Fish Files - A Gameboy Adventure

Since buying a Gameboy Advance I have been surprised by the amount of games that I find enjoyable available to that system. There is a large base of puzzle and RPG games for me to peruse. However, I did not expect to find a standard adventure, as we know it. Adventure in console terms usually means real time fighting. The developers, 7th Sense must have been very disappointed by the lack of interest displayed in the result of their graft; type "Fish Files" into any search engine and you will find very few sites mentioning this game. This was a real shame as I felt the developers were clearly experienced in the production of adventures and the game is worth playing. A nice touch came at the very end of the game, after rolling the credits, they allowed you to peek into their offices.

I am not sure if this was released in USA, but it comes in 5 lanuages so it may be found in Europe. I bought mine from the QXL internet auction site, I have seen this on ebay. co uk as well. You can save one game to the cartridge at any time.

The graphics are large and colourful. Music is bright and annoying, occasionally becoming very atmospheric. The game produces an excellent spoof of the X Files music at one point. Sound effects are primitive on this Gameboy Colour game. During the game one examines and collects objects in true adventure style, they can be combined in the inventory or used on outside objects in order to progress to the next puzzle.

The story does not have much depth (one is searching for the town's kidnapped fish). Gameplay became a matter of travelling between screens to use the right object in the right location. This sort of thing can be very tedious on the PC screen but it didn't seem so bad on the Gameboy. I found myself drawn to playing the game and enjoying the jokes and challenges. The simple FMV sequence or texts rewarding each solved each puzzle were highly entertaining. This game appealed to my sense if humour.

The difficulty level ranged from very simple to quite difficult, but all puzzle solutions had a logical twist to them. Occasionally I had missed objects. I have a low frustration threshold so I was soon running to the internet for a walkthru. I consider myself lucky to have found one in Spanish. This was so well written that even I ,definately a non Spanish speaker, could understand the puzzle solution.

Final verdict: fun game, don't buy a gameboy to play this but get it if you already have one.

I recently got a hold of this game and it is a lot of fun. It is 100% pure adventure. You cannot die. Lots of inventory, cartoony graphics and much humor. Its a shame this was never released in the US. There is now an English walkthrough for the game.

I took a peek at the site, and after seeing the front of the box, I'm curious -- what on earth are the "suggestive themes" that gave it the "T" rating?

I don't know what they mean by suggestive themes. Perhaps a beer drinking contest or a man dressing up as a woman to get into the women's dorm. BUt when I play a game I don't look at it from the point of view is it good for a young child and things that could be seen as suggestive I wouldn't even notice. It has to be something really obvious like all the swearing in TLJ for me to notice it.