REVIEW | Froggie – A Retro Platformer

“Hop your way to victory in minimalistic pixel art style!”

Froggie – A Retro Platformer is a budget-priced game that instantly transported me back to a time when video games were much simpler. The objective of the game is straightforward: reach the end of each level, reminiscent of classics like Super Mario on the NES. Froggie features a minimalist black-and-white 1-bit art style, side-scrolling gameplay, and runs smoothly at 60FPS in glorious 4K ULTRA HD.

Things I liked!

• Gameplay | Froggie – A Retro Platformer offers really easy pick-up-and-play controls: simply move left and right, and jump. As you progress through 100 levels, you’ll encounter plenty of wall jumping and wall sliding. The game features a variety of enemies that you’ll need to overcome to finish each level. These foes include mushrooms, snakes, spiders, bats, and robots that will shoot at you. Additionally, there are other hazards like lasers, conveyor belts, and lots of spikes. You can dispatch enemies by simply jumping on them, but mistiming your jump might lead to your own demise. When that happens, you’ll either return to the last checkpoint or the start of that level. Most levels can be completed within 45 seconds. Overall, Froggie – A Retro Platformer is a straightforward yet enjoyable game. The levels gradually became more challenging, but I managed to complete all 100 levels in 90 minutes.

Neither good nor bad

• Sound | The in-game music consists of a single looped track, but it never reaches the point of annoyance. The sound effects have a retro quality, which aligns well with the game’s style in Froggie – A Retro Platformer. As you perform actions like jumping or landing on an unfortunate enemy’s head, you’ll hear beeps and bops. The thudding beep sound upon killing each enemy adds to the nostalgic experience. Some of these beeping sound effects evoke memories of classic side-scrolling shoot ’em up games like Gradius and R-Type, which I used to play when I was younger.

Things I disliked!

• Replayability | Once you have completed the 100 levels on offer, there is very little reason to continue playing. I was quite disappointed when I reached level 51 and discovered that it was simply level 1 again, but this time you need to complete it backwards from finish to start. This does make it a little more challenging, especially on some levels, but it’s still not too difficult.

• Screen transitions | Throughout the 100 levels, there are some non-scrolling screens. Transitioning between these proves to be quite challenging due to a slight pause as Froggie jumps out of one screen into the next. Unfortunately, this pause can lead to untimely deaths, which can be quite frustrating. Most of the screen transitions occur when you are wall jumping from side to side, with various hazards around you.
  
  
• Lack of story | Unfortunately, there is no story here whatsoever. You simply guide Froggie from start to finish on each of the levels, and that’s it.

How long did I play the review before publishing? 3 Hours
How long to beat the story? 90 Minutes
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 17/17
How long to achieve 2000G | 1 Hour
You’ll love this game if you like these | Dead Dungeon and Dungeon Escape