Frostbite

The Good
Easy-to-learn gameplay that layers different challenge variables together into a pleasing whole. FROSTBITE presents a basic task - hop back and forth across the ice floes, collecting material for your igloo, and then adds birds, crabs, and clams, each of which has a different movement pattern but each equally deadly; plus fish that are good for bonus points, a time limit in the form of a steadily-dropping temperature gauge, and just for icing on top, a quick and unpredictable polar bear stalking around the entrance of your safe haven. It's thematically-consistent and done with humor to boot - your hero drowns cuter than any video game character before Mario in SUPER MARIO 64.

Not to mention that sometimes the ice was in three separate chunks (nice rough edges in the artwork there), sometimes a long continuous line, sometimes they drifted back and forth, creating deadly gaps where there were none only seconds before. And round after round, it kept getting just that little bit faster. It increased its demands on your reflexes, but it never seemed cheap or unfair. Nearly always, there WAS a safe jump to make - it was just a question of if you could think of it quickly enough taking all the different moving parts into account.

The Bad
The scoring threshold for extra lives is almost absurdly low, which artificially expands play somewhat. Between that and the single-screen, four ice-rows playing area, you have to like your games SIMPLE to get into this one.

The Bottom Line
Has the high quality and fun factor you'd expect from an Activision game of the time, rounding out a simple scenario with rudimentary multi-tasking a la SEA QUEST, albeit without the scope of a RIVER RAID or PITFALL. A charmer for kids.