Screenshot
No.1
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SCENE
GENRE
GRAPHICS
SOUND
PLAYABILITY
VALUE
OPINION
REVIEW
INDEX |
| Setting
the Scene |
Anyone
over the age of 24 will doubtlessly recall this retro game from the
mid eighties. Whether those memories are of the good times spent
successfully hopping to the rescue of the stranded tadpoles or the
sheer frustration of your diminutive croaker being repeatedly
flattened by a passing vehicle is for you to decide. My
recollections are of falling to sleep at night by counting passing
logs and turtles only to be awoken from my slumber by the snappy
crocodile who leaps out from your only place of respite. Whichever
way you choose to remember Frogger I am sure that you will agree
that it did have that addictive quality that kept you coming back
for more.
|
| Genre |
I
suppose that if you had to categorize Frogger then it would be fair
to say that it was a platform game, only this time he's back for a
whole set of new adventures and it's all been captured in glorious
3D. The gameplay involves simply hippity hopping your frog over a
selection of obstacle courses to rescue your little green friends.
|
| Graphics |
Hasbro
have gone to town on the graphical content of Frogger and the
results are amazing. Frogger is very nice to look and the bright
green polygon frog is forever fidgeting at the bottom of the screen
with large rolling eyes, head bobbing and twitching feet at the
ready.
Viewed from a top down perspective Frogger has entered a world
that is entirely constructed from polygons. No more colored
rectangles posing as motor vehicles but trucks, cars and bulldozers
move back and forth across the busy roads. They even have little
puffs of exhaust fumes trailing from their rear. The calm blue
rivers reflect the clouds from above before being gently disturbed
by the ripples that form from the passing logs.
Hazards range from poisonous spiders and scorpions to rampaging
buffalo and manic lawn mowers. In fact each one of the thirty plus
levels throws up a completely different set of obstacles to slow
down your progress from A to B. Each has been well animated and
combined they provide remarkable visual experience.
|
| Sounds
and Effects |
The
music really helps to bring the levels alive and adds an overall
happy tone to an already enjoyable game. Sound effects include the
rumbling of cars and trucks on the Retro level, all sorts of insect
and animals noises and the star of the game; Frogger: now has his
patented "croak" that he uses to call for reinforcements.
All in all the music and sound effects fit in perfectly with the
games overall theme.
|
| Playability |
The
options screen offers you a choice to play a single game or enter a
multi-player mode where up to four players participate in a best of
five race. The game controls could not be easier to use with the
directional pad moving Frogger up, down, left and right around the
screen in small hopping motions. The face buttons implement a super
hop for leaping onto higher platforms, a heat seeking tongue to
capture the power-ups and a power croak which allows you to call out
to the baby frogs. The shoulder buttons rotate the screen by 90
degrees in either direction.
The single player game begins with the five original retro
levels. Now I'm sure most of you don't need reminding but the object
of the game is to guide Frogger across a busy road where an endless
stream of traffic is moving back and forth at varying speeds. After
successfully negotiating five lanes of motorway madness a fast
flowing river must be crossed by leaping onto moving logs and the
backs of passing turtles before recovering a baby frog who is
stranded at the end of the course. This journey must be made five
times with each trip increasing in difficulty by speeding up the
flow of traffic on the roads and throwing in the odd poisonous snake
on the banks of the river. If all five baby frogs are rescued within
the allowed time the level will be complete and you may move on to
the next zone.
You begin Frogger with three lives and survival is the name of
the game in the opening retro levels but if you come through these
unscathed a whole new style of gameplay begins to open up. The
levels are grouped into nine themed zones with the next section
taking Frogger off to a water filled pond that is dotted with small
islands. Once again the tailless amphibian must leap onto passing
items to discover the whereabouts of the five baby frogs only this
time they are hidden within a total 3D world. Frogger can now climb
onto higher platforms then leap onto the back of a passing bird who
will transport the frog over previously impassible waters while
floating balloons act as stepping stones onto the tree tops where
baby frogs patiently await your arrival.
To enhance the gameplay there is a multitude of power-ups
scattered around every level which appear as various forms of bugs
and flying insects. A press of the heat seeking tongue button is all
that is needed to collect the power up which range from extra lives
to boosting your jumps up to double speed.
There are a wide range of themed lands where the player must
guide Frogger past many lethal encounters such as moving across
mechanical platforms, negotiating a slippery ski slope, leaping from
jet planes onto the backs of flying geese and performing a spot of
slime sliding down greasy pipes. Some of the levels have terrific
ideas such as Honey Bee Hollow where not only must you race against
the clock but outrun a pack of chasing bees, Boom Boom Barrel which
contains small crates of TNT that on contact hurl your frog into the
air, hopefully landing on dry land, and the aptly named Reservoir
Frogs where death lies around every corner.
Multi-player mode allows up to four players to simultaneously
race different colored frogs in five specially designed levels in
split-screen mode. A multi-tap is required when more than two
players are participating. The winner is the first player to collect
the best of five flags. This form of racing proved great short term
fun especially when your frog can jump onto the back of another and
hold him down on the spot before leaping to safety just as a vehicle
is approaching. Squish!
|
| Value
for Money |
As
a single player game Frogger offers many stunning environments but
retains that frustration factor that drove many gamers to the brink
back in the eighties. However the original game still sold by the
million and I'm sure that this will do likewise.
|
|
Opinion |
| MARTIN |
|
|
|
|
|
GRAPHICS: |
Excellent |
Hasbro
have performed wonders with the graphics of Frogger and should be
highly commended for this work of art. The sound effects are of the
highest quality and the music compliments the mood of the game. The
gameplay retains those addictive qualities that will keep you coming
back for more but I would recommend that you only play for short
periods at a time as the frustration factor remains ever present and
the controller will end up dicarded on the floor many, many times. |
|
SOUND: |
Good |
|
PLAYABILITY: |
Good |
|
VALUE: |
Good |
| OVERALL
|
86% |
| TOM |
|
|
|
|
|
GRAPHICS: |
Very
Good |
Frogger
get a wonderful graphical facelift for the '90s. The game looks
absolutely fantastic compared to the original. The game also
features the classic frogger game all decked out in polygons.
The game still requires split second timing and damn good
reflexes. All of the tension of the original game has been pretty
much preserved here...unfortunately so has the frustration level.
The game is hard. Sometimes unecessarily so. Level design could have
been improved a bit, and a ramped difficulty setting as well.
It's a good update to a classic arcade game and provides a
mean 4-player challenge it just ain't no cakewalk! |
|
SOUND: |
Average |
|
PLAYABILITY: |
Average |
|
VALUE: |
Average |
| OVERALL
|
73% |
|
