Splat!

George Costanzas of the world rejoice!\nThe classic game "Frogger" is now on Xbox Live Arcade, so the entire world can see your high score with no worries of ever having it reset.\nThis latest incarnation of the 1981 arcade classic features the option to update the graphics, but this update merely improves the graphics from God-awful to crap. In fact, if you've never heard of "Frogger" before, the first time you watch someone play this game with the updated graphics, you'll probably wonder why a game about a half-melted down RC racing car crossing the street is named after an amphibian. Sure the original game is no looker, but I can't quite understand why Konami felt the need to include such a half-assed graphics engine when porting the game to a console where there is virtually no limit to what can be done graphically. And to top it all off, the collision detection is still horribly off. You'll be alternately scratching your head and cursing the designers at how easy it is to bungle a move to what appears to be a perfectly safe spot only to be run over by a truck or eaten by an alligator.\n"Frogger" can be downloaded for 400 Microsoft Points (or $5) which is standard for older games like this, but still kind of a rip off for a game that's availabe for free on (as of press time) 80 bazillionty Web sites. I'm pretty sure it comes standard on any keg tap nowadays too.\nAt least there's a somewhat amusing co-op/versus mode to play over Xbox Live, but finding a game took a while when I tried it out. The requisite 200 points of worth of achievements are also present, but most are pretty easy to unlock, especially if you've ever played the game before (and who hasn't?). I'm perplexed as to why Microsoft would choose this as the first game to be released as part of Xbox Live Wednesdays (where a new arcade game is released for download every week for the rest of the year) when there are so many other, better games like "Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting" and "Contra" waiting in the wings.\nUnlike other games of this era like "Pac-Man" (which is coming to XBLA later this summer), "Frogger" just doesn't stand up very well unless you're a furry or your last name is Costanza.