Top 1 Xbox 360 Site

An Xbox Live Arcade version of the classic Konami game.

Take control of a small frog, dodging traffic and crossing a perilous river in order to reach the safety of home. Dodge cars and trucks, navigate logs and turtles, avoid snakes and crocodiles and pick up a female frog or a fly snack to rack up points. Originally released in arcades in 1981, the Frogger franchise is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Genre: Action

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Digital Eclipse Software

Online Play:

Local Play:

July 12, 2006 –
With the announcement of Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays, Konami brings one of the oldest, most popular, and widest appealing arcade games to the platform in a platform, finally giving gamers something new to get their sweaty hands on. Frogger looks pretty darn good compared to absolutely nothing, which is what we’ve had on Xbox Live Arcade for about three months now. And Frogger really needs all the help it can get. Despite it’s “up-resed” graphics, multiplayer additions, and added Achievements, this is more of a historical piece, a good-to-have-on-your-resume title, than a smoking hot must-have game.

Nonetheless, Frogger on Xbox Live Arcade brings with it a 25-year-old legacy, a history created from basic design skills in the age of the arcade. The primary goals in Frogger are the same as they’ve always been — to get to the other side of the creek alive. In your way stand moving sedans, racecars, snakes, alligators, diving turtles, and other sea creatures. The zoo of creatures is smartly spread out, and the ranging speeds of moving obstacles gradually, level after level, create extra tension. To beat a level, you must navigate the multiple rows of moving obstacles, hopping from one safe spot to another, with the goal of safely landing five frogs in five open frog parking spaces. You get three lives per game, earning an additional frog at 20,000 points.

Updated old school…Frogger is easy to pick up and play. It brings a simple theme to the fray, and it’s still got that quarter-munching-a-hole-in-your pocket gameplay. Luckily, Konami’s game is only $5 (400 Microsoft Points), so it’s not like you’re blowing a mortgage to buy it. It brings a small variety of two-player versus and co-op games to the table. You can play against another person in two-player offline, in which two gamers take turns to achieve the highest score. Online, there is co-op (in which you earn combined scores), Vs., whoever gets the highest score wins, and Speed Vs., in which you race to get five frogs across the creek first. You can partake in a quick or custom match, or create your own. There is also private match, so you can reserve a spot for a friend instead of a random Xbox Live person. Connections are quick, and depending on the other player’s connection, the lag ranges from OK to good in speed and consistency. All of my online games displayed slowdown, which is pretty sad considering only two people are playing, but it rarely got in the way of the game.

This may sound silly, but like all good arcade titles, Frogger is challenging. You’re not likely to get past level 3 in the first two or so hours you play. It’s designed for munching quarters, so you’ll die a lot and try it again and again. Once you get deep into the Frogger “groove” so to speak, you’ll start questioning just how fair the old game was and is. Is it always consistent? Sometimes you’ll appear to land perfectly on a log but die instead. Other times, you’ll make a questionable jump to the landing spot and make it. Perhaps it’s the archaic animations or the simple necessity to land everything perfectly, but sometimes it just feels like Frogger isn’t always all that consistently programmed (the original, that is). As ports go, Frogger is solid, healthy re-creation on XBLA.

Ancient school…If you’re a graphic tart you won’t feel terribly smug playing this with like-minded friends. Frogger hasn’t held up graphically like other old games have, and even though you can switch the graphic look from the original graphics to the enhanced version, visually, Frogger shines like a warty toad. The sound effects comprise a list of old nursery rhymes and familiar tunes, giving it that sweet, familiar feeling. Even though the sound effects and the music are also so ancient they’re laughable, I find the music quite enjoyable. Sure, these tunes are ancient, but they’re cute likeable tunes.

The Achievements are well rounded, offering some low-hanging fruit and putting a few out of reach, like beating level 5. You’ll also get some creative ones, like eating three flies or carrying five lady frogs across the creek. The one that bugged (pun intended) me the most was the 45-second one. In it, you must safely deliver five frogs across the creek in less than 45 seconds. The timer is worthless, and multiple times I performed this task, but to no avail. Ah, such is the life of an Achievement whore…

Closing Comments
In the end, Digital Eclipse did a perfunctory job with Frogger. All of the little additions make it a nice, friendly arcade game for the casual gamer, or conversely for the obsessed hardcore, old-school perfectionist. It might be worth your while to earn some cheap, but not necessarily easy, Achievement points, and it is always easy to pick up and play for a little while. It’s also only $5.

IGN Ratings for Frogger (X360)

Rating Description

out of 10
click here for ratings guide

6.0
Presentation
There is no real presentation, and the added backgrounds strangely don’t really scream Frogger.

4.0
Graphics
Graphics? Frogger existed before visuals mattered. The new high-res stuff doesn’t do much for the old gupper, either.

6.5
Sound
Ported from the original, Frogger offers really old, simple music that is both ear-aching yet sweet.

7.5
Gameplay
Archaic arcade gaming at its best and worst. It’s tough to get very far, yet so easy to lose hours to.

7.0
Lasting Appeal
The offline play is a good addition, basically re-creating two player games, and the online games are standard stuff. I’m glad they exist, but I’m not dying to play them all day and nignt.

6.0
Passable
OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)

• See All Frogger (X360) Reader Reviews
• Write Your Own Review of Frogger (X360)