It's Not Easy Being Purple
A Review of Putt Putt Saves the Zoo
John Butterfield
Putt-Putt, that cheerful little computerized convertible car, is back on monitors everywhere with Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo. He's so wholesomely cute that I'm surprised there isn't an alt. newsgroup to officially despise him - something like alt.putt-putt.crash.crash.crash.
The star of Humongous kidfests such as Putt-Putt Joins the Parade and Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon, has avoided Barney the TV dinosaur's ignoble fate, however. This despite their shared qualities: purple chassis, overstuffed rounded frames, squeaky, relentlessly upbeat voices, and a nearly mystical pull on kids' imaginations.
If anything, Humongous Entertainment has strengthened the Putt-Putt franchise with his latest adventure. It keeps the gentle, nonviolent approach of previous Putt-Putts, adds a subtle sense of tongue-in-cheek humor that adults will appreciate, and most importantly, sharpens the animation from the PC jaggies of previous versions to a much smoother format on the current CD-ROM.
The tale is a variation on the now-familiar Putt-Putt formula. Putt-Putt and his little dog Pep visit the Cartoon Zoo on opening day, only to discover that - Egads! - six baby animals have gotten lost. Putt-Putt and Pep must find them to save the day - with the aid of a human operating the mouse and solving the puzzles that stand in their way.
Kids will find the navigation simple; just point in the direction you want to go and Putt-Putt putts off to a series of gentle adventures, interspersed with a variety of diversions.
You'll find a few animated music videos (dancing animal shaped topiary sculptures are a hoot). Several easy games spice up the activities, including an ice hockey bout with a imposing polar bear, and a wild log raft ride down the rapids.
And, as with previous Putt-Putt adventures, you must help Putt-Putt find a variety of useful items - a cup of hot chocolate, a tool box, a log, a rope - that Putt-Putt and Pep then use to rescue the missing menagerie.
So what makes Putt-Putt the monster truck of the preschool gaming set?First, Humongous respects both children's intelligence and their need to achieve. Putt Putt Saves the Zoo is no pushover. Kids can't find all the animals without shifting their brains in gear, finding all the tools, and using them properly. My 7-year-old and I are still trying to figure out how to push a boulder over a chasm to allow Putt-Putt to cross. This CD-ROM is a challenge - but one with enough inherent interest to keep kids, and parents involved.
Unlike some fiendishly difficult puzzle-based computer games for the older players, PPSTZ doesn't gloat over the operator's consternation. Putt-Putt himself offers encouragement and hints when kids choose the wrong tool. He won't solve the problems for them, but he will steer them in the right direction.
Second, PPSTZ offers a beguiling feel of interactivity. Putt-Putt's questions and comments are aimed at the human operator, giving kids a sense of communication that's both involving and a little eerie. (I've heard Andrei and his friends talking to the computer as if Putt-Putt was a participant rather than a set of primary-color pixels.}
Third, the game offers an attention to detail that, whether children realize it or not, adds greatly to the overall experience. Zebras far in the distance on an African-styled veldt move and graze in tiny verisimilitude. The aforementioned animation is sharp and smooth. African-influenced music plays in the background, punctuated by elephant trumpeting. Humongous obviously put a lot of thought into the supporting framework for this disc. The result is an overall quality that respects children's intelligence and their aesthetic sensibility .
Fourth - and vitally important for parents who dread the treacle they're often exposed to in computer games aimed at the younger set - PPSTZ exhibits a subtle, self-mocking awareness that can entertain the oldsters as well. From the slightly off-kilter calypso beat of the theme song "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo," to the amateur-hour whistling that accompanies his journeys, to the Indiana Jones-ish adventure music that plays when Putt-Putt and Pep ride the rapids, PPSTZ provides aural in-jokes for the adults.
Absurdist touches such as a public-address announcement in the zoo asking "Mr. Bear - Mr. Fatty Bear - please report to the concession stand, your donuts are ready," remind adults that Humongous has a self-mocking awareness that cuts through the what could become cloying sweetness. (For the uninitiated, Fatty Bear is the star of another Humongous line of computer games.)
A few knocks: The CD-ROM has short but annoying blackouts between scenes that previous floppy-disk Putt-Putt adventures didn't exhibit - the price one pays for the extra information a CD-ROM offers. For the same technical reason, character's mouths don't synchronize with the spoken words.
The tools that Putt-Putt needs to save the zoo babies are always in the same locations, so repeated playings of PPSTZ will be less challenging than the first time around (a feature, not a bug, wrote a Humongous rep in a kid's software newsgroup; it provides reassurance, in the same way that a favorite story read exactly the same way, again and again, gives children comfort at bedtime).
And given the obvious effort that Humongous put into the sonics of this disc, couldn't they have found a voiceover artist who could affect a convincing Australian accent? The actor mouthing Outback Jack, the Range Rover who runs the zoo, is as convincing as an Aussie as Paul Hogan would be portraying a Brooklyn cabby.
Ah well. In the end, PPSTZ's flaws only stand out in contrast to its bountiful charms. Parents with preschoolers who know their way around a mouse pad will ignore the shortcomings, as will children who will welcome Putt-Putt like a favorite playmate back for a return visit. Unlike Barney, he wears well in reruns.
School House Scorecard
| Product: |
Putt Putt Saves the Zoo |
| Company: |
Humongous Entertainment
|
| Cost: |
Not Available |
System Requirements:
Windows
33 MHz 486 or faster
8 megs RAM
Windows 3.1 or Windows 95
SVGA card (640x480, 256 colors)
Sound card
2x CD-ROM
Macintosh
68040 (25 MHz or faster)
8 megs RAM
2X CD-ROM
256 colors.
Breakdown:
Ease of Use 5
Learning Value 3
Entertainment Value 4
Graphics 4
Sound 5
Overall Score:
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