickman Golf 3, and though this guide cannot cover them all, the most common ones you’ll discover are magnets, anti-gravity sections, sand, water, and a purple sticky surface.
These surfaces behave pretty much how you’d expect: the sand stops your ball dead in its tracks, killing any subsequent bounces and sapping power from your next shot. Magnets attract and repel the ball, sticky surfaces cause the ball to adhere to them, making shots from the wall or ceiling possible, and anti-gravity sections, well, have no gravity. Obviously, you’ll want to avoid the water most of all as it’ll cost you a penalty stroke.
The key to Super Stickman Golf 3, and what this guide aims to drill home is the importance of shot planning. On any course, spend the time to figure out how to traverse the map and actually get the ball to the cup. The game’s many hats and costumes can help with this– a few offer handy tools like shot previews so that you can more accurately predict where your shot is actually going to go.
Obviously, a hole in one is the goal, but that’s actually not the best score Super Stickman Golf 3 has to offer. If you line your shot up just right and hit the ball right into the cup without bouncing it, you’ll get a ‘swish’ bonus, and one stroke will be removed from your score. This means not only that hole-in-zeroes are possible, but also that a skilled player can salvage a hole gone wrong with an expert shot at the end.
Practice makes perfect
Super Stickman Golf 3‘s main modes center around a variety of courses, each of which offer a wide range of terrains, power-ups, and hazards. For each of these courses, bonuses are given for clearing them in a certain number of strokes, collecting pickups scattered around the stages, and achieving a score of par or under without using powerups.
We highly recommend taking advantage of practice mode before challenging the courses, especially if you plan on trying to clear the courses without powerups. Again, planning is key. It’s endlessly helpful to know what your shots should look like before you actually make them. It can also help you get to grips with any new powerups or bonuses you’ve earned through unlocking costumes or hats, which will be necessary for snagging the pickups in hard-to-reach spots.
Final tips
Make sure to enable the hole fly-by in the options menu, and let that be your guide in planning your Super Stickman Golf 3 strategy for each hole, and don’t be afraid to pinch to zoom out and take a look at the whole course. More often than not, there’s a safe, roundabout route to the pin as well as a risky direct path. Drilling the risky paths in practice mode can make the difference between a bogey and a birdie. And hey, if all else fails, just use a mulligan. The game gives you a generous 7 per 9-hole course if you need them.
Other than that, as we’ve said above, the best way to learn Super Stickman Golf 3 is to play it and build muscle memory for your shots, getting to grips with the power meter, power ups, and terrain.
Have you been able to rip yourself away from Pokemon GO to enjoy what Super Stickman Golf 3 has to offer? Let us know of any SSG3 tips and tricks you’ve found in the comments!
Published: Jul 9, 2016 11:59 am