• HOME
  • NEWS
  • GAMES
  • REVIEWS
  • INTERVIEWS
  • ARTICLES
  • LINKS
  • CPANEL
  • FORUM
  • ABOUT
  • HOME
    • LEGACY
logo logo_480
bee
  •   Guest▼
     Remember me



     Forgot password?
     No account? Sign up now
animation
  • NEWS
  • GAMES
  • REVIEWS
  • INTERVIEWS
  • ARTICLES
  • LINKS
  • CPANEL
  • FORUM
  • ABOUT

AUTHOR

ST Graveyard has written 61 additional reviews :
Addams Family, The
read more
Anarcho Ride
read more
Arachnophobia
read more
Arkanoid
read more
Arkanoid 2 - Revenge of Doh
read more
Barbarian - The Ultimate Warrior
read more
Battle Zone
read more
Battlehawks 1942
read more
Beyond the Ice Palace
read more
Blues Brothers, The
read more
Bold
read more
Bomb Jack
read more
Buggy Boy
read more
Crapman
read more
Crash Time Plumber
read more
Crazy Cars 3
read more
Crystal Castles
read more
Disc
read more
Driventure
read more
Epic
read more
Escape 2042 - The Truth Defender
read more
Fascination
read more
Fire and Ice
read more
GodPey
read more
Goldrunner
read more
Great Giana Sisters, The
read more
Ikari Warriors
read more
International Karate Plus
read more
Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker
read more
Joust
read more
Karate Kid Part 2
read more
Leisure Suit Larry 1 - In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
read more
Lethal Weapon
read more
Licence to Kill
read more
Live And Let Die
read more
Manic Miner
read more
Ork
read more
Ozone
read more
Pang
read more
Parasol Stars
read more
Return to Genesis
read more
Robocop
read more
Spindizzy Worlds
read more
Spy Who Loved Me, The
read more
Star Wars
read more
Supa Zazai Da
read more
Super Cars II
read more
Super Cycle
read more
Super Stario Land
read more
Superfly
read more
Team Yankee
read more
Terminator 2 - Judgment Day
read more
Titus The Fox - To Marrakech and Back
read more
Turrican II - The Final Fight
read more
Voyageurs Du Temps, Les - La Menace
read more
Vroom
read more
Weird Dreams
read more
Wings of Death
read more
Xenon
read more
Xenon 2 - Megablast
read more
Zool
read more

SUBMIT BUG

Did you stumble upon a bug? Are there any issues with the layout? Or do you have a general remark to help us make this site better? Please let us know.

Please log in to submit a bug report.

FROGS

Written by ST Graveyard

Back

December 4, 2018


Comments

With the release of the WII, Nintendo pushed the company in another direction. A smart move, as they needed to distinguish themselves further from the competition by Microsoft and Sony. They focused more on the social aspect of gaming and introduced the term 'party game'. You invite friends over, everybody gathers around the TV, grabs a controller and start enjoying one of the many easy-playing mini-games available on the system. They completely lost me, I couldn't care less. As always, it was me, as the system turned out to be a major success.

On the ST, it is a whole different story. When I grew up, multi-player games contained two players sitting around the screen. That was what the Atari ST was made for, and we enjoyed the crap out of it. But what about 4-player games, is that even possible? No problem according to Thomas Ilg, and he proves this with his brand new release of Frogs.

When asking him why he wanted to do a conversion of this C64 game, this is what he had to say:

"I know „Dr. Wuro“ Christian Gleinser – the creator of the original C64 Version. I live in Austria, he lives just across the border in Germany. When I first saw the original, I loved its simplicity and its great party value. But that wasn't enough to get me coding. I needed a challenge. In this case two elements got my creative mind going: first, the C64 version was lacking computer controlled frogs. And I had never coded an AI. And second: How would you create a 4 player game on the ST with only two joystick ports. NOT being a gamer, I had no idea that there was a 4 Joystick Adapter via the parallel port. My solution: connecting two STs by abusing the MIDI ports for data transmission. So I asked Christian if he would be OK with me doing an ST version. He gave me the green light and I started coding in GFA Basic – the only computer language I ever mastered.

This was at the beginning of September 2018. By October I proudly presented a first version with the MIDI connection at the OFAM Atari Party. It was there that Daniel 'Insane' Illgen asked me: 'Do you support the 4 Player Adapter?' 'What adapter???' I asked him. Daniel is a technical genius. He is the creator of the 4-player game Zatacka on many platforms. In a matter of hours he created an assembler routine for me, to read the 4-player adapter, and I coded the FROGS GFA side. And it also was at the OFAM that Jan Krupka from the Czeck Republic said 'I can create new adapters!'. So FROGS left the OFAM being compatible with 4 Joysticks and a new release plan: FROGS + Zatacka + ST 4-PLAYER Adapter in a boxed 'ATARI ST Multi-player Power Pack'.

Needless to say that I also got the AI going. And the computer FROGS give you a good fight! This got Christian Gleinser curious in what makes the AI Frogs tick. Christian has a unique way of working: for his retro games he first codes a working model in Python on a modern platform. He finetunes all the game mechanics there, until he is satisfied. And then he basically creates a port of his own game on the C64 – knowing exactly what he wants.
Back to the AI: when we met again, I explained the 'thought process' of my AI for Frogs. Christian took out his laptop, and in some 30 minutes he had coded a version of my AI in his Python model of FROGS. Apart from all that, he is a great musician, creating all his game music himself. And for FROGS he set aside the C64 SID chip for a moment, and for the first time created a version of his own music for the ST's YM chip."


You heard this right people, a beautiful boxed version is coming our way as a double feature, containing Zatacka and an optional 4-player adapter. But back to the review now.

