Freddi Fish and the Stolen Shell by Atari and Humongous Inc. is a universal app featuring an underwater adventure with Freddi who needs to catch a thief who stole the Great Conch Shell from Uncle Blenny who has been arrested. The interactive underwater journey features a variety of sections within the app where you need to find clues and objects in order to advance within the game. The game also changed each time that you played, so that children would not be able to find the objects because they knew where they were. The app promotes critical thinking along with education so your child doesn’t even realize they are learning!
The game was interactive and included many mini games and puzzles, I really liked that you could touch almost any object on the screen and it would do something. Tapping on the sailboat for example generated a dialog about the need for a plug for the sailboat. Once the plug was found, a way to repair the sail was necessary. Each mini-game allowed you to participate in the game and feel like you accomplished a task while working toward the bigger goal.
I wished that there was a hint section to show you what objects you needed to complete each section of the game as well as a map to show you where you were on the adventure. In addition, there were times that you had to wait for an animation to happen and navigation wasn’t always as intuitive as I had hoped. If you remember this as an Atari computer game, be prepared for the nostalgia except on your favorite iDevice.
The app is a good one for children kindergarten and up, although they may need help at times from a parent for a particularly difficult clue. We had lots of fun playing with the app. Other apps by this developer include Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo which is also fun for young children.
Category: Games
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later.
Cost: $2.99 US AUS (99 MB)
