Frogger (PlayStation)

CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
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Overall score: 6.7 (3.0 stars)
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Product summary

Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Joe Fielder
• Reviewed on: 12/02/1997
• Updated on:04/28/2000
• Released on: 09/30/1997

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 unlocked 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 plants).

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