A Character-Switching Platformer That Never Sits Still
At the end of The Cursed Frog, I did what I normally do and checked the achievements. I like to scan the achievements I haven’t unlocked and see if the remainder are worth chasing. We had four left, including a couple that were related to being killed frequently (go us! Those are the achievements you want to miss). But the other two were ‘Use dash 5 times’ and ‘Use dash 10 times’. Wait – there was a dash button?
This moment, in its own way, is an encapsulation of The Cursed Frog. It’s what I would call a ‘kitchen sink platformer’. It has a short play-time – no more than thirty minutes to an hour – but it stuffs that time with every idea that it can think of. It’s so stuffed, in fact, that you could play through the entire game and not realise that there was a dash button.
The Princess And The Frog
I’m not sure what the story is that underpins The Cursed Frog. The cursed frog of the title certainly doesn’t seem cursed: by day, it’s a missile-firing princess, and by night it’s a frog. If anything, I would say the princess that is cursed, but that’s semantics.
It’s the excuse for some more Afil Games-brand platforming. Afil Games are one of the most prolific development houses and publishers on the Xbox, and they have a long history of concise, budget platformers that rock up at £4.19 and are finished in the time it takes to run a bath. Oh, and they hand you 2000G for the pleasure. The Cursed Frog is no different.
What does make it different, though, is the kitchen sink-ness and the quality of the offering. This is quite a bit better than the average Xbox Store offering (at least, those that fall under a tenner) and it’s received considerably more care.
A Dash Of Chaos
Each level is simple enough. You have an exit represented by a star, a halfway checkpoint, and several platforms and enemies. There are no collectibles or other frills: this is a straight-up run to the exit.
But it’s what the main character (or characters) can do that separates The Cursed Frog. One is a princess who can fire bolts. We don’t know how, but she can. She can also bottom-bounce enemies, run fast and glide a little further in her jumps. If that wasn’t enough, she can press Y and turn herself into a frog.
The frog can double-jump, which is something the princess is not capable of doing. It’s small, so it can slip through the tiniest of gaps. Oh, and it can bottom-bounce, which is the only move that’s shared between the two of them.
We almost forgot! The princess can dash with the B button. Not that it’s necessary to complete The Cursed Frog, as we can testify.
What I like about The Cursed Frog is almost none of these moves are necessary. You could complete it with solely the frog’s double-jump, should you want to (that would make for a cracking achievement). While that might mean that the moves sound vestigial, they instead offer agency. You can choose how you complete the level. Want to obliterate all of the enemies so you feel safe? You might spend more time as the princess. Prefer to race through at speed? You might want to skip between the two regularly, as the princess can cover more ground when there aren’t platforms, and the frog when there are.
We spent more time as the frog. There’s something about the security net of a double-jump. We can make up for some half-assery by relying on the second jump. We suspect different people have different approaches.
Entering Our Frog Phase
I like how the level design has a little of this kitchen-sinkness too. In the first five levels, The Cursed Frog is reliant on phasing platforms. If you jump, certain platforms phase in while others phase out. The Cursed Frog becomes a puzzle game, as you deliberate when to use the double-jumping frog (and therefore double-phasing platforms) and when to use the single-jumping princess. This section of the game was slow, deliberate.
But The Cursed Frog loses interest in all that. It ditches the phasing platforms in the second half and goes for some precise platforming. The cautious pace swaps out for frantic last-minute double-jumps. It’s a vastly different pace from what came before.
Scattered in between these are character-switching levels.They’re less twitchy and more cerebral, requiring some thought about which character best suits which scenario.
Three Ideas, Two Protagonists, One Game
Which is to say that The Cursed Frog is three different games. Three different games with two different protagonists, who each have a long list of moves – and one move we didn’t even realise was there. If you were uncharitable, you’d call The Cursed Frog a bit of an unfocused mess. If you were charitable, you’d call it a collage of ideas. We’re feeling charitable.
The Cursed Frog isn’t going to win any awards, but it’s about the best you can hope for from a cheap platformer. You’re getting a forty-five minute experience that can’t sit still, juggling ideas and mechanics without ever settling on one. By the end, we looked back on The Cursed Frog with fondness. It was an enjoyable burst of chaos.
Important Links
The Cursed Frog Hops onto Xbox & PC – https://www.thexboxhub.com/the-cursed-frog-hops-onto-xbox-pc/
Buy The Cursed Frog, Optimised for Series X|S – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/the-cursed-frog/9NPTHLNVQDVS/0010
There’s an Xbox One version too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/the-cursed-frog-xbox-one/9ND6NFV4Q6K0/0010
Or a Bundle – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/the-cursed-frog-xbox-bundle/9nmzlscc1b7h
