Delightful kids adventure
Freddi Fish and Luther are the stars of a long-running series of edutainment titles that have entertained younger audiences with their thrilling underwater adventures for many years now. This one is the first sequel to the original Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds and which was later followed by such gems as The Case of the Haunted School House and The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch (best game title ever?). This one sees players taking control of Freddi herself as she attempts to collect all the kelp seeds which Luther has inadvertently spread all through a series of mazes. There are fifty such mazes to explore, with Freddi avoiding nasty undersea critters, picking up special items and solving some simple puzzles as part of her epic quest. To be honest, there's more 'tainment' than 'edu' on display here and the game really focuses on providing lots of uncomplicated arcade-style fun for younger audiences but what's on display here should prove entertaining for its target audience. It's got all the charming and vibrant visuals that younger gamers require to keep their attention, with simple but well designed sprites and environments and with some nice watery-themed tunes and effects to back things up. The gameplay itself is fairly straightforward but compelling enough and which is certainly easy to pick up thanks to its well designed control system. The difficulty curve is set well too, with new elements added regularly but which never become overwhelming and which provide just the right level of challenge. As a kids game, this is tough to beat so if you have younger gamers in the house, then be sure to check this out.
