Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal"

Humongous Entertainment

Industry	Video games
Founded	1992 (1992)
Headquarters	United States
Products	Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal"

Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" is an adventure game created and distributed by Humongous Entertainment, marking the debut of the Spy Fox franchise within their Junior Adventure series. The storyline centers on Spy Fox’s mission to prevent a villain from seizing control of the global dairy milk reserves. Initially launched for computers in October 1997, the game received favorable critiques and was subsequently adapted for various platforms over the following twenty years.

Gameplay

This title preserves the accessible design characteristic of Humongous Entertainment’s games while introducing talk balloons, enabling Spy Fox to pose targeted questions instead of engaging in generic dialogue. Players utilize "Spy Gadgets" supplied by Professor Quack to solve puzzles. Midway through the adventure, the plot diverges into multiple branches chosen at random each time, thereby increasing replayability.

Plot

During a flight, Spy Corps operative Spy Fox is alerted by his assistant Monkey Penny that the world’s dairy milk supply has disappeared, with a fragment of feta cheese traced to Acidophilus, Greece. Upon arrival on the island, Spy Fox reunites with Monkey Penny and scientist Professor Quack at their Mobile Command Center. He is assigned to locate Howard Hugh Heifer Udderly III, president and CEO of Amalgamated Moo Juice Inc., who is suspected to be connected to the missing milk.

Spy Fox saves Udderly from a pool filled with piranhas inside a feta factory. Udderly explains that William the Kid, CEO of Nectar of the Goats (N.O.G.) Corporation, abducted all dairy cows and consolidated the milk into a massive container called the Milky Weapon of Destruction, planning to flood the capital city and blame cows to monopolize the dairy market with goat-based products. Udderly had swallowed the weapon’s deactivation code, which Spy Fox retrieves using an "X-Ray Gum" gadget.

While investigating Acidophilus, Spy Fox boards the S.S. Deadweight, where he encounters Russian Blue, N.O.G.’s head of public relations. Using information gained from her and the ship, Spy Fox tracks down Kid’s stronghold and infiltrates it disguised in a N.O.G. uniform.

Inside the fortress, Spy Fox observes Kid handing Russian Blue a missing component for the weapon’s deactivator. After securing this piece and disabling the Milky Weapon, Spy Fox liberates the dairy cows despite Kid’s attempt to drown them in milk. Kid escapes via blimp, but Spy Fox receives public commendation from the President.

In an alternate conclusion, Spy Fox sneaks onto Kid’s blimp and, aided by Monkey Penny, reroutes Kid to a mobile jail by activating his ejection seat, ensuring Kid’s capture.

Release

The game was originally released for Windows and Macintosh platforms in October 1997, featuring a different voice cast in its European edition. Following Humongous Entertainment’s acquisition by Atari, it was ported to the Wii in 2008 with Wii Remote point-and-click functionality but was available for a limited time due to legal complications involving the port’s development. Versions for iOS and Android were launched by Nimbus Games Inc. in 2012. A Nintendo Switch edition was released in February 2022, followed later that year by a release on PlayStation 4.

Reception

Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" has achieved sales exceeding two million units and has been honored with 20 Awards of Excellence. The title received a 4 out of 5 star rating from Adventure Gamers, while Allgame granted it 4.5 stars. In contrast, the Wii version was met with a lower evaluation, earning a 5.5 out of 10 score from IGN.

External links

• Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" on Humongous Entertainment