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Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse is a 1996 video game and the second of five adventure games in the Freddi Fish series of games developed and published by Humongous Entertainment. It was released on iOS under the title Freddi Fish Haunted Schoolhouse Mystery and on Android with a shortened title Freddi Fish: Haunted Schoolhouse in 2014. It was also released on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in May 2024.
| Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse | |
|---|---|
 Cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Humongous Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Humongous Entertainment[a] |
| Producer(s) | Ron Gilbert |
| Designer(s) | Mark Peyser Tami Borowick |
| Composer(s) | Tom McGurk |
| Engine | SCUMM |
| Platform(s) | Macintosh, Windows, DVD player, Linux, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Plot
editOn her way to school, Freddi Fish meets with Luther, who brings his Codfish Commando action figure for show and tell. Upon entering their classroom, Freddi and Luther learn from their teacher, Mrs. Croaker that their classmates saw a ghost, who stole their toys. The ghost then appears and steals Luther's action figure before fleeing. Freddi and Luther chase the ghost into the school's basement, where Luther retrieves his toy and the ghost vows revenge. Believing the ghost to be fake, Freddi conceives a Rube Goldberg trap to capture the ghost and the two set out to find five additional parts for the trap.
As Freddi and Luther progress further in their mission, Boss and Spongehead (the sharks from the first game) attempt to discourage the two from their mission by "warning" them of their fate. When Freddi and Luther are one part away from completing their trap, Boss and Spongehead meet with the Squidfather, who never had any toys in his youth and orders the sharks to bring him the guppies' toys at all costs.
Upon collecting all five items, Freddi and Luther set up their trap and use Luther's action figure as bait for the ghost. The trap works and the ghost is revealed to be Boss and Spongehead in disguise. After the sharks explain the Squidfather's situation, Luther decides to let the Squidfather keep his action figure, while he and Freddi give the rest of the toys back to the guppies. The class celebrates Freddi and Luther's heroism as the game ends.
Gameplay
editThe game uses exactly the same mechanics as its predecessor, but contains newer puzzles, collectible and usable items, character encounters, locations, minigames and trivial click spots in the gameplay. The particular parts and pieces for the ghost trap are randomized in every new game.
Development
editThe game was showcased at E3 1996.[6]
Due to the common practice that adult women voice children of both genders, game designer Tami Borowick, who was behind the decision to make Freddi female during development of the first game, thought that players may not realize that Freddi was female and thus added a line in this game to clarify the character's true gender.[7]
Reception
edit| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| The Electric Playground | 9.5/10[8] |
| PC Magazine |  [9] |
| Unikgamer | 7.5/10[10] |
| MacUser |  [11] |
| Publication | Award |
|---|---|
| Game Developer's Choice Awards | 1997 Spotlight Awards - Best Educational Game[12] |
Freddi Fish 2 was generally well-received, getting a 3-star rating from Allgame,[13] 9.5 out of 10 from Electric Playground,[8] 5 Stars from PC Magazine,[9] and Unikgamer gave a 7.5 out 10 score.[10] The Game Developer's Choice Awards awarded it as "Best Educational Game" in the 1997 Spotlight Awards.[12] MacUser declared it one of 1996's top 50 CD-ROMs.[11]
Notes
edit- ^ The DVD player version was published by Take-Two Interactive. The iOS and Android versions were published by Tommo. The Steam release was co-published by Tommo and Night Dive Studios.
References
edit- ^ Uppendahl, John. "Humongous Entertainment Ships a New World of Animated Fun in Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse" (Free Limited ed.). Archived from the original on February 10, 1998.
- ^ "Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse on Steam". Steam. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
- ^ "Freddi Fish: Haunted Schoolhouse - Android Apps on Google Play". Google Play. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
- ^ "Freddi Fish 2: The Case of The Haunted Schoolhouse for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site". www.nintendo.com. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
- ^ "Freddi Fish 2: The Case of The Haunted Schoolhouse". store.playstation.com. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
- ^ "Humongous Entertainment Handcrafts Another Junior Adventure, Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse; Freddi Fish 2 to Be Previewed at Electronic Entertainment Expo May 16-18". Business Wire. May 1, 1996. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2023 – via The Free Library.
- ^ Clark, Nicole (May 9, 2019). "From 'Putt Putt' to 'Freddi Fish'—How Humongous Entertainment Made Edutainment Fun". Vice. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
- ^ a b Bonnie James (November 22, 1996). "Freddi Fish 2: The case of the Haunted Schoolhouse - Electric Playground". Greedy Productions. Archived from the original on August 4, 1997. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
Freddi Fish is funtabulous! The folks at Humongous Entertainment certainly know their stuff. I would love to meet the people who created such an engagingly silly universe.
- ^ a b "PC Magazine - Vol. 15" (19). After Hours. November 5, 1996: 457. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ a b "Freddi Fish series on Unikgamer". Unikgamer. Archived from the original on June 15, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
- ^ a b The Editors of MacUser (December 1996). "MacUser's 1996 Top 50 CD-ROMs". Kid's Stuff. Archived from the original on June 5, 2000. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
- ^ a b "Game Developer Choice Online". UBM Tech. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- ^ Brad Cook. "Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse - Review - allgame". Allgame. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2016.