Ribbit King (PS2 Review)

Sporting games are probably the best-selling genre of video games. Every year, new versions of the same old games get rehashed, repackaged and sent to stores in the millions. Whether it is football, baseball, basketball or hockey, usually titles ending with a year have little new to offer players except updated lineups or new gimmick extras that do little to honestly add to the gaming experience. Just about every venue has been covered. Boxing, golf, bowling, and even rugby each have a following and do quite well in the sales department. The problem is that the rules of the games have all been established and there is little more that developers can add to the experience then what we see on the field or in the stadiums every day.

 

Changing the settings has been a favorite way to bring everyday games into a new spotlight. Midway’s Blitz series is a key example on how the developers can give gamers something new while semi-remaining within the established parameters. The game of golf is no different. Sure, Tiger Woods has been running away with the crown as much in the video game world as he has in real life. In an attempt to beat the master, developers have tried to put their experience into fantasy realms using fictional characters. Each platform has had their attempt. Some have been successful (Mario Golf, Hot Shots Golf, Outlaw Golf), while others have faded away to obscurity (Disney Golf, Swing Away Golf). Well, there is a new player in town looking to beat the odds and take down proven veterans. We now welcome to the scene Ribbit King and the game of Frolf.

Frolf is the combination of amphibians and the game of golf. In place of a ball and clubs, your character and opponents will be launching their own personal frogs off of a seesaw contraption with the use of hammers. Honestly, this has to be one of the funniest experiences in video game history right behind the “Cat-a-pult” from the PSOne game Blazing Dragons. Watching your frog fly through the air with the greatest of ease should be able to turn around even the worse possible days.

Gamers will have to take on five worlds, each of which are completely different. Rounds on each planet are not the standard eighteen hole affair. Instead, you have only four holes to make your way through the tournament. Scoring is not as simple as regular golf. Instead of just trying to sink your frog with the least amount of strokes, each course it littered with scoring opportunities that need to be accumulated to best your competition. There are also opportunities to string together combos that will multiply the score of your stroke. Every time you change direction, via a built-in course items, any further points will be added at the increased rate. 

To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, let me give you an example of a typical hole. You launch your frog off of the tee and he lands in a stream. Swimming along, single points get added into your total. Upon landing on the bank, he notices a fly and leaps up to eat it. Because of this, he lands on a trampoline and shoots into another pond. Not only do you get the points from the tramp and the fly, but now your swimming gets you double points. While swimming, you get eaten by a larger swimming creature. Now you are getting triple points. Once you get to where your ride is heading, he tosses you onto shore to end a 325 point run. Your opponent decides to forgo the running around and is able to drive his frog directly into the hole getting a frog-in-one and 1500 points. Once one of the competitors gets into the hole, every stroke after that point deducts one hundred points from the expected 1000 total. So, spending more time on the course trying to stock up on course points may backfire and actually cost you in the long run. Furthermore, players don’t have an unlimited stroke total to reach the hole. If you continue to putter around you might lose out on that hole-in bonus. Strategy plays an important part in Ribbit King. So now you have to decide if your next shot should be for the hole, or try to string together another combo to rack up the points.

Although this is exactly the type of game to get PETA in an uproar, no frogs are permanently scarred from the tournaments. They do, however, receive polygonal bumps and bruises when flying into obstacles like trees or cliffs. Furthermore, players have points deducted from their score for subjecting their frog to hazards such as these. You do need to take care of your frog, as they will get worn out if exposed to numerous or strenuous situations. Depending on their aura, what might have been a simple par 3 instead becomes a long 5-stroke hole. There are also power-ups that you can use to restore or alter the aspects of your frog. Players can preselect up to five goodies for use on the course and even have one opportunity to use a substitute frog for one shot. Since each of the different frogs you acquire have various special abilities, this choice could be key in linking together a special mega-combo when the situation is just right.

Players have the choice of either working through the story mode or the multiplayer mode. The story basically takes you through the trials and tribulations of Scooter as he tries to win the Ribbit King tournament, acquire the Super Ribbinite and save the world. The multiplayer section comes in two flavors; stroke and match play. Veterans of golf will immediately know the difference between the two, however I’m sure there are a few of us out there not completely knowledgeable of the ins and outs or terminology of golf so I’ll go into a bit more detail concerning the differences. Both match and stroke play pits you against up to three additional players, either computer or human controlled. You get the opportunity to choose the characters, their respective frogs and which planet you would like to challenge. However, one important point is that only a select few characters will be available at the beginning of the game. Only by progressing through the story mode will additional character and frogs become available for gamers to use. Stroke play is exactly like the version that you experience in the story mode. The player with the most points at the end of the four hole round is the victor. In match play, players win individual holes with their scores and then only the number of holes that each player wins is the determining factor of crowning the match champion. 

