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...

Freddi Fish 1 - Won!

Written by Michael

In our last meeting, we came across Mrs. Halibut, who is concerned because her daughter Gabby is stuck inside this cave.  But before we can do anything, she tries to go in after Gabby, and gets caught in the small opening.

Freddi Fish 1 - Sending Out an S.O.S.

Written by Michael

Not unexpectedly, this was a quick game to solve.  But that doesn’t mean it was bad.  I enjoyed the little bit of time I spent in this game world.  Let me share that with you now.

I head a screen west from Luther’s tree, and begin to explore.  As is the case in nearly all the screens, the pathways are marked with posted signs.  Most of the arrow signs are blank, but some have icons, like the one we saw last time with Grandma’s face on it.  This screen has all blank ones.  

I click around all the items on the screen, looking for something I need, but I just get the cute animations.  I’ll be doing this on every screen, even if I don’t mention it, and many of them will give me a smile.  But for now, I’ll keep going west.

Game 165: Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds (1994) - Introduction

Written by Michael

We haven’t played a game from Humongous Entertainment in a little while, since Ilmari played 1993’s Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon.  While he tackled the first three of their games covered by the blog, I’m happy to settle in for a new series of theirs.

Much like Ilmari in 2018, I also had no exposure to Humongous Entertainment.  I might have heard something about Ron Gilbert making children’s games, but when I was 14, I would have thumbed my nose at the thought, since I had very clearly outgrown such childish endeavors.  Only now, with the wonder of adolescence but a speck in the rear-view mirror, can I truly appreciate this experience.

King’s Quest VII - Final Rating

Just how deep is my despair for having played this game?

Written by Michael

I was thinking of taking some time off between my last post and writing this scoring post, but I didn’t want my memories to fade.  This isn’t a bad game, but certainly not the best Sierra has to offer.  One could argue that they hit their peak with Gabriel Knight, although they certainly have a couple more well-done stories to come, mostly from Al Lowe with Larry 7 and Torin’s Passage, and a Space Quest game that almost reaches the luster of the earlier titles.  The FMV titles to come have their fans, but they aren’t perfect either.  The rest of Sierra’s output from this point on is a collection of arcade, action, and WalMart-friendly shovelware.

Yes, I know that those last few sentences are bound to start some arguments and paint a target on my back from some, but the good news is that, while the glory days of Sierra are largely over, other publishers will be picking up the slack for the next few gaming years.  The genre itself doesn’t “die” just yet, and some quality titles from other houses are yet to come.  I often mention Sanitarium as such an example, but there’s also Syberia, The Longest Journey, and Discworld Noir, all from publishers that have not had any real impact on our blog so far.

I bring all this up because we are about to score the final true adventure entry in Sierra’s original animated adventure series.  Before 1984’s King’s Quest: Quest for the Crown, they only made text adventures with accompanying pictures.  Mind you, they were the first to do that as well, and they did it successfully.  This is the end of an era for Sierra, and after 1995’s Phantasmagoria and limited input on the action King’s Quest 8 title, Roberta Williams will avoid adventure game design for almost 30 years, enjoying the riches of her success yachting with her husband.

But I digress; back to the title in front of us.

King’s Quest VII - Won!

Written by Michael

Unfortunately, the game fizzles out along with the volcano at the end.

We’ve reached the end, and there’s not much to it.  So, this will be a rather short entry.

When the scene begins, we return to the underground lair where the two troll kings are fighting each other.  While I can’t tell which is which from the animation, the voice of the real one tells me to turn the imposter back into his true self.

Which witch is which?

Unfortunately, the animation is so fast, I can’t tell who to click the wand on, but I manage to get off a shot and hit the one on the right.  He turns into something resembling the scarab of the past posts, and hops away.

Oops.  It seems I turned the real King Otar into a creature, instead of the imposter.

King’s Quest VII - Why Don't You Come with Me, Little Girl, On a Magic Carpet Ride

Written by Michael

Now, onto the most tedious part of the game so far.  More tedious than a lazy George Harrison song (although it DID inspire a great parody by Weird Al).  

We use a lute, rather than a whistle, but the concept holds.

We landed on what ends up being the Grand Central Station of Etheria, a floating island with four rainbows positioned around it at the corners.  If you click on one of them, it will transport you to various places we've already been to, like the desert and the haunted forest, and we can get back by playing the lute we were given by the count.  It brings the horse back to us, and the horse re-deposits us back at this travel hub.

