Black Cats and Pointed Hats

by Viva Media

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004T4BG
• Item model number: 9783931372456
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 22, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,997 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From Children's Software Revue® -- "Subscribe Now!"

In this humorous interactive adventure from Germany, kids explore the zany town of Witchville in an effort to help Freddy the Frog turn back into a prince. Seven gifts must be delivered to seven witches, each hidden somewhere in the colorful scenes of the town. In order to make a delivery, children need to look carefully in order to match the patterns of the wrapping paper to the appropriate witches. Once all of the presents are distributed, Freddy is once again a prince. The narration found throughout the adventure is charming, and the graphics, humor and music are all strong. Our testers loved searching through the town's park, market, school or homes, carefully scanning for witches with the matching patterns. Each of the witches' shoes found at the startup of the game leads to another set of presents to deliver, helping to maintain children's interest. On the downside, the instructions are not interruptible, and you have to hear them each time you play. The animated clickables are lots of fun, but testers unanimously wished for more activities besides looking for witches. You should also be aware that this is not a localized program. The CD comes to us direct from Europe, unchanged from its original state. Consequently, while the rhymes and narration are very appealing, there are some off-the-cuff statements that might be considered locally objectionable. When one little witch casts his spell, for instance, he states "Hounds of hell with woolly hats, now I'll turn you into bats." After a witch tells her little witchling to be naughty, her daughter responds, "Itsy bitsy chicken titsy." While younger testers seemed to be unaware of these comments, they sent older kids into hysterics. As the language in question is a only minor part of the program, testers' parents felt that they would still consider the purchase.
Teaches: logic, problem solving, classification
Age Range: 3-7 Copyright © 2000 Children's Software Revue

Amazon.com Product Description

Frederich of Frivolia used to be a handsome prince before the nasty witches turned him into a green frog. But with your help, he can reverse the curse. All you need to do is find seven special witches around Witchville and give them each the right present. But it is not as easy as it sounds; you won't always see the witch you are looking for immediately. Every click brings a new surprise, and you'll find hidden everywhere lots to discover about a witch's daily life.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Romp!, October 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Cats and Pointed Hats (Video Game)

Wonderful artwork and very magical effects! Great choice for the under 6 crowd but may get a bit boring for older kids. My 7 year old still enjoys it but may play with it for a very short time. Still worth it for its story book feel. I really like this title. It was worth the wait!

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not much to the game!, February 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Cats and Pointed Hats (Video Game)

It took me a while to understand what is involved in this game. The idea behind the game is so simple that at first I didn't believe I had it right. You have to match the pattern on some gifts to a pattern on the clothing of the witches. The trick seems to be that one of the five witches is almost impossible to find. This means that you look at the same screens over and over and click on the same pictures again and again. The witches come out and say things that no child could understand; it has a very dry, very adult sense of humor. And very, very boring!!!! Also, the game pops back and forth from Dutch to English at its whim. Very annoying when one of those long speeches comes on and you have to listen to the whole thing in a foreign language. I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone.