Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist

One of my favorite as a kid, love the humor of Al

Playing this is like playing a standard Sierra game while Al Lowe lays on top of you, making jokes about farts and Nixon. This game is for a slightly smaller crowd than, say, Monkey Island. You have to be able to stomach Hop-Sing Along's pretty rough "Chinese" accent as well as Al Lowe's narrator constantly shooting jokes at you about genitals, the the intelligence level of the Bush administration, and, boy howdy, look how much we are breaking the fourth wall in this Sierra game! It's great looking, it's got the exact humor you might expect, and it has the right amount of ambition (and clunkiness) for a great Sierra game. That said, one of the game's ambitions is to have a LOT of unique reactions to many, many different objects in the world. There are sooooo many things to click on and look at. Which is to say, you spend a looooot of time listening to Al Lowe making Al Lowe jokes. So it's really Al Lowe's humor that will determine how much you like this game. It has some fantastic touches, like a continuous musical number that introduces each act of the game -- which is delightful! But it also has many of the usual frustrating Sierra gameplay choices. It's a solid game with some memorable sequences, but you probably won't care about that if you reached your poop-joke limit 4 pixel hunts ago and quit playing. So you might love it, you might hate it, but it's a fun example of a great good game. It's not a GREAT game, it's definitely a good game, and maybe a great goood game if you think you can dig it's specific humor. The game has a lot of talent and experience behind it and they make a good product, but it still feels kinda stale, and the jokes are a little dusty, and it moves a little slow. Very much the Airplane II of video games.

I bought this game when it first came out, and was immediately immersed in it. The gameplay is fantastic, the puzzles difficult enough to keep you interested but not too frustrated, and the soundtrack is wonderful. If you're not singing "Pharkas, Freddy Pharkas! Fearless, earless, and free!" within the first five minutes, then this game probably isn't for you. Otherwise, saddle up, because you're in for a great adventure! Just watch out for the snail invasion!

I am a retired pharmacist. I bought Freddy when it came out ( back in the Windows 95 days ). Fell in love with it. The story is fun and Al Lowe's gags are top-notch. I really believe Al had to have had a pharmacist help him with some of the gags as they're spot on for those of us in the profession. I'm so glad I can play it again.

I OWNED THIS MANY YEARS AGO. THE FIRST OF THE ADVENTURE GAMES WITH -what we thought were- GREAT GRAPHICS....FOR THE 90S!