VGM Fusion

Review: Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro-Am (PS2)

Meatwad… Master Shake… Frylock… These names bring visions of greatness, and they helped revive cartoons of the adult and late teen market more than almost any other property in the recent past. They also helped make Cartoon Network (Turner) a butt-load of money, and what comes along with making a butt-load of unexpected money off a property? Well, merchandising of course! And since we already have toys and whatnot the next logical step was a video game. The kids like those too, right?

Let me start off by saying that I love the show. It was ridiculously retarded when I first saw it, and I almost didn’t get it. Then I put myself into a “whatever” state, and I transcended into whatever I was supposed to transcend upon, and laughed my ass off.   I then heard about this game, got really excited, read details about what it was supposed to be about… thought to myself, golf? Fighting? Racing? Lunacy! Only the ATHF guys can do it! No… they can’t. Fail.

This game sucks so hard, and it’s like it was supposed to suck, but it still sucks harder than it was intended, and the guys who made it didn’t give a shit, and decided to make it suck even harder than that. It’s like a vortex of suck, swirling with golf clubs, talking ravenous trees and for some reason, the head crabs from Half-life.
The game is last-gen, so the graphics aren’t great, although the 3D translations of the characters did come off surprisingly well… oh, and there’s the really awesome 8-bit art for the loading screens.

Other redeeming qualities? There are ATHF shows in the extras, even an un-aired one. There’s an interview with the creators too, so that’s cool. Also, all the actor’s voices are in the game, so that rules. The mooninites are included, and they kick ass as usual, and the pairing of ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past is friggen comedy gold. Actually there are quite a few funny bits in the game as far as the script goes.

But honestly… the gameplay is so punishing. The golf sucks. The driving sucks soooooooo much more. The fighting sucks so unbelievably hard. The word of the day is suck.

Truth be told though, I had a smile on my face a lot of the time just from the jokes though, but unless you are a video game reviewer who loves ATHF, you probably don’t want to subject yourself to this game.  Unless you think you can understand the “joke” that is the terribleness of the game more than I do.

Game Details:
Available: November 5, 2007
Publisher: Midway Games
Developer: Creat Studio
Genre: Action/Sports
ESRB: Mature 17+
VGM Rating: 2/5