Frogger

Upon starting Frogger the menu offers the first-time gamer a choice of four of the nine possible zones, starting with the initial 'Retro Level', through 'Lily Islands', then a kind of 'sylvanian' zone, and an 'industrial' zone. There are different levels in each zone, and obviously you have to complete a level before being allowed to advance to the next. Completing the 'industrial' zone unlocks the later ones, and, if you have a memory card, you can save your progress, allowing you access to zones and levels you have previously completed. In the 90s, crossing the road is not sufficient to complete a level: these days you have to rescue five baby frogs which sit in various hard- and not-so-hard-to-reach locations.

Level one of this 'retro' version of the game is populated with those very streams of traffic, turtles and logs that Frogger was apparently going to be liberated from...it was just like playing old-time Frogger, but in 3D. The 'Lily Islands' zone was a pretty good platform-cum-maze game, requiring you to run around the level solving problems and picking things up before your time runs out. The other two zones available to the first time player are the same thing, but with different graphics to look at, and different puzzles to solve. One annoying feature is that, after collecting a baby frog, you return to the beginning of the level before you get to go looking for the next. The multiplayer game has up to four players, incarnated as baby frogs, involved in a race around different levels aiming to pick up flags, the winner being the one with the most of five. Hopping on top of one of the other players slows them down, which is kind of fun in addition to the hazards of the single player game.

Graphically, Frogger is no more than OK. In the kind of 'normal' view it is pretty decent; there are lots of cartoon-style graphics, and it appears that there is a lot of detail to look at. However, when you hit some zoomed-in or panned-out action, it becomes apparent that the detail is not great; cars look boxy and the insect power-ups, rendered in 2D, are ridiculously pixilated. Having said that, the gameplay is smooth, the panning and zooming are excellent, and the controls are very responsive. I was kind of disappointed in Frogger himself, as he's the central object of the game. As such, more thought should have been put into both his looks (he's basically your bog-standard collection of green geometric shapes) and his character (merely looking left or right at random intervals does not endear the amphibian to your heart). For what is basically a platform game, it's competent, but not inspired.