Product description
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.com
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The classic arcade game Frogger snatched more than a few
quarters back in the '80s. Hasbro's smash hit comes home with an
entirely new look and sound. You'll hop through nine gaming
worlds and dozens of levels in a new 3-D-based gaming
environment. The game begins in familiar territory as the first
levels are faithful 3-D re-creations of the classic arcade game.
However, as you begin to progress deeper into the game, you'll
find new areas that are equally challenging.
Whether or not you are a fan of the original game, Frogger
stands on its own as a modern-day favorite. This title has
consistently ranked among the top-selling home video games since
its release. -- Brett Atwood
Pros:
* Based on the arcade hit
* Dozens of game levels
Cons: * May not appeal to some hardcore gamers
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Review
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Konami. Sega. Parker Brothers. They've all had something
to do with the '80s video game classic, Frogger. But it took the
latter (through its newly dubbed moniker Hasbro Interactive) to
do a modern update to the title. Similar to the result of Midway
taking Robotron and turning it into Robotron X for the
PlayStation back in '96, people seem divided on how they feel
about the game.
Though still retaining his top-down perspective on the world,
Frogger has been given a mission, 3D polygonal graphics, and a
variety of new environments to explore in his return to the
present. It seems that during his video-gaming sabbatical, over a
hundred baby frogs tried to fill in his place (The Replacement
Froggers, if you will). They're now trapped over nine different
stages (five per level, one to five levels per stage) and are
sorely in need of rescuing.
The first stage comprises five levels styled after the original
title. You must navigate through several lanes of traffic and
over logs and turtles across a stream, though with the
aforementioned polygonal graphics in place and an ever-present
clock counting down the time. Extremely fun, this Retro Stage is
almost worth the price of the game, even though it remains little
more than an upgraded take on its ancestor. In the retrospective,
however, nearly every level has a different environment (though
themes seem to pervade through each specific stage), the frogs
are almost never again all neatly grouped together, and there is
quite a variety of enemies and play mechanics. For instance,
Canopy Capers places you in a forest where you must avoid
squirrels, sneak onto the backs of birds, and hop from collapsing
branch to collapsing branch. In the factory-like Scorching
Switches, you must leap on lots of moving machine parts and flip
switches to reach the frogs. And in suburban nightmare Mower
Mania, speedy lawn mowers bar your way, or, more precisely, run
over you.
Though you can choose what stage you want to try, later levels
must be first, and not every stage is available at the
game's outset. The final areas can be opened up by finding hidden
golden frogs (there is one per stage). Get a few, and you can
take on the Cloud Stage, where Frogger takes a walk in the clouds
in several levels very likely inspired by Frogger II: Threedeep!,
the ultraobscure sequel to the first Frogger game. Grab a few
more, and you can play the Toxic Stage (where you'll hop on
exploding barrels and slippery pipes), the Desert Stage (avoid
snakes, beetles, and bouncing boulders), and the Jungle Stage
(ride hippos and watch out for monkeys and killer s).
While the controls are still simple, the developers added several
new abilities, such as the Power Croak, Heat-Seeking Tongue, and
Super Jump. Different levels require different skills. For
instance, you'll need the Super Jump in Boulder Alley to leap
over beetles; the Power Croak will help light your way and
communicate with the baby frogs in Dark, Dark Cavern; and the
Heat-Seeking Tongue is useful to snag extra lives and
time-extending Fly Power-Ups in Frogger Goes Skiing. Also, since
Frogger can't move as quickly as you can hammer out commands into
the controller, it's sometimes possible to accidentally overshoot
a lane of traffic or hop over a cliff. But since the character's
timing is easy enough to recognize, all that's necessary is to be
careful about how many steps you input during time-clock panicked
play.
Some people really dislike this game, but it all depends on how
you approach it. Once the later Retro levels are accomplished,
you will have a feel for the extremely fast timing of the game.
Trying out the other stages - where the pace is the same, but you
must figure out where you're going on top of that - can be a
little disconcerting at first, but therein lies a lot of the
title's fun. Each level requires you to very quickly determine
the timing of its inhabitants and the whereabouts of the five
frogs. It's kind of like puzzle solving at point. It may take
some time, but since the lives are the characters' to burn and
not your own, it's pretty enjoyable. Be warned: If you dive into
the other levels without finishing the Retro Stage, you'll
probably not be properly acclimatized to the game speed and could
get frustrated. Likewise, the multiplayer rounds are extremely
hard if you're not used to the later stages of the game, though
it's clear the Retro two-player arena would be much better if it
used a horizontal split-screen perspective instead of a vertical
one. Oddly enough, much more of the screen can be seen in this
stage when three or four players are competing via the
PlayStation Multi-Tap.
The other very noticeable problem is that the Lily Pad Stage
shouldn't have been put in immediately after the Retro levels.
The goals of this stage's first level, Lily Islands, are about
the most difficult to hom in the entire game, and it's sure to
throw off new players. Otherwise, Frogger is an enjoyable title.
Its 3D graphics look like polygonal origami, its soundtrack is
extremely catchy, and it contains many hours of super fun
puzzle/arcade-style play. --Joe Fielder
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot
logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review
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