I enjoy stupid games. Not every game has to be high art, or emotionally ruin me. Sometimes you want schlock and that’s ok. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. I’d be lying if I said the reason why we’re doing a video about Frog Legs is for any other reason than getting a press release that yelled the words RIBBIT AND TEAR at me. Marketing is knowing your audience and trends. When you’re wrapping up your review of DOOM: The Dark Ages, getting something drop in your inbox that looks stupid, and is riffing on the latest popular game. No notes.
Frog Legs is short. It’s about 30 minutes long. It’s stupid, it has fart jokes in it, and you know what. That’s fine. Because it’s 30 minutes long. You want a dumb short game involving 3 frog friends having a short moment of terror in their lives, and seeing what the effects of peer pressure looks like. BAM, Frog Legs has you. Don’t overthink it.
I want to pull apart Frog Legs and talk about stuff going on in the game to help sell you on it, but honestly, there is not much here. It’s a handful of levels, each fairly short, the story doesn’t take itself seriously and you shouldn’t either, it’s crass at times, dumb at others, and not exactly trying anything new. None of that are insults though. Because Frog Legs isn’t trying to do any of those things. It’s trying to be a silly little game filled with jokes. It’s trying to make little references here and there. If you take it seriously, and you get upset at the game having a farting frog in it. That’s on you.
Frog Legs sees you start the game with a group of friends playing Frogger, because, you’re Frogs. Before tragedy strikes and after a quick moment of reflection you flee the 2D realm to look for greener pastures in the 3D Realm. So begins your 3d adventure, walking around a house that from the outside has a squint and you’ll see MyHouse.WAD style aesthetic. At this point you go through some small horror puzzle sections and some DOOM inspired frog themed shooting sections. There’s even a neat little DOOM style song that kicks in.
You can see the DOOM influences running through Frog Legs. From the monster design, the levels, even the silly gun name. It’s nice to see games being made be developers, as little fun projects that allow someone to say, hey I liked this thing and I wanted to make something silly about it. We’re a sum of our parts, and taking a moment to just pay tribute to the things that make us or that we think are cool, is a great way to spend time. There’s a couple of quick boss fights here as well, and some self reflection because why not, and then… You’re done, lunch break over. The game keeps itself fresh with its mix of ideas. The 2d Frogger level, puzzles and shooter, combined with the fact that it’s literally impossible for a game that’s 30 minutes long to overstay its welcome.
I’m just holding out hope that we get a follow up adventure that shows us Granny’s margarita business mayhem. If you have a few coins laying around, and you want to just play a silly little game that involves Frogs, Farts, and figuring out how to count pots correctly. Frog Legs is out now on Steam, it’s a single session game, that doesn’t take itself seriously, and neither should you.
