Frogger: Helmet Chaos (DS) Questions / Review

[goatdan]

I picked up this game recently in the Kay Bee sale, and I had been wanting to play one of them for a while. Of course, as it always seems to go I have the Dreamcast version but never played that one. So this is my first entry into the world of new Frogger games, and I'm sort of impressed.

The graphics are like they are right out of a kids book, with voice overs like they would be on Reading Rainbow or something. It isn't too flashy, but the story seems coherent at least, if not very interesting, and the cutesy graphics seem to fit the style.

The difficultly level though is OFF THE CHARTS. You have to figure out how to make it through various hopping challenges. While they are really difficult and even sort of fun to do, the problem is that so far (And according to the GameFAQs FAQ, I'm 1/3rd of the way through the game already) there isn't much of the classic Frogger "avoid things and hop on moving things to get past stuff" action. Yes, you have a little of it... but it just isn't the Frogger gameplay. I wish there was a little more of that, and that the puzzles came in slightly less difficult ways.

I guess that since the game was only 21 levels big, they figured they would make it so that if you failed a level, you had to start over. It means that once you figure out one puzzle, you'll probably lose your life by the next, meaning you need to play through a level 10 or so times to get past it. It makes the game play for a while, but it also makes the game rather frustrating.

It also has a bunch of minigames that are really pretty slick. One plays like Kaboom sorta. Another is catching butterflies with your tounge as quickly as you can. And another is rolling your frog around by blowing on the microphone. Cool minigames that are really fun seem to be an afterthought nowadays, as games like Wario Ware seem to have made a "living" out of collecting just them, but Frogger: HC has bunches of great minigames.

Overall, it seems to be pretty cool. I am disappointed that the game doesn't actually record your highscores on the updated version of the old game, as I had a great game of that yesterday but nothing to show for it today. The difficulty is high and the presentation is kiddie, but if you can get past that and you like the general idea of Frogger and puzzle solving, it's worth checking out. I'll probably check out the GameCube version of Frogger sometime because of this.

Some questions for anyone else that has it... these are not in the FAQ:

- Can you replay levels you've already beat? I'm on level 7, but I don't see a way to go back and play level 3.
- Where the hell are these flies that give you extra power?
- How do you unlock the minigames? I played through two different minigames winning them both, yet I didn't get them unlocked.

[HyrulianHedgehog]

The game industry really needs to stop shilling crap like this. I have played this game, though not at any great lengths, and I'm surprised you have found something you like about it. I guess my taste simply differ from yours. You like silicon offal; I like bouncy boobs and explosions. Sadly, Frogger is free of both jiggling boobies and fiery balls of death. To offer my opinion of Frogger: poop.

(in all honesty, I actually prefer a more fantastic and cartoonish look to my games…though boobs still hold an appeal)

[goatdan]

The game industry really needs to stop shilling crap like this. I have played this game, though not at any great lengths, and I'm surprised you have found something you like about it. I guess my taste simply differ from yours. You like silicon offal; I like bouncy boobs and explosions. Sadly, Frogger is free of both jiggling boobies and fiery balls of death. To offer my opinion of Frogger: poop.

(in all honesty, I actually prefer a more fantastic and cartoonish look to my games…though boobs still hold an appeal)

I'm not sure if you're serious or not, but like I said -- the gameplay itself is different enough that I think it's pretty nifty. It just isn't enough "Frogger" and too much "really frickin' hard puzzle" to be a truly good game.

It's not bad, but it ain't great.

[HyrulianHedgehog]

The game industry really needs to stop shilling crap like this. I have played this game, though not at any great lengths, and I'm surprised you have found something you like about it. I guess my taste simply differ from yours. You like silicon offal; I like bouncy boobs and explosions. Sadly, Frogger is free of both jiggling boobies and fiery balls of death. To offer my opinion of Frogger: poop.