The story mode is rather unique in itself. You play the part of Scooter and you must find a way to save the world. The King of Hippitron summons you to his chambers and he lays the future of the planet upon your shoulders. Seems that the planet’s power supply is about to run out and it’s up to you to find a replacement. Luckily, there is a Frolf Championship where the winner will receive some Super Ribbinite, the exact same mineral used on Hippitron as a power source. To assist you in this task, the King has given you one of the best frolfing experts in the game, Pickwich, the walking, talking picnic basket. Armed with your mighty hammer and generic frolfing frog, you both head out to the tourney with the entire planet at stake. Scooter will meet some of the strangest frolfing opponents this side of a Pokemon rerun. Each one will have unqiue attributes and will become more challenging the deeper he goes into the tourney, including beating the hidden host of the Frolf Championship himself. New frogs can either be bought from the lobby or from defeated characters, but they will not be immediately ready for use in the next round. Frogs must mature from their respective eggs and this usually takes about three rounds.

Each frog will have unique abilities. Some will be immune to lava, others will have a negative reaction to water and some will have a special affinity towards jumping or swimming. Scooter will return time and time again to the same five planets, but each time he will have a new starting place to help keep the courses fresh. Even once you acquire your destined prize, the game is not completely over. A new threat emerges on the scene and Scooter is once again called into duty to return to the tournament to gain another ultimate prize.

Visually, Ribbit King won’t win any awards for groundbreaking graphics. Nevertheless, all of the settings are well done and the full-motion videos are expertly crafted. Worlds are colorful and you can usually get the lay of the land needed for making that all important shot. There are, however, some interesting collision detection problems where sometimes frogs will pass through solid objects to get stuck inside. Also, the merging of the background and up-close animations do not blend exceptionally well, especially when the snakes pop up from underground to snatch up your frog. There are also instances where the over-the-shoulder camera will be blocked by obstacles so you really have to play your shot blindly. Unfortunately, these issues detract enough from the overall experience and ruin any possibility of achieving a must-have score.

Controlling your frolfer could be misconstrued as overly simplistic. You have the standard golf meter on the bottom of the screen which is started by a press of the action button. Once the meter reaches the desired amount, pressing the action button again will put your frolfer into action and launch their frog into the wild blue yonder. Since Ribbit King is all about getting points, you have the ability to alter the trajectory and “english” of your frog to gather point bubbles or skirt around, or over, obstacles. Although most golfing games are centered around your driving power, Ribbit King focuses more on finesse, as players can usually find a way to get a frog-in-one by using the multiple extras scattered around the course. Getting your frog to stop where you want him to can be exceptionally tasking as there usually is considerable follow-through via the hopping of a frog. Add in the possibility of environmental hazards, like sheets of ice or oil slicks and the chance of your frog landing out of bounds becomes even more likely. Frolf, like most sports, is easy to learn but difficult to master.

The voice acting for Ribbit King is obviously focused for the younger crowd. All of the characters sound like they have come directly from a standard Saturday morning cartoon. The humor wove into the conversations is also generated towards the under 13 age bracket. Things that will have the youngsters rolling on the floor will only generate a slight snicker from the older crowd, but every one of the cut scenes are worthy of watching at least once. The background music works well with the many planetary environments and helps to keep the player in the mood for the game. There are also plenty of extra sounds coming from the background, which is accented well with the built-in surround sound. Nevertheless, once you have played through a hole a couple of times, you can’t help but reach for that mute button to keep your sanity, only to turn it back on again once the characters start interacting with each other.

Ribbit King comes with a bonus disk which can be used to view unlockable videos you acquire during the story mode. Although they don’t really add to the playing experience, they do bring the player closer to the characters and add quite a bit to the actual story behind the game. Along with the videos, players have the chance to collect fifty different “bottlecaps” by meeting specific goals. Although they don’t add much for the replayability of the senior gamer, I’m sure that the youngsters will be playing rounds over and over again to collect them all.

Ribbit King takes a sport that has much to be desired in the way of fun and brings the whole sha-bang into a new light. Even though gamers can only expect to spend about twelve hours working through the storyline, this title is a keeper just for the party game aspects of the multiplayer section. If this title offered an online mode so you could match up your frolfing abilities with other gamers across the globe then you might, once again, have a must-have title to keep at the ready. Nevertheless, Ribbit King gives you a decent showing and should deserve at least a rental to see if the game agrees with you. Forget about the kiddie graphics and semi-corny storyline. With the easy learning curve, your guests will be itching to step up to the tee and test their abilities against the interesting courses no matter if they are new to the gaming scene or war-battered veterans. 

Difficulty: 6

Control: 8

Audio: 7

Visuals: 6

Replayability: 8

Overall: 7.8