Frogger, remixed Activision-style
It saw many ports, vague attempts, poor attempts and pure ripoffs of arcade games to the home consoles. There was a LOT of money in this, seemingly regardless of the quality of the effort [see Pac Man for the 2600]. Freeway fits into the ripoff category, but fortunately it was a VERY good offering.
There was a real Frogger port for the Atari VCS [by Parker Bros, perhaps?] and it was a good attempt considering the 2600's abilities, but Freeway took that format and cranked it up a bit. QUITE a bit. Forget 6 lanes...how about the whole screen?
Winner: Freeway
Who needs logs, alligators, flies you can never catch or female mates that just want a free ride when you can instead get the proverbial chicken to cross a colossal highway?!
Winner: Freeway
Considering what was under the hood of the 2600, Freeway looked considerably better than the Frogger cartridge that was released for the same console. The action was incredible - so very many cars, trucks and buses constantly whizzing by you in all directions, with no hint of slow-down in the action. The graphics were bright, vibrant and crystal clear. The sound was very generous, too, with engine and exhaust noises and almost constantly blaring car horns.
Winner: Freeway
Doing a side-by-side comparison of the two, Frogger comes away looking very weak, but whereas you would get splatted in Frogger if a car nailed you, your Freeway chicken is much more resilient - perhaps somehow modeled after the T1000 from The Terminator. No......getting run over in this game only gets you knocked back a lane or so but you're running against the clock so you better recover quickly and get those chicken's a scootin'!
Winner: Freeway for its indestructible chickens
Freeway's gameplay suffered, however, in comparison to Frogger in that you didn't have four-way control. Rather, you moved directly up & down but more up than anything else. This also became quickly mindless and horribly repetitive since there was nothing else "to do" in this game except push up, wait, push up...wash, rinse, repeat until the timer ran out.
Winner: Frogger by a LONG SHOT!
Still, Activision's offerings had this similar recipe for the majority of their VCS games - the action may have been lacking at times, but they were true wizards at making the 2600 shine in the graphics & audio departments, making Freeway a great amount of fun for a short amount of time.
Winner: Draw, depending on what type of gameplay you're in the mood for, but if you twist my arm I'd give an edge to Freeway for the two-player head-to-head match ups which could get quite frenetic and incredibly exciting - something Frogger just couldn't cough up.