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You know, one of the biggest things to happen in gaming at the turn of the millennium, was
when Konami got back the rights to Frogger. I'm sorry, did I say one of the biggest things
to happen? Because I meant the opposite. I mean, come on, let's be honest. When you get
back the rights to Frogger in 2001?
Eh. You start to notice the warts, at that point.
It's funny how times change. Not only for Frogger, but...especially for the approach
people take to rebooting games. These days, a new Frogger game would more than likely
be overtly retro. I mean, old school is the new new school. But a decade ago,
a new Frogger game meant...oh, add a story.
And a lava world.
So here it is. Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand. One of the many examples of a publisher
trying to revitalize a legendary arcade series...with really strange ideas. The thing is, the game
actually has its moments. And some of its pretty clever. But for the most part, the
design just seems...kind of misguided. And even generic.
So you play as Frogger. Alright, so far, so good. And the Eternity Wand has been shattered
into five pieces. Uh oh. Getting a little bumpy. And you have to retrieve each piece
from its own world. A jungle world, a snow world...a lava world. Oh, boy. I guess when
you wanted to make a classic game modern in 2002, making it as cliched as possible was
step one.
Look, I'll be honest. The story? All the genericness? When you're a simple arcade game, that excess
nonsense is exactly what you don't need. But that's the thing about Frogger's Adventure
2: The Lost Wand. If you can get past that stuff...there's actually a pretty interesting
game in there. It takes the original Frogger concept and puts it into a bigger, more complex
framework.
For better and worse.
So there are two different kind of levels, one of which is great. Frogger is on these
mazes, suspended in midair. And since movement is old-school Frogger, you have to navigate
the mazes one tile at a time. You can also do a long jump, which jumps two spots. So
there's actually a bit of puzzle-solving here, figuring out not only where to jump to...but
where to jump from.
Sadly, the other levels are less interesting. They're more open worlds, and in those environments,
Frogger's retro movement feels incredibly limited and out of place.
In fact, a lot of this game feels out of place. All it really needed to be is a bunch of the
maze levels, with lots of clever puzzles. Instead, it tries to turn Frogger into something
it's not, and never was. When the game's at its best, you're thinking hard about your
jumps and enjoying the really challenging level layouts. When its at its worst, you're
wondering why Frogger needs a story. And dies when he falls in the water.
Alright, I guess some things about Frogger never made sense.