Frogun is a unique game to write a review of for me because it quickly went from very cute and enjoyable throwback platformer, to frustrating trial-and-error broken mechanics low budget mess. Thankfully I emerged on the other end of my Platinum trophy journey enjoying the game overall, but I won't lie that I was tempted to uninstall the game on several occasions.
The first few worlds/bosses are easy to finish, yet challenging to complete 100%, which is absolutely what one should expect from a nostalgia 90's-inspired platformer. Crash Bandicoot (the first one) and Chameleon Twist are 2 big ones to reference as the titular Frogun is used like the tongue in Chameleon Twist to attack enemies and latch onto items and surfaces. The jumping and platforming is grid based, easy-to-fall-and-die platforming like the original Crash, and the whole game is colorful, whimsically scored and feels exactly like a hidden N64/PS1 gem. There's tons of coins and hidden items to collect in each level, time trials, and an even more challenging no-death challenge for each stage. The bosses all have their own unique attacks and move sets too, so thankfully you won't be seeing any copy and paste.
The difficulty ramped up exceptionally when getting past the 3rd boss, and from this point there is a huge emphasis on perfect platforming, and perfect aiming for your Frogun, as there are countless gaps to cross that require you to chain your Frogun shots together onto several bouncy platforms or to shift your aim in mid-air to make a complex turn and shoot. This is where the game shows its cracks, and while I completely applaud the small indie developers that made this game for making very faithful package for what they were aiming for... it feels a little broken and janky here. The aiming kind of just works when it wants to, and sometimes your character is looking right at the item or surface it needs to shoot at to survive a gap, but just doesn't. There's an aiming mechanic that allows you to pinpoint your reticle more accurately, but it only sometimes helps.
Needless to say, I got through this one, and finished all levels and bosses. I was almost satisfied and ready to call it quits, when I noticed I was a few trophies away from the Platinum. That required me to complete the boss rushes, including the "brutal" boss rush, and to collect all hats and artwork. I'll divide this section into 3 parts:
1. Where Frogun lost me
2. Where Frogun completely lost me
3. Where Frogun won me back
1. Where Frogun lost me
I went into the boss rush levels and easily got my way through the first few bosses. These levels are generously sprinkled with checkpoints so dying never feels like a total punishment. However, in the "brutal" boss rush level, there is a garbage checkpoint right before a segment that requires you to use spiked bouncing platforms to get to the last 2 bosses. This is the last checkpoint in the level, and dying during either of the 2 bosses sends you back here, BEFORE the spiky bouncing platforms. The chances of getting damage from these spiky platforms before the bosses is very high due to the perfect jumping and aiming that is required to pass this section, so the chances of you entering the final 2 back-to-back bosses with less health is pretty high. An added challenge, or a "fuck you" from the devs, I can't tell. And the final boss has a phase so bullshit, that you more or less absolutely require at least 3 to 4 HP left to survive it, or expect to fumble and die during (also don't even try the brutal boss rush without upgrading your health to full). I'm talking about the electric floor phase, if anyone's curious. Fuck that phase so hard. After finally beating the boss rush, I was feeling pretty done with Frogun.
2. Where Frogun completely lost me
Where do I start with the grind needed to unlock all of the hats and artwork. Yikes! Repetitive grinding in games for trophies is not something I do often, or really ever, so don't ask me why I did it for this. I knew it was obtainable, and I found a level in the last bonus world with the boss rushes where you play as the dude you race throughout the game, that allows for around 370 coins per run, and the level is easily beaten in a minute and a half or less if fast. There is however 1 little gap in this level that requires perfect aim, and a few water/enemy obstacles that can also get you if you're not focused. But I grinded that level for a few hours, and started to feel the typical "I'm wasting my life" feeling that some games give you. Devs, if you're going to charge thousands and thousands of coins for your silly unlockables, please make getting them natural when beating the game, maybe require a few extra replays of the some levels, but nothing this extreme. You could get every coin in every level 100% and still be way off, so this is absolutely a grind. I ended up putting on Youtube and listening to a podcast to have a distraction during this. This is where Frogun felt like a chore and the Platinum trophy quest felt stupid and not worth it.
