- Developer: Humongous Entertainment
- Publisher: UFO Interactive
- Release Date: 3/1/2022
- Price: £13.49 / $14.99
Introducing: Putt-Putt Travels through Time Review
Alright, in my recent review of the Freddi Fish game that came to the Switch, I said that it wouldn’t really be entirely possible for me to stay unbiased as I was pretty nostalgic for the Humongous Entertainment game properties. That’s going to hold true here as well, since this is one of the Putt-Putt Games that I played the most as a child, perhaps because the subject of time travel was so alluring. Either way, let’s take a look at Putt-Putt Travels Through Time and see if this 1997 kid’s adventure game holds up to review in 2022.
A Whole History to Explore
Putt-Putt is a living car, let’s just get that out of the way. This is not called attention to in any way aside from some visual comedy at a few points, so it’s best not commented much on here either. He’s very excited that he was able to finish his history report and decides that he’ll swing by Mr. Firebird’s lab in order to show him before he heads along his way to car school.
However, at the former fireworks factory turned lab, Mr. Firebird is keen to show off that he has created a time machine that allows them to peer into the past. Excited, the pair boot it up, only for things to, predictably, go horribly wrong. Putt-Putt’s history report, lunchbox, calculator, and even his dog Pep get sucked into the vortex of time and scattered about, leaving Putt-Putt to have to put in the legwork to get them back.
Into the Adventure
The Humongous Entertainment titles are educational games for kids, but if you’re expecting for this one to teach your kids any in depth history, you won’t find that here. These games are generally about teaching logic and problem solving rather than a single subject. So, your child may walk away with some vague concepts of the four time periods (Prehistoric, Medieval, Old West, and the future), it will be much more “there used to be dinosaurs” and “trains were important in the old west” than any specific historical facts and figures.The idea for the future is very 90s rooted too, saying that in the future all books will be digitized and money will no longer exist! (Still waiting on that last one.) Still, those concepts can be great to learn while having fun. Of all the Humongous Entertainment characters, Putt-Putt was always the youngest aimed, so for your 4-6 year old kid, these are about the level we want to be at anyway.
That being said, it’s not like the game can’t be enjoyed by adults if you have some nostalgia for these games or are willing to meet them on their level. It’s held up shockingly well, and a lot of the jokes are things that I didn’t quite get when I was little, but still found funny anyway. Now? They’re just funny on their own. It helps that Travels Through Time was one of Putt-Putt’s best adventures and makes an excellent first impression here on the Switch.
Tap, Tap, Tap
Gameplay is your typical point and click adventure fare and it works perfectly fine. There’s a smattering of minigames and puzzles to overcome across the journey and everything is very understandable for the young audience that it is aimed at. Even if they’re not actively progressing and finding everything, they’ll have a lot of fun just exploring the world of the game. In fact, exploration is going to be key, because it’s not a matter of going into one time period and having everything you need, you’re going to have to bring items across eras. For adults, these may be overly simple, but they’re no less rewarding.
The big key here, though, is how these games are exceptionally replayable. Each of the four things you need to find can end up in each of the four eras, meaning that there are 16 “questlines” to solve, but each of these is randomly mixed and matched each time you start a new game, meaning that there are 24 different possible scenarios that you can end up with! That’s insane! However, it means that the game is easy to come back to and will always be offering new surprises. Sure, the lunchbox might have been in the future both times you played, but one time the calculator was in the medieval era and the other it was prehistoric. This also helps kids, because after the first time there might be something they already know how to do, but still a new challenge waiting for them.
Vibrancy, No Matter the Age
Putt-Putt holds up very well visually, thanks in large part to the extremely expressive hand drawn animations. While the resolution is a bit lower by the simple fact of this being a game that’s over 20 years old now, it still looks just fine on both the TV and in handheld. The characters are wonderfully designed and each and every area is put together so well that it’s memorable. To the point that I remembered every pathway in this game, despite how I’ve not personally played it in at least 10-15 years.
The audio holds up just fine too and the voice actors are really putting their all into it. This was the last game where Putt-Putt was voiced by the original actor, as well, since he was a child and after this point his voice was changing too much to keep it up. The music in every area is memorable and bright, fitting in perfectly to whatever is happening. Oh, there’s a whole musical sequence to be found if you interact with the characters in the main hub of the game as an extra treat for those players who have been exploring everything.
Merrily We Roll Along
Everything ran perfectly smooth while I was playing this game, which is something that I am glad I can say about a port of such an old game. This one has a leg up on the other Humongous Entertainment game on Switch as well by not launching with any major bugs to be found. It runs just as well as it did back in the day, which is butter smooth.
A Hearty Recommendation
Putt-Putt Travels Through Time is a game I bought on a whim when I found out about it, looking for a quick nostalgia trip. However, the more I played, the more I knew that I had to review it, if only to encourage others to give it a shot. It holds up so well and is a treat for both willing adults and kids who have never heard of such a thing before. Simply put, I am ale to credit this game for kickstarting my love of puzzle adventure games, and if you give it a chance, it could do the same thing for your kids too.
Pros
- Tons of replayability
- Charming visuals
- Holds up just as well as you remember
- Excellent for young gamers
Cons
- Doesn’t go super in depth into the educational subject matter
Verdict
Putt-Putt Travels Through Time is one of the best games to introduce your young kids to puzzle adventures and this port to switch does that just as brilliantly as the PC version ever did.
