Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist
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| 'Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist | |
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| Developer(s) | Al Lowe, Josh Mandel |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Engine | Sierra's Creative Interpreter |
| Release date(s) | 1993 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | single player |
| Platform(s) | DOS, Macintosh, Windows 3.x |
| Media | floppy disk, CD-ROM |
| Input | Keyboard, mouse |
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist is a comic Old West adventure computer game created by Al Lowe (of Leisure Suit Larry fame) and Josh Mandel (of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon fame) and published by Sierra On-Line in 1993. It was dubbed "the Blazing Saddles of computer games" by Computer Gaming Magazine.
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[edit] Gameplay
The game uses Sierra's SCI1.1 engine, and features 256-color hand-drawn art, scaling sprites and a mouse-driven interface. Freddy Pharkas ran under both DOS and Windows 3.1. It was released in both floppy disk and CD-ROM versions, the latter having full voiceover speech for all characters. The game's manual is entitled The Modern Day Book of Health and Hygiene, a parody of 19th century medical texts. It contains information necessary for solving prescription puzzles.
[edit] Plot
In the game, the player takes the role of Freddy Pharkas, a 1880s-era pharmacist in the town of Coarsegold, California which was the location of Sierra's headquarters in 1993. Freddy was once a gunslinger, but sought a new career after his last gunfight, in which "Kenny the Kid" shot off one of his ears. In its place, Freddy now wears a silver prosthetic ear. Throughout the town, businesses are either being bought or proprietors are being scared out of town. Someone is obviously trying to take over the entire area, but who? And why? The slimy sheriff doesn't seem eager to help, so it's up to Freddy to find out the details. The cast includes the town's eccentric old man and story narrator Whittlin' Willy, Srini (Freddy's "Injun" sidekick - actually East Indian), town schoolmarm (and Freddy's love interest) Penelope Primm, and Madame Ovaree, who runs the local brothel. The villain "Kenny the Kid" is a cartoonish version of Sierra's then-president Ken Williams. Madame Ovaree's name is an obvious parody of Madame Bovary.
In at least one print advertisement for the game, Freddy Pharkas is said to be "the great-great-grandpappy of Leisure Suit Larry". It says "Meet the Great-Great Grandpappy of Leisure Suit Larry!", referring to Zircon Jim Laffer who makes a (belated) appearance in the game.
[edit] Development history
Al Lowe has said that he considers Freddy Pharkas one of his funniest games. He gives a good deal of credit to Josh Mandel, who co-wrote the game, as well as some of the songs including the opening and closing ballads. (Mandel was a humorous collaborator on several Sierra games, including the Space Quest series and The Dagger of Amon Ra.)
Lowe admitted that his goal was to make a comic western game in the vein of Blazing Saddles. Freddy Pharkas definitely contains its share of scatological humor: it may very well hold the distinction of the only computer game in which the player must capture a horse's flatulence in a paper bag.
[edit] Reception
In its September 2006 issue, Game Informer called it one of the best adventure games of all time, and gave it a Retro Review score of 9.0.