King’s Quest VII - Rainbows are Visions, But Only Illusions

 Written by Michael

Don’t blog angry.

Welcome back to Falderol, and back to Queen Valanice’s side of the story.  

First, I feel the need to note:  this is, by far, the most boring chapter of the story so far.  “Nightmare in Etheria” is the title, but if this is a nightmare, it’s on the level of Groundhog Day, because we are going to be going back and forth, repeating actions, and really just running down the clock, hoping the other team doesn’t make a basket.

Of course, I won't get to most of these complaints until the next post -- but since I hadn't originally planned on splitting this post in two, I can't resist leaving this opening in place.

King’s Quest VII - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

Written by Michael

Seriously?

Part 2 of our post-Halloween post.  Or pre-Halloween post, depending on your level of optimism, I suppose.

When we last were here, I was making my way to the swamp creature from the blue lagoon, armed with a potion from the local sawbones.  So, through the main gates to what I think of as a garden.  A garden of evil, mind you.

In my last game for the blog, a flower gave me perfume. Now, the tables are turned.

On to the swamp creature.  As he comes after me, I whip out my trusty spray bottle, and poof!  Since he's entirely plant life, he disappears completely. The trusty scarab in my pocket tells me I did a good job. Again, I'm reminded about how the defoliant stinks. This ends up being a clue for something later.

King’s Quest VII - Tales from the Crypt

Written by Michael

We will be avoiding this creature today.

Good morning!  The sun is rising on my country cottage as I prepare to enter the midnight black woods of Ooga Booga.  This is truly the Halloween chapter of this game, but sadly, I wasn’t able to time my gameplay to the real-world calendar.

When we last left Rosella, she was hopping in the bucket elevator from the troll kingdom, repaired by a magical rope.  Here, we get nearly to the top...

King’s Quest VII - If You Believe They Put a Man on the Moon

Written by Michael

Guess I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue...

Welcome back to the saga of the Ladies of Daventry!  This installment is rather short compared to the last two, so let us get to it.

What does a newt say when you catch it in a lie?  I amphibian.

When we last were with the queen, she had entered the cave behind the Aztec-looking door, and was confronted with a large lizard of some type blocking her in the passageway.

King’s Quest VII - The Saga of Mimi and Drew

Written by Michael

I haven’t had lasagna since last Christmas.  It’s been too long.

Remember when we first started this game, and mother and daughter were separated?  Rosella was stolen away by a hand that looks like it belongs to a cartoon dog named Spike.

So we head off to chapter 2.  Something about trolls.

King’s Quest VII - Eh, What's Up, Doc?

Written by Michael

More links in this post than you can swing a stick at.

Well, last time we landed in the middle of a desert with the Queen of Daventry, a character we’ve never played before.  In previous games, we’ve controlled King Graham (3 times), his son Alexander (twice), and his daughter Rosella (just once).  No expectations yet about how she will behave.  Will she be as stuffy as Alexander was in the previous game?  Or as easy-going as undercover peasant girl Rosella was in the fourth installment?  Let’s find out.

So, we’ve just been nearly run over by the Daventry equivalent of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, or whatever world we’re in right now.  We’re deposited on a desert screen, and as I walk to the east, my dress gets caught on a cactus, ripping off a swatch.  I’ll pick that up, and I already have a comb in my inventory.  If I try to use the comb on myself, I break down into tears, because it belongs to Rosella (“My daughter!”) who got separated from us during the trip to this world.  

Game 162: King’s Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (1994) - Introduction

Written by Michael

The story of Roberta Williams and King’s Quest is a well-known one.  Over more than a decade, King Graham and his family have entertained many a gamer.  The series started out academic, with plots and characters ripped from classic literature, and an awful puzzle involving the spelling of one of their names.  While the references to the classics never went away, more modern sensibilities made their way into the games.  With new people helping steer the boat, the references started getting a little more modern.  Alice in Wonderland.  Beauty and the Beast.

But it’s, um, inconceivable that the title of the seventh game references the works of William Goldman and the (recently taken from us, too soon) Rob Reiner. 

