Frogger Returns PS3 Review

Can going back to a retro game fill you with the same empathy it did after ploughing in hours into your favourite game, or are you just remembering the nostalgia of years gone by?

This is what I would find out by returning to the classic Frogger franchise. The answer for me at least is yes. Yes a retro game can still let you relief the fun you had so many years ago.

Don’t get me wrong though, this sequel is far from perfect, what with a dodgy camera angle, lack of online multi-player and poor graphics for this generation of consoles. But the game play is fun if a little frustrating.

For those of you new to the Frogger franchise, as the name suggests you control a frog through a bustling cityscape or jungle and other themed levels.  Where the goal is to get from the bottom of the screen to the top and land safely on the end lily pad. Doing this five times completes the level and you move on to the next. What makes the levels hard is that there is a number of obstacles and enemies such as cars speeding across your pathway on the way to the end lily pads.

Frogger returns uses the same formula as previous incarnations but adds power ups, including time reversal, invincibility and time freeze along with various enemies and a selection of different game types. These game types include Arcade mode which is the classic mode and puts you through the four campaign levels, ‘Big City’, ‘Subway’, ‘Sewers’ and ‘Swamp’. ‘Time Trial’ and ‘Score Attack’ which lets you choose a stage and play for the best time/score respectively. These modes are let down by there being no online score tracking be it globally or across your friends list.

There is a multiplayer mode but unfortunately it is only local multiplayer and there is no online what so-ever. This is quite a big short coming for this game in this day and age of the current gen consoles. There are four modes for you to play locally:
Classic Race: does what it says on the tin, you race player 2 and the first person with 3 out of 5 lilly pads full wins.
Territories: where you must try to occupy the most pads before the time runs out.
Collector: is similar to Territories but you can also eat flies that can boost your score when occupying a lily pad.
Fly Feast: eat as many of the little flies as you can before time runs out.

Overall a classic formula has simple controls and addictive game play but is let down by cheap deaths, not so hot graphics and a lack of online
play. Though to me it was a great return for Frogger but it’s certainly not for everyone. If you are a fan of the franchise then I would say you can’t really go wrong because the flaws I found with the game are a part of the series.

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Posted by MaKUltra on Mar 7 2010. Filed under Playstation 3, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry