Putt-Putt Joins the Parade

The Good
The game is quite simple - both in terms of being easy (OK for its intended age group, usually of course too easy for adult children) to solve and not having any complicated storyline. The graphics are nice and cute, but it's not what I like most about the game... A thing I can't emphasize enough are those little touches and details, which are extremely abundant in Putt Putt games. The games have a simple story, but it's also possible to visit some places which aren't necessary for completing the game and pretty much the whole environment is interactive. A tree? A flower? A shop crate? - it's always very likely that this particular element can be clicked for a funny little animation. Flowers spin, dance or drink water, mushrooms jump on top of one another, vegetables at the grocery spit seeds, a chest in front of somebody's garage opens and lets out a whole fruit parade... There are always some small differences between each game - such as the addresses to which Putt Putt delivers groceries - but what prevents this game from getting boring despite it's very low difficulty level and foreseeable storyline are first of all those little touches.

The Bad
Just to note: out of some mysterious reason I dislike "talkie" games - however, Putt Putt games are an exception. But this very aspect could have been done better. The speech is sometimes a bit unclear for non-native English speakers - especially in one of the fragments not required to complete the game: the scene with joking animals at the toy store. It's a pity because it's the speech which makes this game even more educational for children from non-English speaking countries. Is "Putt Putt Joins the Parade" truly educational? It doesn't really teach much, I would rather call it an adventure game with a difficulty level suitable for quite small kids. However, pretty much any game with much spoken or written text - so any adventure game - really can do much to expand the player's proficiency in a foreign language. I have noticed it in my own case at the age of 13.

The Bottom Line
Most of what I have written also applies to later Putt Putt games. The graphical style changes later - becomes more cartoony, even more colorful and sometimes just too sweet. In each game you have to do different things, but the gameplay is similar - completing a few small tasks (no complicated strings of events like in adventure games for older children and adults) to reach a final goal. And, fortunately, another thing that remains are those small details. The games won't get boring too soon because it's always curious to look for those details - isn't this bush or that star animated too?...