Perhaps it’s because Roberta started to share the top role.  Both to be a mentor, and also for possible selfish reasons (like, say, working less or having more time for other projects), Roberta started letting other writers and producers take charge.  In King’s Quest VI, for example, former Hewlett-Packard employee Jane Jensen co-designed the game, bringing a fresh breath of air and a lot of positive reviews, especially after the venomous reviews they sometimes received for the fifth game in the franchise.  

Pac-Man 2 - Final Rating

How I might have felt getting this for Christmas 30 years ago...

Written by Michael

Well, this game wasn’t quite the adventure we hoped, but that doesn’t make it a bad game.  So how will it fare in the scoring?

Pac-Man 2 - Won!

Written by Michael

Not how my mother taught me to greet others in polite company.

We’ve played through three of the four levels in this game so far.  Perhaps it's time to finish this off?

Is he related to Uncle Pennybags?

After restoring Junior’s guitar, dad sits in his bean bag chair and turns on the television.  Before we discuss his viewing habits, let’s just take a moment to check out this room, now that the rest of the family isn’t blocking our view.  First, inside the house shaped like Pac-Man is a table shaped like Pac-Man.

How many of you have human-shaped tables?  30 bonus CAPs to anyone who sends in a picture of themselves standing next to their family’s human-shaped table. 20 extra CAPs if a computer with the TAG blog is visible in the picture.  (No cheating with AI, please.)

Missed Classic 138: Winter Wonderland (1986)

Written by Michael

The holiday season is all about traditions.  I’m sure many of our readers have rituals involving putting up a tree, or a multi-generation dinner, or the exchange of gifts.  For my family, it’s gathering from all corners of the region to spend slightly too much time together, before we all tire of each other’s company.  But, of course, we enjoy it immensely.

The TAG family has a tradition as well, the yearly Christmas “Missed Classic” of questionable quality; the adventure game equivalent of an ugly Christmas sweater.  We are slightly messing with that tradition this year, because Joe wasn’t able to join us for this year’s installment, but I’m hoping I’ll be a passable substitute.

The title I chose is a bit longer than the ones Joe usually plays; heck, it’s a full-length title for the time, yet priced as a budget title at just £7.95 on cassette.  The title is 1986’s Winter Wonderland, a release from Incentive Software Ltd., a company from the United Kingdom with releases spread over nearly a decade. The game was created using their own home-grown Graphic Adventure Creator, an interpreter they sold and distributed.  Our title today was designed on an early, pre-release copy of the language by two designers, Simon Lipscomb and Tim Walsha.  

Pac-Man 2 - Hot Dogs & Cats Living Together

Written by Michael

Junior: I was late submitting my game review to TAG and now I’m sad

Welcome back, fellow chompers!  Let’s play some more of this game based on the two major food groups for teenagers in the 1980s, pizza and gumballs.

When last we left, we had just gotten a flower for Lucy, Pac-Junior's rather pale-faced girlfriend.  Now, it seems that Junior is sad.

Pac-Man 2 - Riding the Midnight Train

Written by Michael

The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only.

Welcome back!  I’m going to admit to being a little less-than-eager to write this post.  See, the game is a lot more arcade and a lot less adventure than we originally hoped.  

But I’m a trooper.  I’ll get through this.

I don’t have the reflexes (or the patience) for arcade games like I did 30 years ago.  But I suppose that’s many of the people in this room right now, because those of us who still prefer adventures often prefer using our brain over our brawn.  It’s why, when the comments exploded on our coverage of Fate of Atlantis, the majority of us seem to prefer the “team” and “wits” paths over the “fists” choice.

Still, this is a fun game, and a lot less “arcade” than some other titles.  

Game 161: Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures (1994) - Introduction

Written by Michael

This might be the most unlikely game I’ll review for the blog, and I’m the one who volunteered for it.  An adventure-ish sequel to one of the most important coin-op games of all time.  Yes, this was added to the blog with a CAP purchase during our year-ahead planning.  Will I regret this?

It’s important to start with the original, I suspect.  In 1979, a team of programmers at Namco aimed to design a game with universal appeal to both genders, since most of the games before then were based on “manly” pursuits like sports.  Simple concept for the game:  our generic character runs around the game board, eating as many dots as possible, avoiding being caught by ghosts.  Not really aimed at any specific gender or demographic, the only requirement was good reflexes.