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Children's Software Review of:
Freddi Fish 4 
The Case of The Hogfish Rustlers
of Briny Gulch 

From the November, 1999 issue of PC Alamode Magazine
by Bob and Matthew Fay 
The game
If you and your child have played other games by Humongous like Pajama Sam and Putt-Putt this style of game will be very familiar.  This is the fourth game in a series and all have similar themes.  There is The Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds, The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse, The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell and now The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch. 

My son really likes these games and he plays them frequently.  In this game Freddi Fish and his sidekick Luther try to find the rustler’s secret hideout, rescue the hogfish, wrangle those rustlers, and discover the identity of the mysterious Mr. Big.  The good thing about this game is that it is easy for my son to play but it makes him think and do some problem solving while he plays.  Even though he may enter the same Wild West location several times during the game,  there are several different ways to and from these locations so it does not get too repetitive for him and he does not lose interest. 

Mini-games
There are three mini-games that you can play. 

The Nickelodeon is located in Saltwater Stella’s sodasaloon.  You click on the nickelodeon machine to see old-fashioned movie clips about chases and slapstick humor. 

The Wanted Poster lets you create a custom made wanted poster that can be printed.  You can choose goofy names, words, and crimes to customize the wanted poster. 

The Oysteroid Arcade is a simple point and shoot game.  You aim the oyster at the bubbles with your mouse and click the mouse to spit out a pearl. Bubbles will split and you have to keep shooting them until they pop.  If a bubble passes through your oyster, you lose an "oyster life." You get extra lives for every 500 points you score and in Windows you can make the game easier by making the bubbles pass through your oyster without losing an "oyster life." 

Extra goodies
The software package contains an activity book and a page of character stickers.  The activity book’s activities are what you might find at a kindergarten or first grade level of school homework.  There are some math problems, matching problems, word searches, unscrambling words, and telling time questions.  The activity book contains characters and scenes from the game. 

Availability
 I called Humongous Entertainment at 1-800-499-8386 and they have it available for $29.99 and they said it should be available in local stores.  It is also available at their web site www.humongous.com.  If you visit the site and look up the game you will discover additional tips and tricks not included with the software package.  I called COMPUSA and BEST BUY to see if the game was available, neither store carries it at this time and they could not tell me when it would be available. 

System requirements
Win/Mac CD-ROM with minimum system requirements for Windows of Pentium 90, Windows 95/98 with 16MB RAM and for Macintosh 80MHz Power PC, System 7.5.3 with 16MB RAM. 

Bob Fay is a Farmers Insurance Agent and a retired U.S. Army Major.  Matthew Fay keeps busy by attending first grade.  Both like to play computer games and try to think of ways to drive Connie Fay (Matthew’s Mom/ my wife) crazy.  It is usually by us pointing the finger at each other and saying "He did it!"