Review of "Spy Fox Operation Ozone"
by Gracie Beaver, age 10, from US
What would you do if an orbiting hair spray can, operated
by Poodles Galore, was destroying the ozone layer? Spy Fox,
the safety freak, donut-chomping hero of the game, hops on
an origami skateboard and blasts into a pro-shop.
Unfortunately, he's not the brightest of spies. Like, when
he's trapped in a steel net, he tries using a fork, then a
toothpick, then finally his super-duper wire cutters. There's
also a lot of supporting characters who have their own quirks.
Something interesting about Spy Fox Operation Ozone is there's
no installation. You just click play, agree to the license
agreement, and it starts up the game. I didn't care for this
because you can't skip the introduction.
The big joke with Spy Fox was that practically everything
was a spoof of James Bond. The songs on the juke box all had
titles that were jokes of James Bond movies, like "Live
and Let Fry" and "The Man with the Golden Bun"
and "For Your Pies Only." Plus there's characters
like Monkey Penny and Roger Boar. If you don't know James
Bond, you won't get a lot of the humor.
I like how there are so many settings and characters. I also
like that every time you play, things are a little bit different.
There are minor changes, like numbers, and bowling names,
then there's major changes, like ingredients and characters,
and tools. It's like having a fresh start each time you play.
Another feature I liked was being able to take a break and
play the games within the game. You can shoot bits of green
goop in "radioactive trash collector." There is
also a mini bowling game that you can play after a certain
point in the game. There isn't much to it, though, and there
is absolutely no scoring, which I personally think is dumb.
Here are some more things I liked about Spy Fox Operation
Ozone:
- It's foolproof--almost impossible to make a mistake. And
if you do, you won't get kicked out or blown up.
- I like all the special features on the spy watch.
- All the gadgets are creative and fun
- There are a lot of locations to explore
- Fun and funny characters pop up for wacky interactions
But, it's not all good. It's frustrating to have to travel
from here to there, then make a mad dash for the mobile command
center in order to get the right spy tools. Another thing
is that it gives poodles a bad reputation. Plus, Spy Fox has
a fishy sense of humor. Here's one of his jokes:
"So Mrs. Tomato says to Mr. Cucumber, 'what's the dill,
pickle' ".
Dumb, huh.
On a scale of 1-10, Spy Fox would get about an 8.
Spy Fox challenges thinking skills. You have to ponder which
tools to use to accomplish your goal. Should you use the rust-buster
or the spy mint? Or would the pearl detector work? It's cool
to pretend to be on Spy Fox's spy team, but a lot of his gadgets
are un-realistic. I would recommend this game to kids ages
7-12. Older kids would consider this game "Lame-o"
and younger kids would find it hard to complete without an
adult's assistance.
One advantage is that you need absolutely no keyboard skills
to play this game. But, you do need general computer knowledge
(how to use a mouse, listening to characters shortcuts, etc.).
Here are the minimum system requirements:
Windows: Pentium 133, Windows
95,98,2000,ME,
32MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM
Macintosh: 132 MHz PowerPC
System7.5.5, 32MB
RAM, 4x CD-ROM
So, hop on your origami skateboard and blast off to save
the ozone layer!
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