Frogger Beyond

"Frogger Beyond doesn't go beyond much"

Much too little has been written about this title, and what has been written is not always accurate, so I am here to set the record straight and allow you to decide if this game is for you or not. Clearly it is better than the first Frogger game on PS one, but not as good as ''Swampy's Revenge'', the second title, which, while excellent, was far too short and easy. Basically, it is the original arcade game, prettied up for the new millennium, but without much else.

GRAPHICS: 6/10 The graphics are better than PS one, but not even close to what you would expect on X-box, and especially after reading how great it was going to look. There is nothing technically wrong with it, but it just should look a whole lot more impressive.

MUSIC/SOUND: 6/10 At least on X-box it is in Dolby Digital, and the sound effects are great, but the music is not too good. Another strange thing is that in the FMV's the sound goes way down for no apparent reason. The voice acting is decent, but that's about it.

CAMERA/CONTROL: 6/10 The game uses the old top down look that requires no camera adjustments, and the controls respond well; however,you use the stick control, as Frogger can only jump one square at a time, and you have to use the right and left shoulder buttons to turn him. A lot of the time he also turns on his own, for no apparent reason, and sometimes you can jump right or left okay, and others you have to turn first. The double jump is a button that can take getting used to, because if you try to move forward first, you will only jump once. The whole control scheme takes some serious getting used to. There is also a high jump button and a tongue grab, mostly for grabbing one up flies. It is also too easy to hit the wrong button and die, that is, high jump instead of double jump, for instance, as you only get one hit and you are dead.

GAME PLAY: 6/10 This is basically the original arcade game, with a few extras; like switches, and collapsing bridges. Also, three power ups have been added; speed, ghost( you pass through enemies), and eating enemies. At the end of each level you can buy these power ups or extra men at the store with the coins you get in the levels. I think they were going for a kid's game here, but I found it to be pretty difficult, with a pretty steep learning curve that pretty much goes against everything you usually do in a game.

VALUE: 1/10 Even if you love this game, and I'm sure there will be plenty who do, it is unbelievably short. Counting the training level, there are thirty levels over 8 worlds, with increasing difficulty, but the levels are extremely short and with no reason to revisit them. There is a time mode, but no reason to do it. The levels take less than 5 minutes each, so it isn't even a good rental.

FINAL COMMENTS: If you love retro gaming, you very well may love this game, but even you will find no reason to play it more than once, and will be able to finish it in one sitting.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 12/29/02, Updated 12/29/02