Freddi Fish 3

The Case of The Stolen Conch Shell

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Type of Product
Freddi Fish 3: The Case of The Stolen Conch Shell is part of the Junior Adventures series from Humongous Entertainment. Their games are fun and educational.
     
User Level
Game for children ages 3-8 years old.    
     
Review

No installation is required with Windows 95. Just load the CD into the CD-ROM drive and click the Play button to start the game. You need to install the program for Windows 3.1 but it is not difficult. There is no User Guide but there are thorough notes in the Readme file on the CD and some on the CD cover booklet.

Freddi Fish is like a younger Angela Lansbury of the fish world, always ready to find the culprits and solve a mystery. This time Freddi Fish and her sidekick Luther are taking a vacation trip to the tropics to attend a festival. Luther's Uncle Blenny is the Grand Exalted Keeper of the Great Conch Shell, which is blown every year to symbolize the start of the Founder's Day Festival. But this year, there is a problem: the Great Conch Shell has been stolen and Uncle Blenny is the suspect. So Freddi and Luther must find the real culprit and recover the Conch Shell and its three Golden Pipes so the festival can begin. Along the way, they meet a variety of wonderful and funny characters and some are suspects:

  1. Claw–Claw is President of the Bully's Club. He's a mean little lobster with a big attitude.
  2. Gill Barker–Gill is a rough-mannered carnival barker. See what he charges for admittance to the carnival?
  3. Horst Fedders–Horst is a friendly, foreign tourist speaking an unknown language. How do they learn his language?
  4. Pelican Sam–Sam admires Freddi and wishes that he could be as brave and smart. What does Sam do to help them?
  5. Magenta–She is a gentle creature who loves to lay about on the white sands eating bananas. Sometimes she can be as adventurous as Freddi, though.
  6. Nadine the Narwhal–Nadine is special because she is one of the few narwhals to grow a tooth.
  7. Old Soggy–Have you ever wanted a dogfish companion? Well, Old Soggy is Uncle Blenny's loyal dogfish. He might be old but the sniffer is still working. He can smell out a culprit anyday.
  8. Pierre the Tailor–Pierre is a snooty tailor who thinks he is a cut above other fish. He's ready to help, but can he be trusted?
  9. Rosy Pearl–Rosy has a huge smile, a brassy style and is known for her famous Luau Show. She is one tough squid.

As with other Humongous adventures there is a random element to the program. With each new game, there will be different puzzles to solve and locations, items, and clues will be somewhat different.

Kids (as well as the adults who sneak a peak at this fun package) should enjoy the following puzzles:

The Terrific Tumble Tubes Puzzle
The Tumble Tubes were brought to town for the Founder's Day Festival. They are fun but they also might be a hiding place for something important. Look for the vacuum mechanism that pulls objects into the tube, and then you can go for a wild ride.
Carnival Organ Puzzle
The Carnival Organ could be another hiding place for an object. How do you get it out is the question. There's a special keyboard that can be used. If the puzzle is too difficult, you can click on the arm on the side of the organ and it will re-set the puzzle.
Dark Cave
Don't be afraid of the dark. Once you figure out how to see without a light source, you can explore and explore in this place.
Foreign Language Phrase Book
The foreign book is the key to speaking with Horst Fedders, the foreign tourist, but how do you get it. And where do flags from different nations come into this puzzle?
Waterfall Puzzle
How do you get through a waterfall. Freddi and Luther need to carefully look around for something in their environment to help.
Magenta's Raft
The raft is no longer seaworthy because it has a leak. Magenta used her sail to plug the leak, so now she also has a ripped sail. How can Freddi and Luther plug up the hole and fix the ripped sail? It's like finding a needle in a haystack or someone that is good with a needle.
The Ancient Ruins
Luther gets into trouble in the ruins and Freddi must travel the ancient ruins to help him. A key and a beam of light are important here.

Along with the above puzzles, there are seven mini-games that provide loads of entertainment. Not all of them are necessary to finish the game, but go ahead and play, they are loads of fun.

  1. Floating Fun--The object of this game is to push floating critters up into a column by clicking the mouse. You want to place like pieces so they touch so they will cancel each other out and disappear. You don't want a column to fill up because then you have no place to push the critters which keep on coming. This is not easy. The game starts at a simple level, but as you progress, there are time limits, faster motion and more game pieces on the board.
  2. Terrific Tumble Tubes--The Tumble Tubes were part of a puzzle when they were hiding something, but they can also just be good for fun and games and a wild ride.
  3. The Carnival Organ--Like the Tumble Tubes, the Carnival Organ can be part of a puzzle or just a nifty musical instrument to play. You can play songs from a pre-recorded group or create your own.
  4. Crook Book--Kids can be really creative with the Crook Book. They can create pictures of crooks, using different body shapes, eyes, mouths, fins, hair and hats. You can name your crook or write messages at the bottom of the picture. Then you can paint your picture.
  5. The Luau Show--This show can be part of a puzzle or just entertainment. Choose an act by clicking on the flipbook.
  6. Jukebox Ditties--Play the jukebox. For each button there is a different tune and dancing fish. Sort of like the Ed Sullivan Show underwater.
  7. Grandma Grouper Fortune Telling Machine--Have your fortune told by Grandma Grouper. Silly but haven't you always wanted to have your fortune told. And by a fish at that.
     
Personal Comments
There are enough puzzles and games to delight children and adults. Some of the puzzles might be somewhat difficult for a 3 year old but that's ok. It will give you an excuse to sit and play with them. I am always amazed at the clickable objects. I probably spend as much time clicking on everything as playing the games. The Crook Book, the Carnival Organ, and the Tumble Tubes should keep your kids laughing and occupied for quite a while.-
     
System Requirements
Operating System: Windows 3.1 or higher
Processor: 33 MHz 486
Memory:8MB
Hardware: SVGA (640 x 480) 256 colors
Sound Card
Double-speed CD ROM drive
     
Other Goodies
There is a free Activity and Comic Book, as well as a sheet of sticker characters. The CD has demo versions of a variety of Humongous products.
     
Technical Support
Their Web site: http://www.humongous.com is an excellent source for information, games, reviews and whatever. The Web site is almost as fun as the games.
     
Price
$29.95