After playing Anarcho Ride, I immediately got excited to check out Frogs. Would this game contain the same amount of detail we have grown accustomed to? Is it as feature rich? Or even more important, does it contain that trademark 'Ilg' humor that always cracks me up so much?

Graphics

Right from the get go, it is apparant that Frogs, as a complete package, just oozes quality. Before the game was released, Thomas had created a very funny 'coming soon' trailer. The product has its own website with lots of goodies for you to discover, and there is much more. And we aren't even talking about the actual game yet. When you load it up, you are presented with nicely detailed menu screens. The stuff we are used to by now, but it's still impressive. The graphics in this game are simple, yet very colourful. The blitter hardware is used to make everything run much smoother. But the icing on the cake for me is the fact that we get the option to play Frogs using the original C64 graphics. While most developers would have thrown this option overboard, Thomas went all the way, and I just love him for that.

Sound

Newly created YM chiptunes are always a winner. This is no exception. Combined with some cool digital sound effects like the buzzing of a fly, the squashing of the Froggy tongue when it gets hold of an insect, it all sounds crystal clear. And of course, we have the option to play music, effects or both together. What else did you expect? ;-)

Gameplay

Let me start by saying I haven't done any multiplaying for this review, and I'm sure this is where the game is really gonna shine. Still, as Thomas already said, the AI of the enemy Froggies will give you a good run for your money. And he was right.

So how does the game work?

First you select the number of players. You can either play alone with 1 (or more) AI frogs, or other human players can join the frantic fun. You have the possibility to choose 3 game modes. In 'Bug Hunt' a fly buzzes over the pond, the one who munches the bugger first using his sticky tongue gets the point. He or she who reaches the score limit first, wins the game. 'Battle' has you up against the other frogs and it is up to you to push them into the water. Each time you manage to do this, you score. Finally we have 'Countdown'. You start with the maximum amount of points and lose one each time you are pushed in the pond. Last froggy standing wins the match.

Frogs contains a bucket-load of different screens to choose from. Each screen has rocks which you can jump on, there are also lilypads you may use to cross to other parts of the pond, but beware as these sink, so don't stay on them too long or you will lose a point. You use the stick to make your frog jump from rock to lily, and with the fire button you shoot out your tongue. Controls are accurate and responsive. That is about all there is to it.

Conclusion

You may have already guessed it by reading this review. Frogs is made for multi-player madness. There is no real level system in the game, you may select whatever option or screen you like from the start. And while the game is nice as a 1 player game, it gets a bit boring rather quickly. The AI is splendid, a great accomplishment for Thomas, I'm sure. Still, maybe some kind of mission system or goal could have solved this. But in the end, that is NOT the point AT ALL. I can not wait to get hold of that 4-player adapter package and try this game with my 2 kids. There is no doubt in my mind we will be dealing with one of the best multi-player experiences on the ST. Bye bye Dynablaster! And remember, there are other games out there that can be used with this adapter. (Leatherneck ... anyone?)

In the end, Frogs is a beautiful package, and as far as I'm concerned, Thomas has done it again and has given the scene a fantastic free product for us all to enjoy. This is gonna be one for the retro meetings!

Score

Graphics : 7
Sound : 8
Gameplay : 9
Overall : 8




Click to enlarge!
Anarcho Ride Laboratories ... It has a cool ring to it


Click to enlarge!
The main menu with its impressive list of features ...


Click to enlarge!
According to the website, on this shot we see Steve and Fred. This stuff makes me smile :)


Click to enlarge!
Coolio wins!


Click to enlarge!
The Commodore 64 graphics mode is just cool to behold


Click to enlarge!
One of the many screens you can pick to start a brawling Frog fest!




Only available with your own comments:
- Edit comment
- Save changes to comment
- Delete comment (if )

General options:
- Email author of comment
- Go to Facebook profile of author
- Go to Twitter profile of author
- Go to Atari-Forum profle
- Visit user's website

REVIEW COMMENTS

Please log in to add your own comment to this review .

INDEPTH REVIEWS

Live And Let Die

January 13, 2019 by ST Graveyard
Now all of this might sound a bit much, but that really is not the biggest problem with Live and Let Die. In Buggy Boy you had checkpoints to reach in time. In this game, they have taken it all a step further...or maybe better, a whole leap further. You see, you run out of fuel when moving forward. And you run out of it fast, way fast. To solve this problem, fuel pods are scattered all over the waterway. Grab them, and you win yourself some time. Miss them and run out of fuel and guess what ... YOU EXPLODE!

Lethal Weapon

December 28, 2018 by ST Graveyard
I don't know what it is exactly, but for a lot of us 80' kids, the Christmas holidays are in some strange way connected with Hollywood action films. During the 'most wonderful time of the year', I never watch any Santa Claus movies, no, I'm looking for stuff like Die Hard, or Gremlins. It is becoming a strange cliché, but I love it. And I'm not the only one. Kim Justice just did a great youtube video on the subject and he inspired me to do this review.

Frogs

December 4, 2018 by ST Graveyard
Frogs is made for multi-player madness. There is no real level system in the game, you may select whatever option or screen you like from the start. And while the game is nice as a 1 player game, it gets a bit boring rather quickly. The AI is splendid, a great accomplishment for Thomas, I'm sure. Still, maybe some kind of mission system or goal could have solved this. But in the end, that is NOT the point AT ALL.
In total there are 0 registered users online
In the past 24h there were 5 registered users online :
 ST Graveyard    Brume    Marcer    Stefan Lindberg    Niki  



© copyright 2004 - 2019 Creative Commons License