3. Where Frogun won me back
Finally, I had unlocked all artwork, and all that remained was 2 hats. The last hat would unlock when I had all other hats, so the second last one needed was to get 30 complete emblems. This meant 30 levels beaten, 30 all coins collected, 30 time trials beaten, 30 no-death runs, 30 all green gems collected and 30 secret purple gems collected. This was easily obtainable in the first few worlds, but as the game goes on and the levels get harder, much more of a challenge, especially no death runs and the time trials, as some levels are a bit of a maze and have branching paths you need to memorize to maximize your time taken. I was dreading this, as so much of the last chunk of the game as I mentioned before is full of bullshit gaps and perfect Frogun aiming. But to be perfectly honest, this is where unlocking the last hat and earning the Platinum felt like a true accomplishment. Levels suddenly felt well designed and laid out. Gaps I was missing, or failing at before, I was clearing with ease. I was beating time trials first go and rushing past enemies, and somehow clearing areas that killed me several times before to get the no death runs. All of the boring-ass grinding and replaying of the level previously had given me more experience and practice to do this, and I started to really enjoy Frogun again. To be honest, when I got the last hat and the Platinum trophy, I was actually ready for a whole other world to unlock and to keep going, for a whole new challenge. This is where I realized how fun and rewarding Frogun is once you get to the end and suffer through the punishing challenges. This is exactly what we remember video games of the 90s being like.
Frogun is a sometimes 2.5 out of 5 but mostly solid 3 star experience for all that it offers, but I ended up bumping it to a 3.5/5 for the challenging but rewarding journey it asks of you for the Platinum. Expect annoyance, rage and tedium, but try to remember it's a small team of devs trying hard to give you a tailored, nostalgic experience, warts and all. Yes, it has some balance issues and jank, but I think that's what ultimately makes it the unique little package that it is.
The first few worlds/bosses are easy to finish, yet challenging to complete 100%, which is absolutely what one should expect from a nostalgia 90's-inspired platformer. Crash Bandicoot (the first one) and Chameleon Twist are 2 big ones to reference as the titular Frogun is used like the tongue in Chameleon Twist to attack enemies and latch onto items and surfaces. The jumping and platforming is grid based, easy-to-fall-and-die platforming like the original Crash, and the whole game is colorful, whimsically scored and feels exactly like a hidden N64/PS1 gem. There's tons of coins and hidden items to collect in each level, time trials, and an even more challenging no-death challenge for each stage. The bosses all have their own unique attacks and move sets too, so thankfully you won't be seeing any copy and paste.
The difficulty ramped up exceptionally when getting past the 3rd boss, and from this point there is a huge emphasis on perfect platforming, and perfect aiming for your Frogun, as there are countless gaps to cross that require you to chain your Frogun shots together onto several bouncy platforms or to shift your aim in mid-air to make a complex turn and shoot. This is where the game shows its cracks, and while I completely applaud the small indie developers that made this game for making very faithful package for what they were aiming for... it feels a little broken and janky here. The aiming kind of just works when it wants to, and sometimes your character is looking right at the item or surface it needs to shoot at to survive a gap, but just doesn't. There's an aiming mechanic that allows you to pinpoint your reticle more accurately, but it only sometimes helps.
