Systems > PlayStation 2 > A > Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am > Staff Review
Sign up for a free user account and you can leave feedback for this review or even submit a game review of your own!
Review by Jason Venter 
November 15, 2007
The game's overarching story unfolds like an extended episode of the show. Frylock has gained entry to a prestigious golfing establishment and now Master Shake and Meatwad are joining him on the green to cause trouble. In the process, they'll venture into the depths of hell, roam the surface of the moon and even journey to a dimension where the landscape is comprised of massive candy bars. Most of it doesn't make sense and is just barely coherent, but that's fine. We're talking about Aqua Teen Hunger Force, not Zelda.
To win the game, you must progress through twelve levels. Each is sandwiched between brief but amusing cutscenes featuring voices provided by the people responsible for the TV series. The cinema sequences set things up nicely as the trio of heroes advances from one stage to the next, but don't really hide the fact that the fun diminishes significantly once you actually start playing. That's because with the exception of a tutorial and three racing events, every stage unfolds the same way. You start at the tee and you try to sink a ball in the hole at the opposite end of the course using the lowest possible number of strokes. It's standard golf with a twist: you'll have to fight enemies as you chase your ball along the course. That might not seem bad, but a lack of variety kills it.
For starters, Master Shake and Frylock are the only characters you'll control directly (with Meatwad reduced to the role of distraction). They follow one another throughout the course and share the same life meter, plus you can switch between them instantly if you need to switch from melee moves to projectile attacks and vice-versa. Neither one moves quickly enough. Environments are fairly large and for the most part detailed nicely, but you'll tire of them early on because of your snail's pace and the redundant enemies. They're interesting at first, but then they're just annoying. You know there's a problem when you reach the final level and you're still facing the same crabs and mobile brownies that you've battled since the earliest stages.
Items break up the monotony to a point. Since combat occurs regularly, you'll need to grab restorative items and special weapons along the way. After all, there's nothing more effective than sawing your way through a forest of angry trees with a chainsaw. If you rely on just your default weapons, you'll either fall in battle a few times or find yourself constantly dashing for the next bag of healing enchiladitos. Special weapons function on a time limit and could have provided some much-needed tension, but they're so plentiful that often you have to decide which option of several you want to use the most.
Boss battles are another wasted opportunity. They consist of popular fixtures from the cartoon show, but they're too easy and the strategy is always the same: dodge attacks until you see an opening, then drift in and use whatever special weapon happens to be littered throughout the area.
Not every stage ends with such an encounter. In some cases, you'll have to face moving barriers that block your putts. In another situation, you'll be zapped to the back end of a maze and then must zig-zag your way through it before you can fight a boss. Along the way, you'll battle a bunch of the same enemies, spawned at nearly every corner for your amusement. Like everything else, it takes too long.
That's especially true of the three racing events. At various points throughout the game, a duo of aliens will challenge you to a race to pass through beacons that line three laps around the course. Unfortunately, your cart moves at a crawl. Reaching the end could literally take you five minutes. Control is horrible, too. The vehicle sometimes gets caught in a loop that forces you to let up on the accelerator and hope you pull through the disaster without losing too many seconds to your competitor. Sometimes you might even run into a wall or something and find that the game has frozen, a particularly irritating experience if you were otherwise about to win. Missiles deposited along each course add to the excitement, but you'll probably take the lead early on and not need them after that. You'll just keep driving and hope you don't hit a ramp wrong four minutes into the race.
If in spite of its quirks you find yourself enjoying the game, you'll probably be dismayed by its brevity. There's a multi-player mode and a sandwich fight mode to unlock if you're interested, but those are brief attractions at best. At least you can snag cameo clips from the cartoon, along with four episodes. Three of them are fan favorites, while the fourth is all-new. It's mostly filler, though, since Master Shake and Frylock don't even make a proper appearance.
Like that bonus episode, Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am is a disappointment because of the potential it squandered. The game took a popular license, stayed true to its source material and combined that with some great design ideas. At the end of the day, though, it fell victim to the same pitfalls that have ruined hundreds of its predecessors. Tedious gameplay, glitches and a lack of variety can take their toll on any project, even when the setting is a golf course from hell and the heroes are a milkshake, fries and a hunk of meat. The project really could have used some more time in the cooker to fully realize its concept, perhaps in the form of more courses, weapons and enemies. In the future, someone may very well produce a title that nails both the cartoon's personality and the play mechanics inherent to fine interactive entertainment, but this isn't that day. Consider this game a broodwich.
|
|
|
Most recent video game reviews written by Jason Venter
The Simpsons Arcade Game (Xbox 360) [February 04, 2012]
Pushmo (3DS) [January 31, 2012]
Unstoppable Gorg (PC) [January 19, 2012]
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (Xbox 360) [January 08, 2012]
Defense Grid: The Awakening (PC) [January 04, 2012]
|
You can click the tabs on the above bar to choose whether you wish to read comments from visitors who have posted on Facebook, or from registered site users who have left feedback on the forums. Please leave a comment of your own if you have anything to say!
|
|
|
Follow Us |
Advertise exclusively for 1 month... only $1000!
Recent Forum Discussions
+ Alpha Olympics 2012
+ Where's SkyWard Sword's review ? And please bring back the rating feature.
+ zippdementia's Mega Jump review
+ [News] Schafer has pitched Psychonauts 2, Minecraft dev says 'let's make it happen'
+ holdthephone's Final Fantasy XIII-2 review
+ JoeTheDestroyer's Area 51 review
+ playstation vita, yo.
+ RotW January 29 - February 04 2012
+ Games to be added to the database...
+ The Final Fantasy XIII-2 thread
+ [News] Final Fantasy X HD will be a remaster, not a remake
+ [News] Naughty Dog explored making a new Jak and Daxter, made Last of Us instead
Staff Game Reviews
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| SoulCalibur V |
| The Simpsons Arcade Game |
| Quarrel |
| Star Ocean: The Last Hope |
| Pushmo |
| Medal of Honor: Airborne |
Site Staff
 |  | ||
 |  | ||
 |  | ||
 |  | ||
 |
Featured Reviews [+]
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Rayman Origins |
| Othello |
| Scarface: The World is Yours |
| The Last Express |
| Golden Axe II |
| Assassin's Creed: Revelations |
Exclusive User Reviews [+]
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Mega Jump |
| White Knight Chronicles |
| Dragon Wars |
| F-Zero GX |
| Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door |
| Pokemon Snap |
Info |
Help |
Privacy Policy |
Contact |
Advertise
© 1998-2012 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site--from reviews, guides, cheats and editorials to message board posts--may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors.
