You MUST Play Ninja Golf for Mobile!
By Daniel Sumpton | Misfit Media Columnist
Based on the Atari7800 game, Ninja Golf for mobile is a perfectly reimagined experience. The game plays flawlessly, looks outstanding, and has character in abundance for a mobile game. Atari’s new experiences for modern systems have been criminally overlooked, as they look and feel exceptional. Ninja Golf blends hack and slash madness, stylised graphics, and most importantly, golf! The transition from golfing to slashing is seamless and the courses are inventive. There are also a great variety of enemies that prevent the game from being a walk in the park, giving Ninja Golf the ability to remain a real, challenging experience. Ninja Golf for mobile is surprisingly faithful to the Atari experience that it is based on, and the original main character’s design even makes an appearance in the loading screens.
The actual golfing part of the game is surprisingly complex and the maps for each level accomodate for them nicely. The control system is also intuitive, being able to speed across a small section of the map to make a quick getaway from enemies make the sports simulation part of the game much more pleasant. Throwing Ninja stars from a distance can be a life saver as it’s easy to die if you’re not paying close attention. Additionally, the Atari logo collectables that you can find for extra points are often in tricky spots that can add an entertaining plat forming element. Maps have HIGH replay value and there are item incentives to keep coming back and constantly improve your golf kit.
What is the future of Ninja Golf?
The development team behind Ninja Golf for mobile are so talented and prone to creating high quality products that they were acquired by Bethesda, so it is unclear who will handle Ninja Golf next or if it will ever be expanded upon as a franchise at all. Preferably, Ninja Golf for mobile would be ported to the Nintendo Switch as it would be a perfect addition to system’s library. Of course, a brand new Ninja Gold game that is specifically for home consoles would be a very welcome idea. Ninja Golf for mobile alone highlights how the game’s concept and whimsical nature can carry a franchise of addictive, inventive gameplay.