Putt-Putt® and Pep's Balloon-o-Rama

There is no reason for this game to have 120 levels.

I have loved this game since I was a child. The arcade style of play makes this game super engaging, and the gameplay becomes increasingly difficult as you progress. Since this is a game for children, the challenge is limited, but I'd be lying if I said it doesn't challenge people of every age. It's a simple concept, where the designers found creative ways to repurpose familiar game elements in new ways. I have loved Putt-Putt games since I was five years old, and even though this isn't the same style of point and click adventure, it presents a different kind of game with the same two lovable characters from the main series. While the "create your own levels" feature is limited, there's still quite a few ways to create unique challenges. I love all the different musical pieces and background sets. Gorgeous, old school aesthetics and timeless gameplay!

[b]‘A Boy and His Dog.’[/b] [i]Putt-Putt and Pep’s Balloon-o-Rama[/i] is a [i]Putt-Putt[/i] spin-off about cleansing the universe of balloons. The plot is that the automobile’s canine companion has lost a bunch of balloons (far more balloons than the introduction showed us), so they decided to get them by… popping them. Why? Who knows. This is not exactly the craftiest or most coherent excuse for arcade gameplay, but oh well. The gameplay is heavily based on [i]Breakout[/i] or [i]Arkanoid[/i]: Putt-Putt acts as a paddle, Pep acts as the ball, and you have to burst every balloon in the area without letting Pep hit the ground repeatedly. You can also give Pep gentle taps by holding the left-mouse button. Bursting certain balloons also reveals power-ups, but these power-ups are less plentiful and less diverse than I was expecting: occasionally you can obtain a power-up that lengthens Putt-Putt, makes Pep bounce seamlessly, makes Pep bounce in low gravity, or makes him attach to Putt-Putt. All of these power-ups are temporary no matter how long you survive, and if Pep hits the ground, they vanish immediately. I feel like putting a timer on all of the power-ups only makes them less exciting than they could have been, and it does not help any that the campaign gives them to you so sparingly. After clearing an area of balloons, you go to another area where the balloons are available in different positions, different quantities, different varieties, or what have you. Some balloon varieties reveal treats, which you want to catch for bonus points, and others drop rubbish, which you want to avoid, lest to suffer a penalty to your score. Some areas have obstacles that inhibit Pep or inhibit Putt-Putt. After ten areas, you move to a new setting, and the process begins anew. If Pep hits the ground too many times, you lose your score, but you can continue whence you left off. This spin-off has over 120 levels, and it takes nearly four hours to finish the campaign. The sound is mostly fine. As to be expected, there are plenty of cartoony sound effects, but I did not find any of them irritating (though I can see others becoming annoyed after hearing the falling sound effect hundreds of times). Jason Ellefson is the spin-off’s sole actor and his performance ranges from average to almost risibly flat. Child actors rarely supply great performances, so I cannot judge him harshly for this. The music is a mixed bag: the moon levels have a pretty groovy tune, whereas the carnival one is almost grating, but most of the tracks are average. The graphics are fine. I have to say that giving the ‘paddle’ and the ‘ball’ asymmetrical appearances was a heretical decision for a [i]Breakout[/i] clone, but being cartoons they look okay for what they are. The animation is average. The backgrounds are more detailed and more interesting, and thankfully they do not inhibit the gameplay as you would expect from certain other Junior Arcade spin-offs. In conclusion, [i]Balloon-o-Rama[/i] is a mildly entertaining spin-off, but it is nothing mindblowing. As far as [i]Breakout[/i] clones goes, there is nothing special about this one unless you love the [i]Putt-Putt[/i] series. That being said, this is an okay purchase when on sale, but you would be much better off buying it as part of the Putt-Putt Complete Pack instead when that goes on sale. If you simply want to get your hands on a great [i]Breakout[/i] clone, give [i]Adventure Ball[/i] a look, but I am sure that there are even better ones out there on the market. While [i]Balloon-o-Rama[/i] is certainly serviceable, it is very much one of those ‘take it or leave it’ kinds of games.

A classic fun game to pass the time. Brings back memories from my childhood.

This game is genuinely not fun to play near the end. There are two concepts you will become painfully aware of while playing: Bucket Balloons and Regenerating Balloons. Bucket Balloons take up three vertical spaces and can only be popped when Pep hits the topmost space. Hit too low? Pep rebounds off of the spot and often comes crashing down. When it's popped, it comes crashing down, hitting Putt-Putt if he's below. The intention is that you get painted the color of the paint, but it also stuns, and you're likely going to just not catch Pep in that circumstance. Regenerating balloons, though... Regenerating balloons have a timer attached to the space they'll occupy, as well as a queue they'll follow if multiple balloons will take up the same spot. When the space is empty, the first timer will start, as long as Pep is up in the air. When time's up, a new balloon will take up that spot. Oftentimes it's just to fill in some part of whatever design the devs came up with. Other times, and the part that pisses me off, is that you will see a bucket balloon. And then sixteen balloons will appear as a shield for the top of the bucket balloon. And then more will shield those balloons. And then more. And if you pop any of those? The timer for the next balloons starts. One level starts out with a few balloons on the top layer, before filling the level spot by spot with balloons every second. You are not popping them all until they've all appeared. These two items used so flagrantly in tandem makes me believe the devs made this game out of a higher-up's request and not out of any actual interest.

I had this game in my childhood, and love it. all in all it only took me about 3 hours to beat.

I played this when I was like 4 years old. The alien sounds and alien level were my first experience of horror ever. Is it scary in the slightest? No. But to my baby brain it felt like a type of analog horror. I felt like the game was cursed and that the aliens would take over me.

This is a fun game involving Pep popping balloons in over 100 amazing levels! And for even more fun, you can create your own levels with a number of balloons to choose from! However, the level creator is not without its flaws. For one thing, there is no option to reset your level, unlike other Junior Arcade games, making the tool to pop balloons the only option. Also, while getting rid of objects in the editor, Putt-Putt will often interrupt what you're doing just to tell you how fast you're popping balloons, which can be annoying. It's also a disappointment that there is only one location available in the editor instead of three, like the other Arcades. Still, Balloon-o-Rama is a nice game for all and I encourage others to give it a try!

I won't go into too much detail, since it's a pretty simple game at heart, but it made my childhood nonetheless. This game is an Arkanoid-style game where you use Putt-Putt as your paddle and Pep as your ball. Simply bounce Pep into the balloons to pop them, and pop them all to clear a stage. Still, in typical Humongous Entertainment fashion, the whole game oozes with charm and character! The bouncy animation and bright colors makes even the simplest of levels feel lively! Overall verdict: 93/100. It held up great back in the day, and it still holds up well today. The later levels get pretty mean with the balloon placement and with spawning / respawning balloons, though there is thankfully some Junior Helper options to help ease the difficulty.

actually challenging on the last several levels!! really fun game