You have to give Telegames one credit: when they promise to deliver a game, they deliver it. Though it's more than two years overdue, their long- promised KRAZY ACE MINIATURE GOLF has finally arrived for the Atari Lynx. As the title describes, this is miniature golf on the go, complete with wacky obstacles and gaudy-colored decorations. From a three-quarters overhead view, up to four players can compete with a single Lynx as they try to shoot under par.
GAMEPLAY:
There's a reason why the above overview is very brief -- KRAZY ACE MINIATURE GOLF is a very brief game. The only significant game options are the number of players and the colors of their golf balls. The game itself consists of a single nine-hole course, with no adjustments for difficulty; to add insult to injury, two of the holes are repeated, which reduces the play value further. As you may imagine, this makes for a very short game of golf.
If it wasn't for that fundamental problem, this would be a respectably good game. The controls are simple enough; putting is done by setting the direction and strength of the putt with the joypad, then pressing the A button. Settings can be changed at any time, and the screen can be scrolled to get a better view of the course.
Since this is miniature golf, the holes offer a number of surrealistic obstacles and layouts. Every one has a timed obstacle to get past, and many add water hazards and other obstructions to complicate matters. This makes the game a little harder to master, but only a little. Ball physics are realistic for the most part, though odd bounces do show up from time to time.
GRAPHICS/SOUND:
The sights and sounds on KRAZY ACE MINIATURE GOLF do the job, but that's all that can be said for them. Game graphics are clear and recognizable, but are otherwise ordinary and fail to be exciting or interesting. Scrolling is slow but smooth, while animation of moving obstacles is at a minimum. The only music in the game is a calliope tune for the title page; actual game sounds consist of very simple tones for ball movement, course obstacles, and wall bounces.
SUMMARY:
KRAZY ACE MINIATURE GOLF is a good miniature golf game, but not a great one; the card's major flaw is the lack of variety in the course and the game itself. With merely passable graphics and sound, this is a decent game to divert yourself for a little while, but there's almost nothing here to keep you on this krazy kourse for the long term.
GAMEPLAY: 6 GRAPHICS: 6.5 SOUND: 5 OVERALL: 6