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Something beyond words compelled me to try out Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime. With its simple design, off-beat characters, and the question of “what the heck is frogtime” needing to be answered, I clicked start and began a little adventure that kept me guessing, laughing, and transported into a world beyond words. At the heart of it all is this mysterious “Frogtime” game that everyone in the game is absolutely obsessed with. No one has a qualm with quelling quarrels with this simple to understand yet deceptively strategic Chinese Checkers-like experience, where the goal is to move your frogs from one end of a game board to the other while your opponent tries to do the exact same thing. You never know who (or what) you’ll be playing Frogtime against, but it’s the engine that drives the funky comedic trip that is Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime. It’s off-kilter, made from a place of surely beautiful personalities, and always runs parallel to a feeling of community and friendship.
It's FROGTIME! But Wait!
Before diving into the main gameplay loop of BBSF, first let me focus on the narrative stylings and setup that you’ll be treated to during the experience. Yes, I said experience because that’s what this game is…an experience. Bonnie is a bear in a onesie (always) that has a loyal group of friends. On her “bearday” birthday, they all give themselves a set of Frogtime frogs in a “toadbag.” This means they can all now play the -very- popular frog-based game for fun, self worth building, and other pressing matters that need settling. Mysteriously, Bonnie is also given a pink shell from an unknown sender that is rumored to hold some sort of powerful aura. Out of nowhere, the Beach King Rik Spek comes along to ruin the fun, stealing the pink shell. Bonnie goes right ahead and challenges Rik Spek to Frogtime, but you’ve got to learn to play the game and rank up in your confidence in the game to face him and win back the sea-based curio of legend. Thus begins an adventure through the minds of Bonte Avond, the 2 Dutch-based developers who dreamed up and created Bonnie Saves Frogtime. They’re also musicians, and this talent is served up quaintly during the game’s timely improv music scenes, where you’ll be able to play along at your own pace to some mightily charming bops.
Okay, on to FROGTIME!
Throughout it all, I was pleasantly surprised by the unique, yet tactfully placed humor and use of visuals and timing to elicit laughs, smirks, and the occasional goosebumps of compassion towards the absurd, yet relatable characters & conversations. Whether you’re sledding against a vampire, trying to get an alien tech to shrink down to get into a beehive, or talking to your fully feral four-legged bear mother who runs a food stand, you’re likely never to guess what’s going to happen next, and that’s a treat. What is for certain is that no matter what, you’re going to play Frogtime. Lots and lots of frogtime.
You’ll start off with a humble set of simple frogs, and by that I mean they only do a little damage and can’t perform a lot of complex maneuvers. This will get you by for a little while, and have you starting to defeat some of the simpler duelists on the beach you start off at, but sooner or later you’ll have to start playing the frog gacha market, in which you’ll spend your hard-earned “cocoduds” (the in-game currency) to randomly unlock more frogs and add them to your toadbag. These frogs could have extra abilities or strength, which allow you to do more damage to your opponent’s “lives” that determine a winner. You see, in frogtime, you’ll have at most 3 frogs on the linear 3 row gameboard. When one of them reaches the other end of the gameboard, you take off however many life points that frog says it does to the opponent. Your frogs can have abilities like hopping, where they can chain together leapfrogs to make it to the other side quicker, or flying, where they’ll automatically take off and glide over as many frogs as possible before landing. Alternatively, you can have other frogs that can’t jump over others, but can do things like push frogs in front of them back, stun them, or prevent them from proceeding. These extra abilities, and the abilities of your opponent’s frogs, make frogtime the complex faceoff it is, and one where preparing your team of amphibians is a game in and of itself. That’s without even mentioning the hats system, wherein you can earn and randomly buy these wonderfully adorable little head accoutrements that occasionally give your little frogs extra stats, or just some extra flair.
Winning or losing the many games of frogtime you’ll play during the story can advance the plot, or build your “self worth meter” that acts as a leveling system, enabling you to play against tougher foes or buy more powerful frogs. Its straightforward goals and replayable battles make for a game difficulty you can advance at your own pace, allowing you to experiment with different frog types and combos to play your way. There are a few rarities of frogs that you can earn and unlock, and the better you play, the more cocoduds you’ll earn to buy eggs that hold new frogs. Plus, if you need to trade out an old frog with a new, potentially better one, you’ll earn coins to roll for new hats. Those hats, thankfully, don’t get tossed with your switched out frogs, so you can keep swapping them around at-will. Plus, some characters you beat will then have special frogs available for trade that can boost your team quickly with nifty new tricks up their sleeve. I could potentially see a desire for a storage box of sorts for your frogs, but the gameplay and consequences are so low stakes that I never felt that trading in a frog I may have liked using for a while would ruin my future frogtime strategies irreparably.
Something Beautifully Bizarre
The merging of the abstract world Bonnie lives in with the addictive game they all love to play within it is smooth, playful, and refreshing. Its tone, wackiness, and personality won’t be for everyone, but it’s made for everyone, and the devs aren’t trying to go out and be something they’re not. They love their style, they have obviously put their whole hearts into it, and it shows. Making this even more apparent is the dedication they’ve put into assembling a surprisingly well-known voice cast. Filled with online streaming talent, the game obviously inspired a lot of confidence from around the industry. Most of the voices are done by the game devs and their friends though, and knowing this makes it even more personal while playing. I really felt like I got to dive into a passion project made by lifelong friends and their favorite people.
In Conclusion
This won’t be a terribly long review, because if you take a look at Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime and its trailer, and it piques your interest, I promise you you’ll enjoy it. I don’t want to spoil the bonkers nature of some of the situations you’ll find yourself in, because that’s a large part of the joy and charm of the game. You’ll play lots of frogtime, talk about frogtime, and go to the ends of the world for your friends. What more could a bear ask for?
Thanks to the developer and publisher for a review key. Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime is available on Steam & Switch, with Xbox & Playstation TBA
