E3 2011: Frogger 3DS preview – strange but true, this looks awesome

When we found out about Frogger%26rsquo;s 30th anniversary release on the Nintendo 3DS this September, we weren%26rsquo;t sure it would do anything but make us feel old. Turns out we were wrong. In fact, the newest iteration, in its full 3D glory looks to make Frogger a game, once again, worth having. Crazy, but true.

Frogger on the 3DS features 60 levels with themes ranging from the classic street to a sushi bar. The levels are also fully interactive and in one instance, our frog was snapped by a still-alive lobster rolling down the sushi line. On another level, we had to jump from one fighter jet, complete with missiles flying overhead, to another jet that, with the 3D, looked entirely too far away.

But by and large the best level we played was a downward funnel set up to look like classic Frogger. The twist was that the level spins constantly, reversing both the x-and y-axis and making navigation a serious mind bender. This was just a taste of what devious levels Konami has in store, and as the game%26rsquo;s producer, Tak Fujii emphasized, gameplay is overwhelmingly %26ldquo;crazy.%26rdquo;

To add even more content, Konami has included the original 30-year-old dinosaur of a game with a fun spin: it almost never ends. The original game plays as normal, but continues on for thousands upon thousands of steps, providing a serious challenge for high score chasing gamers. The rub is that once you die, you start over at the very beginning; step one. You can also view friends%26rsquo; progress as their frogs will show up as translucent ghosts showing you their moves and where they were squished.

Frogger for the 3DS functions perfectly as a game for the train, bus or grocery line, because most of the levels are relatively short. But this doesn%26rsquo;t mean that gamers won%26rsquo;t get hours of fun out of it. We%26rsquo;re surprisingly eager for this one.

Jun 15, 2011