Trog (NES) review "Trog!, in a nutshell, is a Pac-Man clone with a bit of Bubble Bobble added to the mix. You take control of a dinosaur named Bloop (and Spike, if you're playing two players) and on each island, you'll have to steal all of the one-eyed cavemen's (Trog's) eggs in order to advance to the next island. Of course, the ghosts, erm, Trogs, will come popping out of random holes in attempts to stop you. Like Pac-Man, you can try your best to avoid them, or, if you happen to be so lucky, eat a pinea..."

Trog!, in a nutshell, is a Pac-Man clone with a bit of Bubble Bobble added to the mix. You take control of a dinosaur named Bloop (and Spike, if you're playing two players) and on each island, you'll have to steal all of the one-eyed cavemen's (Trog's) eggs in order to advance to the next island. Of course, the ghosts, erm, Trogs, will come popping out of random holes in attempts to stop you. Like Pac-Man, you can try your best to avoid them, or, if you happen to be so lucky, eat a pineapple that randomly appears, transforming you into a T-Rex, allowing you to gobble up any nearby, unfortunate Trogs. Unlike Pac-Man, however, you can even fight back without the power-up. With the use of their fists, you can use the dinos to beat up any Trog you want, but one punch won't do the job, you're gonna have to rapidly hit the button in order to knock them off the island. Punch too slow, and watch as the Trog knocks your avatar out, take out a fork and knife, and slowly eat the flesh off your dinosaur, eventually leaving just the bones. As a final insult, the Trog will turn to face you, just to burp.

At first, the game really doesn't seem that hard: you steal the eggs, avoid Trogs, and then go to the exit. But as you go through the game's 50 islands, the Trogs start to find more interesting ways of taking you down. As you go about collecting the eggs, you'll see these cavemen create holes and start fires, forcing you to take different routes, or, if you're in the wrong place, wait it out until the obstacles disappear. They don't stop there, though, as they'll throw giant wheels onto the islands, flattening your body if you're not careful. They even go the distance of putting springs on their feet to hop all over these islands. You know exactly what will happen if one of them lands on top of you...

Even then, Trog! really isn't that tough early on. Having the ability to attack the cavemen without the help of power-ups really contributes to this problem. WITH the power-ups, it isn't that tough at all. You got your flowers, which speed up your dinosaur, horseshoes that make you invulnerable to attacks, fire projectiles by eating hot tamales, ice cubes that freeze Trogs, and of course, the pineapples. Almost every one of these power-ups appear in every island, and they pop up way too frequently. It's only until the final 15 or so levels that Trog! becomes quite a challenge. The Trogs are much more aggressive, move extremely fast, and use every move they have to destroy you. You'll die more times here than you have in the first 30 levels. Still, Trog! is an entertaining game, but it could have needed more tweaking in the difficulty department. Plus, if you're gonna play it, make sure you have someone else to play with, because it's more enjoyable with two players.

Community review by dementedhut (May 27, 2008) Now if only I had the foresight to submit this OutRun review a day earlier...