If you are a parent then you know how hard it is to find games that will be suitable for your children to play, games that you can leave your children playing without you having to hover over their shoulder worrying about what might pop up next on the screen. Games that are in that category are hard to come by, and even fewer and farther between are the good ones. Read on for one of the good ones.
Matuda Games has a game for you that is going to accomplish a couple of things, besides being a children friendly title (that adults can enjoy too). First of all, there is absolutely no offensive material in Putup, unless your children are scared of black silhouettes, the creature that you control is quite similar to the ghosts from Pac-Man by Namco.
Second, learning hand eye co-ordination is something that most children at a young age have trouble with and can use any help they can get to improve, Putup is a great starting point and also will help them get used to computers-let’s face it, computers aren’t going anywhere (I know, I sound like I dropped out of the late 80’s with that comment).
Gameplay is quite similar to Bust-a-Move and it’s brethren but Putup diverges from that classic in one key aspect in that your ammunition is pulled from the top of the screen by some small disembodied gloved hands (not in a scary manner, most children will find this amusing). Putup is still a match 3 type of game but it has a unique spin on things. The playfield is broken up into columns of mixed colored items that resemble wrapped candy, matching 3 nets the player points and when you make the last match you move onto the next level.
Between each level is a catching level where you are on the bottom of the screen and must catch the items as they fall from the top of the screen. Points are awarded for catching candy but penalties are given for catching things such as rocks and piles of leaves, later levels can become quite hectic and it becomes quite fast paced. Power-ups that players can depend on to save them from eminent loss include gravity decreasers and even 6 and 9 packs of candy that help you reach the required quota of each candy to move onto the next level.
The black silhouettes that were mentioned earlier are little houses and such that depict the different levels (you progress from one to the next). Nothing bad, of course this will depend on the maturity level of the player (for the extremely young it might be a disconcerting problem but for gamers at about 7 or 8 years and older, this stuff will be overshadowed by 99% of what they are watching on Cartoon Network already).
Animations are detailed and sometimes extremely subtle, there are leaves that fly through the background, gentle swaying to the tree on the level select and other little touches like the eyes on your little character that look in the direction you are moving. Very nicely done, this is something that most developers miss out on, probably due to financial restraints (artwork is hardest part to budget).
If you are a parent and looking for something that will be safe and entertaining for your children to play then definitely check out Putup by Matuda Games today, you won’t be sorry.
7 out of 10
Putup by Matuda Games – website
Platform: Windows PC (demo available on site)
1.2 gig processor
128 megs of RAM
64 meg video card
100 megs of hard drive space