Needless to say, I got through this one, and finished all levels and bosses. I was almost satisfied and ready to call it quits, when I noticed I was a few trophies away from the Platinum. That required me to complete the boss rushes, including the "brutal" boss rush, and to collect all hats and artwork. I'll divide this section into 3 parts:
1. Where Frogun lost me
2. Where Frogun completely lost me
3. Where Frogun won me back
1. Where Frogun lost me
I went into the boss rush levels and easily got my way through the first few bosses. These levels are generously sprinkled with checkpoints so dying never feels like a total punishment. However, in the "brutal" boss rush level, there is a garbage checkpoint right before a segment that requires you to use spiked bouncing platforms to get to the last 2 bosses. This is the last checkpoint in the level, and dying during either of the 2 bosses sends you back here, BEFORE the spiky bouncing platforms. The chances of getting damage from these spiky platforms before the bosses is very high due to the perfect jumping and aiming that is required to pass this section, so the chances of you entering the final 2 back-to-back bosses with less health is pretty high. An added challenge, or a "fuck you" from the devs, I can't tell. And the final boss has a phase so bullshit, that you more or less absolutely require at least 3 to 4 HP left to survive it, or expect to fumble and die during (also don't even try the brutal boss rush without upgrading your health to full). I'm talking about the electric floor phase, if anyone's curious. Fuck that phase so hard. After finally beating the boss rush, I was feeling pretty done with Frogun.
2. Where Frogun completely lost me
Where do I start with the grind needed to unlock all of the hats and artwork. Yikes! Repetitive grinding in games for trophies is not something I do often, or really ever, so don't ask me why I did it for this. I knew it was obtainable, and I found a level in the last bonus world with the boss rushes where you play as the dude you race throughout the game, that allows for around 370 coins per run, and the level is easily beaten in a minute and a half or less if fast. There is however 1 little gap in this level that requires perfect aim, and a few water/enemy obstacles that can also get you if you're not focused. But I grinded that level for a few hours, and started to feel the typical "I'm wasting my life" feeling that some games give you. Devs, if you're going to charge thousands and thousands of coins for your silly unlockables, please make getting them natural when beating the game, maybe require a few extra replays of the some levels, but nothing this extreme. You could get every coin in every level 100% and still be way off, so this is absolutely a grind. I ended up putting on Youtube and listening to a podcast to have a distraction during this. This is where Frogun felt like a chore and the Platinum trophy quest felt stupid and not worth it.
3. Where Frogun won me back
Finally, I had unlocked all artwork, and all that remained was 2 hats. The last hat would unlock when I had all other hats, so the second last one needed was to get 30 complete emblems. This meant 30 levels beaten, 30 all coins collected, 30 time trials beaten, 30 no-death runs, 30 all green gems collected and 30 secret purple gems collected. This was easily obtainable in the first few worlds, but as the game goes on and the levels get harder, much more of a challenge, especially no death runs and the time trials, as some levels are a bit of a maze and have branching paths you need to memorize to maximize your time taken. I was dreading this, as so much of the last chunk of the game as I mentioned before is full of bullshit gaps and perfect Frogun aiming. But to be perfectly honest, this is where unlocking the last hat and earning the Platinum felt like a true accomplishment. Levels suddenly felt well designed and laid out. Gaps I was missing, or failing at before, I was clearing with ease. I was beating time trials first go and rushing past enemies, and somehow clearing areas that killed me several times before to get the no death runs. All of the boring-ass grinding and replaying of the level previously had given me more experience and practice to do this, and I started to really enjoy Frogun again. To be honest, when I got the last hat and the Platinum trophy, I was actually ready for a whole other world to unlock and to keep going, for a whole new challenge. This is where I realized how fun and rewarding Frogun is once you get to the end and suffer through the punishing challenges. This is exactly what we remember video games of the 90s being like.
Frogun is a sometimes 2.5 out of 5 but mostly solid 3 star experience for all that it offers, but I ended up bumping it to a 3.5/5 for the challenging but rewarding journey it asks of you for the Platinum. Expect annoyance, rage and tedium, but try to remember it's a small team of devs trying hard to give you a tailored, nostalgic experience, warts and all. Yes, it has some balance issues and jank, but I think that's what ultimately makes it the unique little package that it is.