Apple Arcade: ‘Frogger in Toy Town’ Review – Leap Into it and Have a Hoppy Good Time

Frogger has been around since 1981, nearly 40 years. It was a simple, colorful little game that had you dodging cars and then leaping onto passing logs, turtles, and alligators all in an attempt to get each frog safely to their homes. Frogger in Toy Town really takes the heart and soul of the original games and modernizes it spectacularly. There are still pieces of all the original game, especially toy cars, and a whole lot more. You can dodge everything from exploding pen cups that will rain down on you to spring toys that might just spring onto you. There’s little toy cannonballs to avoid and even bigger objects like huge lawnmowers and vacuum cleaners.

Your goal in this new game is technically nothing more than getting to the end, but there are three challenges in each room (level). There’s always one for saving all the baby frogs on a level. Others tend to include saving 3 frogs and avoiding dying in a specific way (drowning, falling pens, etc.) This is where the modernizations come into place. Stars will earn you frog coins which will automatically award you a variety of different customizations, special levels, or new houses. You can earn new costumes, frogs, or even musical sounds to be used in the collection tab once you’ve unlocked it. Special levels offer challenges that are rather different from the normal game. The first will task you with collecting gems while endless cans roll straight at you. It’s new, it’s fun, and at times, it can be a real challenge.

To help with these challenges and your treks across the many rooms, you’ll find two more new additions that I found myself enjoying a whole lot. There’s the first: Power-ups. These little collectibles can be used with a simple tap and can do things like set a bomb to blow up either enemies or pesky blocks, a jump pad to jump up to high places or over enemies, or throwable objects found around the world to do the same as a bomb just with more range. The last, and most enjoyable, is jellybeans. Collect 100 and turn into a SuperFrog! You’ll become invulnerable for somewhere around 20 seconds. You’ll also become bigger and be able to push around the majority of blocks and outright destroy enemies. These are all fun little additions that sometimes are necessary and other times are just lots of fun.

As the game progresses, you’ll notice the world changing, too. Rooms become harder as some enemies actually track you or have ranged attacks. There’s a whole host of different enemies and hazards to keep you on your little webbed toes. While losing your frogs to these enemies might be a pain, I rarely felt like it was impossible. There’s just one hitch — you should probably switch your controls to something easier. Tapping to move your frog forward is fine and fluid but swiping left or right will slow you down considerably and sometimes not work entirely. This can lead to a few costly mistakes that might leave you more than a little bothered.

The graphics and music of Frogger in Toy Town is nothing to sneeze at, either. The frog you control is 3D, cute, and actually looks a little like a toy itself. The world around you looks much the same and has a feel very reminiscent of the ever-loved Toy Story, while the music is pretty simplistic at points and groovy at others.

So, is this game worth it? If you enjoy platformers, frogs, or reflex-based games, I think so! The controls can be a little iffy on the phone sometimes but everything about this really feels like a great job at taking an old, loved title and bringing it to 2019.

 

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NOTE: Frogger in Toy Town is available exclusively as part of Apple Arcade, a premium gaming subscription service from Apple. Without being a subscriber to Apple Arcade you cannot download and play this game. Apple Arcade is $4.99 per month and does come with a free one month trial, you can learn more about it on Apple’s official website or by visiting our dedicated Apple Arcade forum.