Frog in a physics sandbox...not that amazing

Physics sandboxes were all the rage for a few months, giving players a chance to mess around with various effects without having to worry about things like plot or story. While some of these games have gone on to get a cult following, there are others that make you wonder what the developers were thinking. Amazing Frog? (question mark intentional) is definitely in the latter category, hoping that players will find the animations sufficiently entertaining enough to help them ignore the paper-thin game itself.

Concept

Amazing Frog? puts players in the webbed feet of Amazing Frog, the supposed Superhero of Swindon. That's about all there is to the story, by the way - this is a sandbox, pure and simple. Someone thought that having a farting frog would be funny, so they made a physical simulator around the concept. You'll get to drive around in vehicles and do a bit of parkour along the way, but the entire premise is built upon a single joke. If you find the wacky physics funny, the concept works. If you don't, you're not going to find much to love here.

Graphics & Audio

Simply put, this game does not look good. Generously, the game might have looked good five or six years ago, but today it's just awful. From the backgrounds to the character models, you're getting something that falls between an early 00s Half-Life mod and a free-to-play phone game. The game's presentation isn't great, but it's also not entirely painful. These are the kind of bad graphics that you would probably expect from a game of this sort, so there's no real failure. The same holds true for the sound design, which can best be described as serviceable and at worst seems lazy.

Gameplay

There's not a lot to love or hate when it comes to the gameplay for this game. If you like wonky physics or parkour puzzles, you'll find enough to keep yourself happy here. If you're expecting anything as deep as a story or real enemies, you're not going to be very happy. The game is really built around movement, so it'd be nice if the controls were at least a little bit better. As it stands, the game manages to err on just this side of playability, which means that you'll be able to play the game well but you'll never feel like it works correctly.

Conclusion

Simply put, Amazing Frog? is a throwback to an older style of game that was really only popular for a few months. It's not a great game, but it will allow players of a certain type to have fun for a few hours. It's not disastrously bad, nor is it really good enough to justify the purchase price. It's just one of many games that will probably get lost in the greater shuffle of seasonal Steam sales.

Summary

Amazing Frog? is a throwback game that probably doesn't deserve your time and that definitely doesn't deserve your money.