Putt-Putt Enters the Race an Ace – Putt-Putt Enters the Race Review

I have been a gamer since I was 2 years old and figured out how to hold a controller, and when I think back to gaming as a kid one game series appears before anything else. I am of course talking about Putt-Putt! Whether he was traveling through time or blasting off to the moon Putt-Putt and Humongous Entertainment's perfect mesh of education and hilarity always brought a smile to my face. Now as time went I no longer kept up with Putt-Putt and I never got a chance to play the latter games. That is until recently when I found out Humongous had made their games portable. Nostalgia on the go? Sign me up! And even better now I could try out games that were completely new to me. Needless to say I was hooked. I decided to try out Putt-Putt Enters the Race not really sure what to expect (well I figured a race was involved at some point.) Boy I was I pleasantly surprised. If you’re new to the series the game is a family friendly point and click adventure. After moving from screen to screen you’ll be presented with all sorts of details in the environment and upon clicking them something funny and zany or plot related will occur. For example in the second screen if you click on a tree stump a squirrel will jump on and do a funny little dance. The point and click aspects work perfectly on the iPhone, to no surprise.While the controls are as simple as can be the story is much more involved. Putt-Putt is given a list of things he needs to enter the race. This sends you off on an adventure where you solve problems for the citizens of car town by going mission to mission in order to reach your ultimate goal. I believe this is a great way to get kids interested in helping others, as it shows how helping others can help you too. The game also teaches such lessons as what to do if there’s a fire and how to take care of animals. I’ve always believed that the Putt-Putt series is one of the few to do edutainment correctly. However, while a mostly great games there's still has a couple of problems. The dialogue can’t be skipped, which is only a problem when you didn’t mean to talk to someone. Sometimes intractable objects need a couple tries to get working, though this usually only happens when trying to leave an area. Also I had a problem with a part of the game where you have to twice let cars tell you that you’re trying to go the wrong way while blocking the area before being able to move on which I find can be confusing for anyone, especially for a child. That being said I think this is a wonderful game. The controls for the most part are really great. The story is really fun, with missions that take you all over the neat environments. And I’ve found the art style as both a kid and an adult to be really vibrant and enjoyable to look at. I find Putt-Putt Enters the Race and the entire series in general to be the perfect games for a young audience and their parents to enjoy together. I believe this game has a staying power that a lot of games these days don’t, I know they've lasted with me and are endearing part of my childhood. If you have or know any little ones I say definitely try it out!
Review by Eric Zagar on Putt-Putt Enters the Race.