I remember when we first discovered Humongous Entertainment (HE). Our kids were about four- and six-years old and we were spending an afternoon with friends. They had just gotten a new game called Pajama Sam, and for most of the day there were six kids, ranging in age from three to eleven, gathered around the computer taking turns. Now, to get a group of kids with different interests to even get along for several hours in a row is quite a feat. To have them cooperating on purpose because they're having too much fun to argue is near miraculous.

Not long after that first introduction to HE, we purchased our first Spy Fox game which was as big a hit as Pajama Sam had been. And while our kids are now above the target age for this game, Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" is still, according to my now 13-year old daughter, "cool."

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The Story
Spy Fox, the debonair secret agent wearing a white dinner jacket and nifty gadget spy watch, has a mystery to solve. It seems that William the Kid has hijacked all the milk in hopes of creating an intense demand for goat's milk. His mission is to save Mr. Howard Hugh Heffer Udderly from hungry piranhas and restore the flow of milk to breakfast tables everywhere. Spy Fox is assisted in his mission through communication with his assistant Monkey Penny who keeps him well supplied with information, and Professor Quack who invents a variety of gadgets for him to use.

Spy Fox parachutes down to the Greek island of Acidophilus where he hopes to find the culprit and save the world from Dry Cereal.
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Game Play
As suggested by the 5-10 age range on this game (that's what it says on my copy... newer copies say 6-9), game play is pretty simple for Spy Fox. Following an introductory scene outlining the story and the mission (Monkey Penny contacts Spy Fox via a "Real TV" dinner) Spy Fox lands on the island ready to rendezvous with his cohorts.

The screen shows Spy Fox standing in a courtyard surrounded by a variety of locations including a phone booth, a trinket stand, a stairway, a Greek Cantina, and a shifty looking pelican. Rolling the cursor over the bottom of the screen reveals the contents of Spy Fox's inner jacket pocket in the bottom left corner, and the controls of his gadget watch on the bottom right. His jacket contains all the items he needs to complete his mission, and his watch is used to contact Monkey Penny and to access menu functions such as load, save, and quit.

The initial task is for Spy Fox to find his way to the "Greek Islands Mobile Command Center" by retrieving the code from the fortune cookie stashed in his pocket and entering that code into the phone. As play progresses, Spy Fox continues collecting various objects and gadgets that he needs to solve various puzzles throughout the game. Sometimes collecting the needed object is as simple as buying a trinket from the trinket booth. Other times there are a series of simple logic puzzles that must first be solved. Items are then used by selecting something from within the jacket pocket and clicking on the environment object you want to use it on. For instance, when Spy Fox needs to gain access to the Feta Factory, he needs to select the laser toothbrush from his stash and then click on the steel doors that bar his way. Occasionally, before something can be used it has to be combined with another object first. The required puzzles and events are never too difficult—especially if the player remembers to consult with Monkey Penny when they get stuck.

Younger children may occasionally need some assistance in figuring out what to do next, but there are never any real dead-ends in this game. If you get stuck or forget what you are trying to do, you can always contact Monkey Penny on the gadget watch and she will offer a reminder or a clue. It is important to note that while there is no reading required to play the game, speakers or a headset are necessary in order to hear instructions and learn information. Also, throughout the game the story is moved forward through the use of 'cut scenes' that appear when certain milestones are reached. Unlike some games, these scenes can't be bypassed. Most kids won't care though; they'll be too busy giggling at the silliness.
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Extras
One of the most popular elements in this game (among the kids I know anyway) is 'Go Fish.' This entertaining game within a game becomes available in the Cantina fairly early on in the plot. Thereafter, Spy Fox can return to the Cantina at will to play cards with the local card shark. This version of Fish requires the collection of all 4 cards of a value which may be different from the Fish games you may already be familiar with, but rest assured that it will soon become a favorite diversion. My kids (and my friends' kids) would frequently start the game just so they could play Go Fish with the computerized opponent.
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My Thoughts
Although this game was originally designed to be compatible with Windows 3.1 or Mac System 7, it continues to work perfectly on my XP machine. I believe this is partly due to the fact that no installation is necessarily—it plays directly from the CD. Only a small save game file actually writes to the hard drive. A re-released version, specifically designed for slightly more modern systems, is now available.

Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" is well worth the list price of $20.00, but it can probably be found for significantly less so shop around if you decide to pick this up. Any youngster ready to graduate from the simplest games designed for toddlers should find the cartoon graphics and silly story elements engaging. Parents can feel satisfied that this game will offer enough challenge to stimulate the development of reasoning skills. They may also find themselves sneaking to play the game late at night after the kids are in bed. It's that clever. It's that addictive.



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Minimum System Requirements

Windows
Operating System: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Processor: Pentium II 233 MHz or higher
Memory: 32 MB RAM (64 MB for XP)
Hard Disk Space: 40 MB Free
CD-ROM Drive: 8X Speed or faster
Video: 2MB Windows 98/Me/2000/XP-compatible SVGA video card*
Sound Card: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP-compatible sound card*
DirectX: DirectX version 8.1 or higher
* Indicates device should be compatible with DirectX version 8.1 or higher.

Macintosh
Operating System: System 8.6 or higher
Processor: 233 MHz G3 or higher
Memory: 32 MB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 40 MB Free
CD-ROM Drive: 24X Speed or faster


You can download a free demo of this game here:
http://www.kidsdomain.com/down/pc/spyfoxdemo.html


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This is an entry in CaptainD's
Challenge Yourself WriteOff. Why not Challenge yourself?

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52 Weeks of Discovery

This is my third week in my personal challenge for 2005.

How it qualifies
Although I've owned this game for years, this is thie first time I've tried to analize what's so good about it. As my first game review, it qualifies for my personal write-off.


Recommended: Yes