(in all honesty, I actually prefer a more fantastic and cartoonish look to my games…though boobs still hold an appeal)

I'm not sure if you're serious or not, but like I said -- the gameplay itself is different enough that I think it's pretty nifty. It just isn't enough "Frogger" and too much "really frickin' hard puzzle" to be a truly good game.

It's not bad, but it ain't great.

I have no idea what you're talking about. You want more "Frogger?" So you're saying you want to spend $50 for a game that the world has been playing for 25 years at 50 cents a pop? Lunacy! If you want classic gameplay for the sake of classic gameplay get yourself an arcade cab, don't keep paying for the same goddamned game time and time again!

This is a sub par game slapped together by a team of 'Devry School for the Smat' graduates packaged to appeal to nostalgic ding-bats looking to relive the time when they could impress the high school band-girls by getting the high score on Asteroids at a rundown pizzeria on main street. Get with the times, gramps.

[goatdan]

I have no idea what you're talking about. You want more "Frogger?" So you're saying you want to spend $50 for a game that the world has been playing for 25 years at 50 cents a pop? Lunacy! If you want classic gameplay for the sake of classic gameplay get yourself an arcade cab, don't keep paying for the same goddamned game time and time again!

This is a sub par game slapped together by a team of 'Devry School for the Smat' graduates packaged to appeal to nostalgic ding-bats looking to relive the time when they could impress the high school band-girls by getting the high score on Asteroids at a rundown pizzeria on main street. Get with the times, gramps.

All right, now I'm really confused. As one of the younger members of DP, calling me gramps is cute, although completely inaccurate.

Yes, I would like to take the gameplay from the original Frogger, expand upon it, improve it and play it again. Isn't that is what's done with just about every new release? Isn't Halo just an expanded DOOM with new enemies, new weapons, and improved gameplay? Isn't Need for Speed Most Wanted or Gran Turismo 3 just an updated Ridge Racer with different physics and changes to the gameplay format?

What is wrong about liking the styling of an old game and wishing that they would make something new out of it. Personally, I've played enough FPS and racing games to last my entire life. I've only played the original Frogger, and since I wasn't even born when it came out, or if I was I was in infancy (it was released in 1981. So was I.) I never had a chance to impress anyone playing it. I've always enjoyed the timing-based hopping style of gameplay, and as far as I know, nothing else has done that well since then.

I also really enjoy Tempest 2000, X3 and 3000 and Robotron 64. Sorry if I'm too "old school" for those boob / explosion games, but I like crazy games that seemed to be pretty popular about the time I was born.

[HyrulianHedgehog]

Before I break out the wity banter and go clever on your ass, I'd just like to point out that this was the funniest line anyone has ever said at any point it time, ever...
Sorry if I'm too "old school" for those boob / explosion games...

You make an excellent point. Most games are just building off of newer ones, and I can understand wanting to go back to your roots, but I can't understand buying a crap game because it has the word 'Frogger' in it! These poorly put together sequels and compilations that otherwise capable companies release exist only because they know that so long as they can appeal to the self-righteous 'retro' game crowd people will buy it.

You see the same thing in music. So long as a band calls themselves 'indi', they can suck as much as they want, and if you happen to point out the fact they suck, all the brain-dead indi fans will scream between their sobs of anguish, "you just don't get it."

Not that I'm saying you're brain-dead. You've shown me a level of comprehension and ability far beyond your average Radiohead fan. Thusly, as your reward you’re going on my “do not use catatonic body as source of energy to power my colossal war machines” list.

[goatdan]

Before I break out the wity banter and go clever on your ass, I'd just like to point out that this was the funniest line anyone has ever said at any point it time, ever...
Sorry if I'm too "old school" for those boob / explosion games...

Actually, I like certain boob / explosion games too, but I have slowly gotten to be less and less a fan of the modern FPS because I feel that it hasn't changed enough. As I outlined, they changed Frogger's gameplay, just a little too much for my tastes. And I don't want it to be the same, but that avoidance could be really cool if done right. It's not.

