Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
Reviewed by Ty Brewer
Published by Humongous Entertainment

Age Group: Age 8 and Up Type: Puzzles & Memory, Thinking Games Price: $40.00 US

Description:

Spy Fox in Dry Cereal treats children to wonderful adventure full of intrigue and espionage by pitting the suave and capable Spy Fox against the evil William the Kid. William the Kid wants to force the world to drink goat's milk instead of cow's milk and only Spy Fox can stop his diabolical plan.

The game begins with Spy Fox on his way to the island of Acidophilus to solve the mystery of the missing Dr. Udderly, head of Amalgamated Moo Juice. With help from Ms. Monkey Penny, Spy Fox must locate Dr. Udderly and foil the foul plans of William the Kid. The adventure starts easily enough - children can't go wrong in their first few minutes at the helm. The interface is easy to navigate by clicking on the object or direction of interest. True to any adventure game, the final goal is reached by solving smaller problems along the way. For instance, before Spy Fox can rescue Dr. Udderly, he must acquire a "Laser Toothbrush" to open the steel door Dr. Udderly is trapped behind.

I found the puzzles challenging and logical - children won't have too much difficulty finding the solution to most problems, yet the answer to the puzzles is not obvious. Unlike games such as Myst, these puzzles are not logic games, but rely on such simple ideas as finding the right tool for the right situation. The interface was simple and easy to use. Spy Fox can hold a small inventory of items, each usable by clicking on the item in the inventory list. Communication with the characters in the game is through Talk Balloons. Each character is an informant. After talking to a character, you receive a Talk Balloon with the character's picture in it. When you click the Talk Balloon and drag it to another character, he or she gives you information about the character on the Talk Balloon.

Features:

• Good interface, easy to use
• Clever spoof on James Bond characters
• Right match of difficulty and interest

Technical Aspects:

The only frustrating thing about the game is the long delays associated with character speech and movement. When Spy Fox walks to a new scene, you must sit through his entrance. That's fine at first, but revisiting the scene brings back the slow walk across the screen. You can skip through the theatrics by hitting the "Esc" key or just the single character's actions by hitting the "." key, but I found this awkward. With your hands never on the keyboard for any reason, why not let us skip ahead using the right mouse button or even the left? Because you can't click on an item until the theatrics are over (walk across the screen, make some smart comment, listen to another comment from another character, etc.), the game tends to play somewhat slowly. I don't think a child will find this nearly as annoying as I did, but it was just a tad annoying to hear the same speech repeatedly.

Report and Conclusions:

I found the game fun and easy to play. If you want an adventure game that will keep a child occupied for hours, this fits the bill. Because this is an adventure game, even two children can have fun cooperating to solve the puzzles in the game. The game is targeted at children between the ages of 6 and 11 and fits that age group perfectly. I strongly recommend this game.

P.S. I just loved playing "Go Fish" - you will too.

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