| Them's Fightin'
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Fat Frog RPG. I guess you could call it my "bridge" to the OHR community. I found it on AOL downloads way back in '99 or '00. It was the first OHRRPGCE game I ever played, and I even paid $8 for the full version eventually.
Looking back now, was it really worth the measly eight bucks?
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| Graphics |
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The graphics are...strange. The maps are a mixture of top-down, isometric, and two dimensional perspectives. There isn't any sort of pattern, so it often looks weird when you enter an isometric building and it has a bird's eye interior view. The grid is visible in most places, and besides the same two tables in each house there really isn't much of a variety in props.
Battle graphics are not so great, but have potential. Several of the enemy sprites have a good foundation, but are just not fleshed out enough. If Kumkwat Software would have focused a little more time on shading the sprites rather than using one color, they would have been much better.
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| Storyline |
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The frogs and toads have been arguing over the control of their island for 30 years. Recently, it has broke out into an all-out war. You play as Herman, who is an unlikely hero for the frogs that must deliver a mysterious coin to a town far away.
That is pretty much all that is revealed. I like the fact that it is a somewhat cliche story given from an amphibian's perspective, but there just not enough "meat" to it. At least, there isn't enough to get a good taste of it from the demo.
There is basically no character development. You find that Herman is off work today. You meet a really fat frog named Virhilio and save him from toads, which in turn makes him join your quest. You meet two other heros shortly after that for no great purpose. Blah.
I thought it was funny how they sometimes left whole words out of text boxes, leaving you to wonder what they really wanted to say.
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| Gameplay |
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In the demo, there is not much you can do besides kill stuff, buy stuff, and progress to the next area.
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Battle |
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Battles can be a bit difficult, especially boss battles. Regardless, it requires you to do some grinding, but it never gets to the point that it is really bad.
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Map Design |
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Maps are somewhat short and to the point. There's typically only one direction you can go, and it often is clear where what direction that is.
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Balance |
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Money is scarce, and there is only a limited supply of restorative items. Again, battles are challenging, but not impossible.
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| Music |
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The music, especially the original pieces, were good and placed well. I really liked the overworld theme.
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| Enjoyment |
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Fight, progress, fight, progress. End of demo.
I paid $8 to get the full version. Why?
I...I really don't know...
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| Final Blows |
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There really isn't much to say about this game. It isn't that bad, but it's not that great either. Especially for the amount of downloads the game received (according the Kumkwat, 100,000 on download.com alone), I hoped it would be a little better.
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I love when author's leave you guessing. This time, they left out an entire word! |
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Final Scores
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Graphics: 5/10.0 |
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Not the worst I have ever seen, and definitely not the best. Again, the perspective mix on maps combined with the confusing walkabouts kind of made me sick.
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Storyline: 3.5/10.0
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Blah. It really isn't fleshed out enough, especially in the demo. |
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Gameplay: 5/10.0 |
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The battles do offer some challenge, but that is about it.
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Music: 7/10.0
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Fitting, and some nice original compositions. |
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Enjoyment: 5/10.0
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Again, some challenging fights and some decent music make for a halfway enjoyable experience. |
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Overall Grade:
D- |
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| Final Thoughts |
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Regardless of how I look back on this, I will always respect Fat Frog RPG. In the end, if it wasn't for Kumkwat Software, I may have never stumbled upon the OHRRPGCE. |
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