Granny Vinnie Reviews

7800 Rank: 21st Genre Rank: (Action/Adventure) 9th Awards: Most Original, 7th Best Value Hi, this page is all about ninjas, REAL NINJAS. This site is awesome. My name is Robert and I can't stop thinking about ninjas. These guys are cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet. Pros: Fun, light-hearted game/ Challenging Cons: Fighting and Golf Portions of the Game aren't Revolutionary The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

Overview: How do you think Ninja's graduate Ninja school? That's right, by playing 9 holes of Ninja Golf! This game is a weird one, where you try to shoot a low round of golf and try to save your neck from other ninjas, cobras, gophers, and fire breathing dragons.

Graphics: Graphics are pretty solid here, but nothing to right home about. The best graphics are definitely when you make it to the green to fight the fire-breathing dragons. This part of the game has a definite Sheruken feel to it. Another plus is when you run into different terrains. Upon entering a new terrain, the backgrounds change! If you have to go through a sand trap, you all of a sudden are in the desert. If the journey to the ball takes you through a water hazard...BOOM! You are swimming with the sharks! All of this may be real corny, but it at least breaks the monotony of running from point A to point B. Overall, everything has a real flat 2-D look to it, except for the green shots, which are pretty cool.

Sound: Sound is limited to hitting the ball, battle grunts, and fire bursts. Also, when you go through a sand trap, you are treated to a snake charmer's tune! Other than that, crank up the stereo when playing this game, because Ninja Golf is sonically bankrupt.

Gameplay: The golf part of the game is REAL simple, which is good. Because the perils of playing 9 holes of golf is traumatizing enough for some of us, not to mention fighting for your life against hordes of ninjas. Basically a dot moves from where you are on the map out to a spot where the ninja can hit it the farthest. Then, it disappears and starts over. You can get the hang of this rather quickly, and after a couple of plays the only strategy to this is whether or not to make the path between you and the ball go through certain regions or not. Since there is no putting in the game, it is rather easy to get the ball on the green in two or three shots. In combat mode, the left button jumps...a long slow-motion Jordanesque jump, that is, and the right button attacks. The flaw here is that many kicks accidentally turn into the throwing of ninja stars and vice versa. Since throwing stars are in short supply, this gets irritating fast. But, fighting more or less is fast, furious, and most importantly, fun. It has a real Kung-Fu Master feel to it. And lastly, the fire-breathing dragon stage is exactly like the game Shurieken. Where you throw ninja stars at a zig-zagging dragon as he shoots fire balls at you. Gameplay here is smooth.

Originality: Hmmmm.......Ninjas who play golf..........I'd say that's original.

Value: I personally think this game is a hoot, and it's fun to pick up the joystick and try to beat the waves of ninjas and crazed wildlife silly. The golf part of the game gets a little old because of it being rather simplistic. If only they could have combine Mean 18's golf engine and Ninja Golf's fighting engine...now that would have been a game!!! Although the golf part may be simple, you can still get into trouble with water hazards, sand traps, and the woods. This could dork up your score, but it will only cost you bonus points. The real drama here is the fighting part of the game, and getting through all 9 holes is quite challenging.

Overall: Ninjas and Golf. Why did we never see this before? If only the 7800 could have taken off like the NES had, this might be the Summer Games version of the "Biathlon"! This game is unique and a hoot to play. I think it personifies what video games should be...Just plain fun.



Other Reviews:
The Atari Times: 9 out of 10
CV's Atari 7800 Panoramic Froo-Froo: 4.0 out of 5.0 (Very Good)
Atari Gaming Headquarters: 7 out of 10
Video Game Critic: C+
Digital Press: 4 out of 10





Additional Info: I would like to take this time to thank Mitch Orman, owner of The Atari 7800 Page for allowing the use of his screenshots for this review.

Check out this totally sweet ninja site. And I when I say it's sweet, I mean it totally rules.

Free polls from Pollhost.com

We know Ninjas are totally sweet. But what makes Ninja Golf totally sweet?

The fighting The golf Both the fighting and the golf Both the fighting and the golf suck like pirates

Email Vinnie