Ribbit King

"Fancy A Game Of Frolf? ....... No, Me Neither"

With the huge number of golf games, such as the endless Tiger Woods updates, hitting the market you'd think that one that offers something a little more original and different would be a welcome relief.

Ribbit King features a game known as Frolf. This involves hitting a FROG (rather than a ball) around a rather strange course in order to score as many points as possible. As well as the usual aim of getting the ball to the hole in as few a shots as possible the player is also rewarded bonus points for hitting certain targets on the way to the hole. For example collecting a fly may add 50 points to your total.

While this in itself is not a bad concept, the game is made almost completely worthless by the fact that, unlike most golf games, the player relies solely on luck as opposed to any actual skill. It seems as though two people hitting the exact same shot can end up with totally different results. One shot may hit a fly, bounce into a whirlpool and continue on its merry way for what seems like hours collecting numerous points, while the other will simply come to rest where it lands. This problem is made worse by the fact that these overly long shots cannot be skipped, even when you are playing against a computer controlled opponent.

Graphically the game is cute to the point of being annoying, which, when added to the irritating music and overly camp characters can make the player want to turn off before even completing the first hole.

This game may have been aimed at younger kids, but that is often just an excuse for making an overly simplistic and uninteresting game and that is certainly the case for Ribbit King.

Gameplay - 1 (No skill involved in attempting to score points and shots can take far too long to watch)
Graphics - 3 (Colourful, but overly cute)
Lifespan - 2 (A number of courses but you probably won't play each one more than once)

Overall - 2 (I'm all for originality in games but any title this dull is not worth your time)

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/04