The rest of the game isn't bad, it just isn't Frogger really.


You make an excellent point. Most games are just building off of newer ones, and I can understand wanting to go back to your roots, but I can't understand buying a crap game because it has the word 'Frogger' in it! These poorly put together sequels and compilations that otherwise capable companies release exist only because they know that so long as they can appeal to the self-righteous 'retro' game crowd people will buy it.

I bought it because I had been wanting to purchase a Frogger game because I had enjoyed the original and was hoping for a game building on it. And since by purchasing Tony Hawk at Kay*Bee, I had my choice between it and Harry Potter as a second free game.

I think that the developers really were trying to make this into more than just a poorly put together Frogger rip off to make money. But, at the same time it isn't great.

[HyrulianHedgehog]

I agree with you about FPS games being stale recently. When I said boob and explosions I was actually thinking of Dead or Alive Ultimate and KOTOR, respectively. Also, so long as you didn’t buy the game, I can understand your owning it, and as such, you are relieved of your dumbassitude.

So, in the future, when I see the name of goatdan, I will think to myself, “I know him, he doesn’t suck.” Congratulations, you’ve obtained the coveted medal of Not-Sucking, the highest honor I’m legally entitled to bestow on a complete stranger I met in an internet web-forum.

[Daniel Thomas]

Ahem. Okay, children. Don't make me take away your games and listen to me lecture about the Good Ol' Days. Back then, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them! We'd say, "gimmie five bees for a quarter!"

Anyway, I've seen this game in stores, and the video clips at IGN look really promising. Unfortunately, it's almost completely forgotten right now, so there's no place to turn to for reviews or insights.

I wouldn't expect this new Frogger to be exceptional or groundbreaking, just a fun way to pass the time now and then. Kinda like DS Dig-Dug, which has been completely overlooked.

[squidblatt]

I own a copy of Frogger: Beyond for Xbox, and it sounds like pretty much the same thing. It's not a game to rush out and buy, but it's also not the worst thing in the world. I think Konami is still trying to figure out Frogger. They've decided he's a kiddie character, but they don't seem to want to make it a kiddie game. On the other hand, it's not a full-blown grown-up game either. It's kind of an identity crisis: a kid license that only adults recognize.

[philosophyst]

So you're saying you want to spend $50 for a game that the world has been playing for 25 years at 50 cents a pop? Lunacy!

Actually, Lunacy would be a DS game for $50. Where are you shopping?

[Cryomancer]

The problem with boob and explosion games is that they only skirt the possibilities boobs and explosions offer to gameplay. All the more modern games ever do with boobs is let you look at them, covered, usually from afar. Occasionally jiggling. That's like if in a game of war they game had indestructable glass walls with racks of guns and tanks behind them, and then a table with a knife on it. Or maybe Q*bert in a wheelchair. Why HAVE the boobs there if you're not going to DO anything with them?

Explosions are pretty weak too since only a few games offer anything truly destructable. If you want to actually blow shit up proper, your choices are blast corps, red faction, and to a lesser extent state of emergency. I've been playing GTA lately and I'm getting highly tired of invincible telephone poles. What that game needs is a new level of destructability with varying levels of permancy. If i take down a fence, it should stay down, until the owner replaces it. And then I could take him out and his new fence and never see that fence again. Had I my way san andreas would be without streetlamps and telephone poles let me tell you.

[goatdan]

I own a copy of Frogger: Beyond for Xbox, and it sounds like pretty much the same thing. It's not a game to rush out and buy, but it's also not the worst thing in the world. I think Konami is still trying to figure out Frogger. They've decided he's a kiddie character, but they don't seem to want to make it a kiddie game. On the other hand, it's not a full-blown grown-up game either. It's kind of an identity crisis: a kid license that only adults recognize.

I agree with that. And a kid license with a game that is too frustrating for most kids to play.

I actually busted out Frogger 2 for the Dreamcast today, and while it also isn't a great game, it fills my want for an updated Frogger-style game.