Putt Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise

by Atari

Product Features

• Help Putt-Putt plan Pep¿s birthday surprise in this cartoon-style learning adventure
• Kids choose where the characters go; over 20 fun locations to explore
• The adventure changes each time the game is played
• Putt-Putt's friendly and polite nature reinforces good social skills and manners
• Encourages critical thinking, creative problem solving, and teamwork

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00009EFZ5
• Item Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: September 30, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,280 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

It's Pep's birthday and Putt-Putt wants to surprise him with his first birthday party ever! Join Putt-Putt as he travels through Cartown, helping various residents, reaping rewards, and gathering supplies for the party. With new friends to meet and new problems to solve, kids will love helping Putt-Putt get everything ready in time for the big surprise--a birthday cake, presents, decorations, and friends!

Game Features:

• Cartoon-style learning adventures where kids choose where the characters go
• Over 20 fun locations to explore
• The adventure changes each time the game is played
• Kids have so much fun they don't even realize they are learning
• Putt-Putt's friendly and polite nature reinforces good social skills and manners
• Encourages critical thinking, creative problem solving, and teamwork
• For one player

Product Description

Listen...Think...Explore!   Join Putt-Putt in a fun learning adventure!  



Putt-Putt is a lovable little purpleconvertible with a go-getting attitude who always helps his friends!  Join him as he travels through Cartown gathering everything he needs to throw a surprise party for his best pal, Pep.  It's Pep's first birthday party ever!

• Encourages critical thinking
• Fosters listening and memory skills
• Emphasizes the importance of teamwork

Meet the Characters -- Help Putt-Putt gather everything he needs for Pep'sfirst birthday party ever.  As you drive around Cartown, speak with all of the other cars along the way.  They may be able to provide you with clues or items to help you!

Mr. Baldini
Mr. Baldini runs the Cartown grocerystore.  He needs your assistance getting his shipment of apples from Torvil.  If you help him out, he may give you some key ingredients for Pep's birthday cake.

Ms. Bundlenugget
She's the town librarian by day, and an operasinger by night.  ON some occasions, Marvin's magic hat has been accidentally switched with Ms. bundlenugget's opera hat.  Between helping folks with their literary needs and trying to keep a handle on the bunnies in the library, she isdesperately in need of a little assistance.

Caristas
Tasty hot cocoa here!  The Caristas outside the Bakery can provide a nice distraction for Pep while you talk in private with Mrs. Goodbake.

Mrs.Goodbake
Cartown's baker has a heart of gold:  she brings joy to others by baking wonderful cakes.  Putt-Putt may be able to provide Mrs. Goodbake with the ingredients she needs to bake the best cake ever.  Once she's done withthe cake, then it's time for you to decorate it.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not a worthy addition, July 11, 2005

By 

Geek Mom (Northern CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Putt Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise (CD-ROM)

My children (3& 5) are huge Putt-Putt fans. My older one has 'graduated' to Putt-Putt Travels Through Time, the most challenging and imho,best designed of them all.

Putt Putt : Pep's Birthday Surprise is slow, clunky and poorly designed.

It is as if marketing over-compensated for the complex _Travels through Time_ game (which has received complaints for it's complexity) and removed anything remotely challenging.

Putt-Putt must complete serveral tasks to prepare for Pep's birthday surprise. Before he completes each task he must distract Pep so he can talk in private with the other characters.

The most annoying example of this is when Putt Putt brings the ingredients for the cake to the baker. Putt Putt must ask Pep to fetch hot chocolate each time he wants to give the baker an ingredient and before he decorates the cake.

This is a waste of time, and is sloppy programming.

There are also a few glaring bugs. For example, after Putt Putt catches run away rabbits at the firestation(he must return them to their home, the magician's hat), they inexplicably are still running around until he gives the hat back to the magician.

This is a simple bug which should have been caught in testing.

I highly recommend Putt Putt goes to the Moon for 3-5 year olds (the apartment matrix is ingenious! It introduces the concept of a matrix in a fun way!), Putt Putt Enters the Race for 3-5 year olds, Putt Putt Saves the Zoo for 3-4 year olds, Putt Putt saves the Circus for 3-5 year olds and Putt Putt Travels Through Time for 5-7 year olds.

Check out the Freddi Fish series as well.

I recommend you don't waste your money on this game!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stepford Putt, January 24, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Putt Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise (CD-ROM)

We had to install this on an XP account with privileges, and we still have no confidence it will not bomb. We gave up trying to install on Windows 2000 and 98 systems.

It takes forever to get through the scene chat. Our children are really patient; this is the first time we've felt compelled to use the Enter key to end the character chats.

The bonhomie is missing. Even down to the choice of Putt's voice. Putt used to seem about 7 years old, and now he sounds like his voice is about to change.

Putt used to be an innocent little guy, helpful and kind, but in this game, he must constantly get rid of Pep in order to discuss the party with co-conspirators. In most scenes, you must first click on Pep so that Putt-Putt can tell him to "go play with your friend", out the door, unsupervised...

Better to buy "Enters the Race" first, then try "Zoo", "Circus", "Moon", and "Parade".

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Buy Putt-Putt Enters the Race Instead!, January 26, 2004

By 

"hypergami" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Putt Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise (CD-ROM)

Pep's Birthday Surprise is a definite let-down from Putt-Putt Enters the Race! The major flaw in the software is that the game is less open-ended and too full of animated scenes ... the charm of the Putt-Putt games is that kids are encouraged to use critical thinking skills and to figure out (sometimes obscure) problems. These features are curtailed in this particular game, as if the designers have lost faith in their audience's ability to problem solve and to do multi-step reasoning ... A minor but disconcerting feature is that Putt-Putt's voice has dropped in pitch, which will prove very distracting to Putt-Putt parent veterans!