Click on a thumbnail to enlarge it. Use your browser's "BACK" button to return to this review when done.
What could be more fun than a rootin'-tootin' underwater Wild West adventure with your favorite sleuth Freddi Fish and her sidekick Luther. Freddi Fish 4: The Case of The Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch is an all new Junior Adventure from Humongous Entertainment. Their games are both fun and educational. They include: multiple game paths which feature a revolving cast of culprits and a wide variety of locations enabling children to have a different experience each time they play. The games help build logical thinking, problem-solving, and memory skills; and let kids take a break from the action with engaging mini-games. The price of Freddi Fish 4 is $29.99 and can be used with a PC with Windows or a Macintosh. The Humongous Entertainment Web site is a great place for both parents and kids to visit. There is all sorts of information, games and such. http://www.humongous.com
Games for children ages 3-8 years old. Skills and learning objectives are: Logical thinking and problem solving skills; Deductive and inductive reasoning skills; Hypothesis testing; Prediction and evaluation; Color, shape, number and letter recognition; Sequencing and memory skills.
.
Installation--No installation is required with Windows 98/95, which is beneficial for users with limited disk space. Just load the CD into the CD-ROM drive and click the Play button to start the game. There is no User Guide but there are thorough notes in the Readme file on the CD and some on the CD cover booklet. Storyline--Freddi's cousin, Calico Catfish, invites Freddi Fish and her sidekick Luther to visit her hogfish ranch at the world's first underwater Wild West town, Briny Gulch. But there is trouble ahead. Mysterious hogfish rustlers have stolen Calico's prize-winning hogfish. Freddi and Luther offer to find the rustlers' secret hideout, rescue the hogfish, and capture the culprits. And all you cowgirls and cowboys can participate. Interface--The interface is well-done with many clickable objects. You guide Freddi and Luther through Briny Gulch with your cursor.When the cursor is on an object that can be manipulate, the hollow arrow becomes solid. Throughout the game, there are hundreds of hidden click points. Most click points will continue to respond with each successive click, and produce a different reaction each time, so children need to click on an item more than once. At the bottom of the screen is a line of bubbles where you can find Freddi's inventory. You just click on an object to use it and if it can be used in the current scene, the cursor will change to a small representation of the selected item. Characters--This Wild West underworld is populated with a host of cowpokes: Cousin Calico Catfish: she is Freddi's cousin and is a hogfish rancher with a mystery to solve: who are the rustlers who have stolen her prized hogfish. Nelson Torso: the owner of Just Buckles. If you bring him the right pieces, he will make a belt buckle for Freddi and Luther. Saltwater Stella: she is ready to slip you a soda and offer helpful information about any suspicious characters that visit the sodaloon. Eight Finger Phil: a good piano player. Request a song. He can play just about anything. The Squid Family: Orchid, Apricot and Periwinkle are experts on colored ink and spitting! Goby, the Hogfish Rustler: a fashion conscious rustler who will tell you what the "in-crowd" is wearing this year. Hammerhead and Sawfish: coffee-drinking construction workers who are just a tad argumentative. Sahara Slim: has a story from every corner of the earth. E. Tippet: a hermit who lives in a mailbox and is waiting for an important package. If you help him find his package, he might give you something you need. U: (Uriah Jedadiah Eruipides Algernon Fortesque Forsythe) he has a broken mail cart. Maybe Freddi and Luther can help fix his wagon. Sheriff Shrimp: If he is not tied up or in the dark, he will help. Hungry Shark: he has a voracious appetite. He's easily entertained, so if you keep him busy, you'll be perfectly safe. Gill Barker: wheel nuts and gum are fast talkin' Gill's specialty. Shady Shark: has a bone to pick with Gill. A shark with a grudge is not a good thing. Fluke: the sperm whale has something stuck between her teeth. Have you ever seen a whale with a toothache? Can you help Freddi and Luther find a way to loosen that pesky thing from Fluke's teeth? Puffer: he has a reaction every time someone gets near him. Gruntle: the most vocal of the captured hogfish. He knows that his fellow hogfish are counting on him. Moray, the Hogfish Rustler: he is not someone you'd want to meet in a dark lagoon. Things to Collect--There are always a variety of interesting items to collect in these games. In this underwater adventure, Freddi and Luther should keep their eyes out for the following: Purple Sea Urchins; The Secret Note; Floss; Gum: Starfish; Crank; Tire Pump: Suitcase; Spice Container; Pepper; Cayenne; Lemongrass; Harmonica; Wheel Nut; Mailbox Door; Screwdriver; Piece of Wood; Hook; The Rustler Fashion Foldout; 10-gallon Hat; Bandana; Bow Tie; and Letters. Mini-Games--Freddi Fish 4 contains three mini-games that are fun to play: The Nickelodeon: you can visit Saltwater Stella's sodaloon and click on the nickelodeon machine to see a variety of old-fashioned movie clips of thrilling chases, surprise endings, and humorous escapades. The Wanted Poster: create your own outlaws with the Interactive Wanted Poster. You can describe your outlaws' wacky crimes by scrolling through descriptive words and names. Then you can print the poster. The Oysteroid Arcade: after you have met "U," you can visit the Oysteroid Arcade where bubbles are full of troubles. You can aim the oyster with your mouse, then click the mouse to split a bubble with a pearl. If you split a bubble enough, you can pop it and it will disappear. But if a bubble touches the oyster, it's doomsday for that oyster, but fortunately Briny Gulch oysters have three lives. You can even get an extra oyster life for every 500 points you score. As you progress, you'll have to split more bubbles. You can also make the game easier so the oyster passes right through the bubble and no oyster lives are lost. Things To Do--There is a wide range of activity in this game, and because there are different pathways each time children play, they don't get bored. Some puzzles or cues are: Fluke's Toothy Problem: help Fluke remove something between his teeth. Who's Under That Big Hat: someone has lost his courage and refuses to be seen. How can a sheriff's star help? Freeing Sheriff Shrimp: how can you stop the propeller from turning and where are the controls? That Pesky Shark: how do you keep those jaws moving? The Hat's the Wrong Color: visit the color experts to solve this problem. Freeing the Suitcase: what can you use to make the deflated buoy rise? Finding the Harmonica: maybe Puffer Fish knows where the harmonica is, but how can you get Puffer to unpuff. Fixing the Seahorse-Drawn Carriage: where is the wheel nut? Liberating the Hogfish: you need to find something to attach to the chain in order to open the bars. Getting the Mailbox Door E: how to speed up the mail delivery and get the important package for Tippet. Finding Wood for the Square Dance: find the square wood and you get to borrow the screwdriver.
Humongous Entertainment products for children are some of the best on the market. They are entertaining and fun, but they also have educational merit for parents that want some learning value in their children's software. The characters are lovable and the animation and music will please both adults and children. Our two helpers Natalie, age 4, and Morgan, age 6, really enjoy these programs.
There is a free Activity and Comic Book with mazes, seek and find puzzles, and math crossword puzzles, as well as a sheet of sticker characters. The CD has demo versions of a variety of Humongous products.
Operating System:Windows 95/98 Processor: Pentium 90 Memory: 16MB RAM Hardware: SVGA (640 x 480) 256 colors Sound Card 4x CD ROM drive
Graphics: Adobe ImageStyler Web Page Editor: Symantec Visual Page Scanner: Hewlett Packard ScanJet 6250C Professional Series