Freddi Fish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch

Freddi Fish 4:
The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch
Cover art
Developer(s)Humongous Entertainment
Publisher(s)Humongous Entertainment[a]
Designer(s)
  • Lisa Wick
  • Brad Carlton
Artist(s)John Michaud (animator)
Writer(s)Dave Grossman
Composer(s)Thomas McGurk
EngineSCUMM
Platform(s)Macintosh
Windows
Linux
iOS
Nintendo Switch
PlayStation 4
Release
  • March 30, 1999 (Win & Mac)[1]
  • May 29, 2014 (Linux)[2]
  • August 13, 2015 (iOS)
  • December 21, 2023 (Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4)
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Freddi Fish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch is a 1999 video game and the fourth of five adventure games in the Freddi Fish series of games. It was developed and published by Humongous Entertainment.

Plot

Freddi and Luther are invited by Freddi's cousin, Calico Catfish, to visit her hogfish ranch set in a western-themed town called "Briny Gulch". Upon arriving at the ranch, Freddi and Luther learn that Calico's hogfish herd was rustled. Since Briny Gulch's Sheriff Shrimp is absent, Freddi and Luther offer to find and capture the rustlers.

Freddi and Luther enter a bar, where they discover a note, which mentions a meeting at a shipwreck called the Rusty Rustler, as well as a lock combination in order to enter. Once Freddi and Luther arrive at the shipwreck and enter the combination, they meet one of the rustlers named Goby, who refuses to allow the two to pass as they lack the clothing to qualify as a rustler, prompting the duo to search for materials in order to disguise themselves as one. Meanwhile, another rustler named Moray struggles to take care of Calico's hogfish, who refuse to cooperate; he keeps threatening to call someone named "Mr. Big".

After obtaining the right kinds of clothing for their disguise, Freddi and Luther return to the Rusty Rustler, where they manage to fool Goby into allowing them to enter but are discovered by Moray, who locks them in a prison cell and calls Mr. Big to decide what to do with them. Freddi and Luther soon realize that their jail cell is just above the hogfish's cell, where they discover a clue to Mr. Big's identity and free the hogfish by attaching a chain and anchor to the window's handlebars. Afterwards, the townsfolk, led by the recently rescued Sheriff Shrimp, arrive at the Rusty Rustler, where Freddi exposes Mr. Big's identity. After Goby and Moray express their desire to be hogfish ranchers, Calico hires the two, along with Mr. Big, as assistant ranchers.

Gameplay

The game uses the same principles as its predecessors, but similar to the third game, it has multiple endings on who the main culprit is based on evidence Freddi and Luther find. There are four possible suspects: Eight Finger Phil, Nelson Torso, Sahara Slim and Gill Barker (returning from the previous game), and each one has a different reason for stealing the hogfish.

Reception

Freddi Fish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch was generally well-received, getting scores of 85% from GameBlitz,[3] 93% from Gamer's Pulse,[4] 4.5 out of 5 stars from Review Corner,[5] 4.5 out of 5 stars from Metzomagic[6] and Unikgamer gave a 6.5 out 10 score.[7] Review Corner also gave this game the Award of Excellence.[5]

During the year 2001 alone, Freddi Fish 4 sold 65,106 retail units in North America, according to PC Data.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Freddi Fish 4, In Stores Now!". Archived from the original on 20 November 2000. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  2. ^ "Freddi Fish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch on Steam". Steam. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  3. ^ a b James Anthony (1998). "Freddi Fish 4 review on GameBlitz". Retrieved March 30, 2015. An excellent effort to add to a really top-notch series.
  4. ^ a b Stephen (Scribbler) Zillwood (August 20, 2000). "Freddi Fish 4 - Gamer's Pulse". Archived from the original on October 30, 2001. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d "Freddi Fish 4 - Review Corner". 1999. Archived from the original on April 17, 2004. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
  6. ^ a b Rosemary Young (1999). "Freddi Fish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch Review by metzomagic.com". metzomagic.com. Retrieved May 11, 2015. Freddie fish has maintained her reputation in this adventure, she's just as lovable as ever.
  7. ^ a b "Freddi Fish series on Unikgamer". Unikgamer. Archived from the original on June 15, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Infogrames Awards - Freddi Fish 4". Archived from the original on June 24, 2003. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  9. ^ Sluganski, Randy (March 2002). "State of Adventure Gaming - March 2002 - 2001 Sales Table". Just Adventure. Archived from the original on June 19, 2002. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  1. ^ The Steam release was co-published by Tommo and Night Dive Studios. The iOS release was published by Tommo.