Frogger Returns (Video Game Review)

Video Game Review
Frogger Returns
Wii (WiiWare)
2009
Developer: Hijinx Studios
Publisher: Konami

Frogger is considered a legendary arcade title. Like many of its early arcade compatriots like Missile Command and Centipede, Frogger has had trouble sustaining itself as a viable franchise after home consoles became popular. Frogger had simple yet addictive gameplay which could be easily replicated on a home system but had trouble competing against games which offered more complex gameplay and more detailed design. Frogger Returns brings the series back to its roots: get the little frog from point A to point B. The graphics are slicker and the game design is a little more complex but as interesting a title this is, it still has trouble keeping up with the original.

The game is really simple in terms of what you have to do. You have to get the frog from one side of the playing field to the other with the terminus being a pod located on the other side. Fill up all five pods and you move on to the next level. Getting from one side to the other isn’t easy as there are many different obstacles, traps and enemies waiting to make your frog croak (cheap puns are my specialty). Each ascending level provides tougher challenge with more deceiving traps and obstacles obstructing your path. While you do reach a point where you can beat all the levels, the idea of the game is get as high a score as possible. This is achieved by getting your frog to the goal as quickly as possible and also finding the bonus frog and piggybacking it to the goal with you. Unfortunately, the high score table is limited to your own system; no online functionality.

The controls are simple even though Konami tried their best to screw it up. The Wii Remote is held like a TV remote with the IR node pointed towards despite the fact that the game doesn’t use IR controls. You navigate your frog with the d-pad. There are no other controls. It does feel a bit awkward holding the remote in this manner although it would have been better had the game been designed for the remote to be held horizontally (like a NES controller) or even had an option to use the Classic Controller which has a bigger D-pad and analog sticks; both of which would have made the game easier to control. It’s not a major issue but irritating enough that it warrants mention.

The graphics look decent enough although there are tons of games on the WiiWare service that look way better than this game. The visuals are on par with a PS1 or N64 game. Considering the game is played from a top down perspective and doesn’t require detailed 3D modeling, it really isn’t much of a problem but graphic nuts will take exception to the game’s presentation. The game is plenty colourful as many of the hues pop out nicely. If anything though, the shapes of most of the objects look blocky and bland giving the game an unpolished feel.

The sound of the game is left better off. The music is lame and feels like it was made with children in mind. So do much of the sound effects which are more annoying and irritating than anything. The warm sounds of the original bleeps and bloops from the very first Frogger would have been more welcome than the junk they’re forcing through the speakers with this title.

The game is plenty challenging. New players who haven’t played the original might be discouraged when they have trouble beating the first level on several attempts. The game does offer enough diversity between levels that give a challenge to those who can blast through the first levels no problem. There are times where some of the challenges within a level are more frustrating than perplexing (like the subway switches in the second level).

The biggest breaking point for this game is that you’ll never really have a heavy compulsion to keep playing. The game doesn’t have a hook that keeps the player interested. What was great about the original Frogger was that all the action took place on one screen. You saw both the start and finish in one playing area. This kept everything simple and, in a way, addictive. Frogger Returns offers much larger stages that run through several screens that scroll vertically. Falling short of a goal doesn’t compel one to want to try again; it makes one want to shrug their shoulders and do something else.

Konami’s Frogger Returns is an adequate game that could have been so much better had there been some effort put into it. It tries to do too much without offering anything of substance. Online leaderboards should have been a given but that option is sorely missing. Everything else that has been added to the classic formula hurts rather than improves. Frogger is one of my favourite classic arcade games and even though hiding being this poorly conceived and presented piece of software is a game that strongly resembles its arcade roots, I would be hard pressed to recommend this game. It could be worse and it is playable but only if you enjoy this sort of thing. This game is good for some short periods of fun but don’t expect to have arcade-style competitions with this title.

☆☆