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| 5.11 / November 1999 |
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Review: SPY Fox 2: Some Assembly Requiredby Mike Shields, mshields@atpm.com |
Company: Humongous Entertainment
Web: http://www.humongous.com/
Requirements: 80 MHz PowerPC, System 7.5.3 with 16 MB RAM
Shareware Fee: $24.99
The clever and cool secret agent SPY FoxTM is back in his second Junior AdventureTM which find him the unlikely recipient of a trash bag containing an empty box for a some-assembly-required Evil Robot model—made by the S.M.E.L.L.Y. toy division (Society for Meaningless Evil, Larceny, Lying and Yelling).
The World’s Fair opens soon, and the monumental centerpiece happens to be an 1100-foot tall metal statue that looks amazingly like a canine robot. Donated by Napoleon LeRoach, SPY Fox’s nefarious nemesis, the dogbot will activate when the 1 millionth person enters the World’s Fair. This tin can canine will be set loose to assist LeRoach in his sinister plot to take over the world. LeRoach conveniently assembled the dogbot without the off switch and hid it somewhere on the grounds of the World’s Fair. It’s up to SPY Fox and his cast of cohorts to foil LeRoach by finding the hidden off switch and exterminating his perilous plan to turn the world into one giant roach motel!
Well, the one thing I have to say for this company is, they put together an impressive press kit. So much so, that I almost didn’t have to play this game to write the review. However, I did. Now, I’m not the target audience for games like this, so my comments may be colored by that fact, so, if appropriate, I’ll bring in my guest reviewer. I’m of course speaking about my daughter Amanda, who turned five recently.
Spy Fox starts out impressively enough, with a secret meeting atop a skyway tram. He receives dehydrated skis, and a trash bag, as described above. For me, game play came slowly, waiting for the snappy dialogue and witty banter to finish. I would’ve liked a click of the mouse here to advance to the next decision point. Also, I was able to quit the game without a save dialogue box, which was mildly distressing. Now, I knew I was gonna play this more than once, however, I didn’t know I’d have to start over. Also, restarting a saved game was a hassle, and you have to sit through the opening sequence to get to a point to restart a saved game. Amanda and I played this a couple of times together. My three year old son Scott sat on my lap for most of one of the games, and he was intrigued. Which tells you that the cartooning is excellent, in the tradition of the Freddie the Fish and Putt-Putt the Car series of adventures from the same company.
At this point, it’s time to turn it over to my guest reviewer, and my extra special assistant. Amanda said, “I didn’t like the part with the gears, it was too hard. I really liked when the doggy fell down at the end.” Scott, my extra special assistant said, “I wanna play!” He likes the game on Spy Fox’s watch, Things from Space. For me, almost more interesting than the game itself.
Ok, he’s a bit too young, but he didn’t really grab the mouse out of my hand when I was playing, well, at least more than once or twice. Amanda really only had to ask for help at the one spot mentioned above. At one point, it wasn’t obvious what to do next, so, I just started clicking on all the players ’til I came up with the answer.
Hint: Find the Caped Cod’s #1 fan. This was the last piece in the ‘puzzle’ before I was able to complete my mission. I was able to foil Napoleon LaRoach’s plan, however, I let him escape. Making this a true James Bond like adventure. I’m expecting more hijinks, and a little less witty reparte for Spy Fox 3. I mean, I can only take variations on the smelly vs. S.M.E.L.L.Y. joke for so long.
Copyright ©1999 Mike Shields, mshields@atpm.com. Reviewing in ATPM is open to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us at reviews@atpm.com.
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Reader Comments (18)
FUN GAME!
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