Freddi Fish 1 - Final Rating

And the Oscar goes to...

Written by Michael

Okay, this game was short, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to score in the single digits.  Remember, this was a children’s title aimed at those barely starting to use computers at the time, and this game is so well designed in that regard that, if the iPad and Android versions released a decade ago were still maintained, they would require absolutely no changes to connect with their audience.

As I look at each of these categories, I’m also reading all three of Ilmari’s reviews of their previous adventures, to see what has changed and what has stayed the same.  They had a winning formula in many ways, and that was recognized when they were bought out for $76 million in 1996.  A few years later, after several corporate mergers, acquisitions, and whatnot, the company was essentially gone.  Only the brand name remains today, owned by another company repackaging the products for modern audiences.  As sad as this is, it also says that, just maybe, there’s something there for the ages.

Let’s do the deep dive...

Puzzles and Solvability

Here’s your eviction notice.

Well, there is a lot of hand-holding, and the puzzles are often incredibly obvious.  Being told you need something that glows in the cave, and then coming across a crab in a glowing shell... that’s a bit on the nose.  But sometimes, there’s less immediate prompting.  We need to find a large wooden board?  Browsing the scenes, we can eventually find one, but no giant neon arrows or even voice clues immediately say “pick that up!”  And when you do pick it up, the game doesn’t immediately tell you what it will be used for.  It’s a mix.

In the first game, Ilmari docked a point because of the repetitive minigames.  I can’t do that here, because both of the minigames were entirely optional.  I showed the math one, but there was another one involving feeding turtles that was simply played like a horizontal Space Invaders.  Time killers, but not essential to advancing the plot.  Although I suspect that kids played the feeding one until they mastered it, they likely only played the math one if Mom & Dad forced them, because there was no reward for progress other than Freddi and Luther regaling you with how many problems you got right.  After 5 problems, you could leave at any time.

I think I’ll stay with Ilmari’s rating of 3 for the previous games.

Interface and Inventory

That does rather look like a fish fork.  Well done.

The interface is even simpler than the three other Humongous games we’ve played before this, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Click on things to interact with them, pick something up and it automatically makes its way into an inventory slot, click something there on something in the game area to use it.  That’s it.

I just recently lambasted King’s Quest 7 for this exact kind of minimalist interface, but it’s different here.  Mainly, because this time, it fits the target audience.

This is essentially the same interface as the Fatty Bear game, but designed better to fit in with the environment.  The inventory area is see-through, so some of the background art is still visible, a nice touch. The save game feature is also unchanged, except for graphical upgrades.

I count 6 sea urchins.

Story and Setting

Well, okay, it’s a simple setup, but effective.  Freddi visits Grandma’s house, only to find out that the chest filled with all the kelp seeds was stolen, and without food, all the fish will die.  Uh oh!  It’s Freddi to the rescue.

There’s the impending danger of being caught by the sharks, or at least the sharks finding the treasure first, but there aren’t really any plot twists.  It’s fetch quests that can be solved, unknowingly, in almost any order.

Still, and I’m jumping the gun here, the characters were written to be engaging, and that succeeded.  As a result, I cared about the outcome.  That says something.

A score of 5.

Sound and Graphics

The close-ups were extremely well done.

An upgrade from the previous titles, with crisper lines, more vibrant colors, and music that didn’t overstay its welcome.  It helps that nearly every screen had a unique background track.  The tracks might be shorter than some other main line games, but there’s more of them.  Even the voices were all rather well-done.

And the animations!  If something looked clickable, it probably was, and usually resulted in a small animation with sounds or even voices.  It’s the video game equivalent of MAD Magazine’s “Drawn Out Dramas”.

A notable upgrade from the last game, so the score is upgraded to a 7.

Environment and Atmosphere

Yes, this felt like under the sea.  The moody colors, the plant life, the characters... you felt like this was the place Freddi belongs.

I feel the need to crib the entire rating for this category from Ilmari’s first Putt-Putt game review: 

What the game lacks in plot, it has in spades with funny moments. I suspect it was all the funny animations that children found so irresistible. Playing and winning is just an afterthought, and the real interest lies in finding all the secret animations and in checking whether a new click would provide a new variation of an already familiar gag. When I remember all the smiles these little details have brought to my face I cannot but give the game high marks.

I can’t say it any better.  That’s my feeling for this entire game.  I’ll keep that score of 7.

Dialogue and Acting

I’m shocked other games weren’t this good.

They stepped up the game from the last three.  There’s nine people credited with different voices, and all of them are well done for this children’s title.  Later in the game, the song sung by the pirate (with help from Freddi and Luther) is noteworthy, and has nearly the same sticking power in my head as the skeleton song from Monkey Island 2.

A notable upgrade from the last few games, so a score upgrade: 6.

(3 + 6 + 5 + 7 + 7 + 6) / .6 = 56.667, which is just a few points higher than the first three, but there are definite upgrades.  It’s also higher than the last main line game I played.  But where does that fall in the ratings otherwise?

Hmm...nestled in between the scores of both EcoQuest games?  I could get behind that.  And the score matches my first graphical adventure game, and this was meant to be that for others.  I feel like this is meant to be.  Kismet, perhaps.

So, the score sits.

Laukku guessed this one exactly, although most of the other guesses were in the same neighborhood. This was a fun little diversion, and hopefully it won't be long until the blog gets to some of the sequels.

Stick around, and I’ll get around to another game soon enough.  But first, this game made me hungry.

(Bonus: this jazz piece has a family connection, so I feel the need to link it today.)

CAP Distribution

100 CAPs to Michael

• Something Fishy Going on Here Award - 100 CAPs - for blogging about Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds for our enjoyment

30 CAPs to PsOmA’s Son

• Baby Shark Award - 30 CAPs - for playing along with the reviewer of Freddi Fish and providing detailed reviews that were quite accurate

20 CAPs to PsOmA

• Parent of the Year Award - 20 CAPs - for raising a future adventure gamer who has already learned valuable lessons like picking up anything that isn’t nailed down

20 CAPs to Laukku

• Don’t be so Gill-ible Award - 20 CAPs - for guessing the final rating for Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds

20 CAPs to Morpheus Kitami

• One Fish, Two Fish Award - 20 CAPs - for playing along with the reviewer for Freddi Fish