Putt-Putt Enters the Race is an educational adventure game developed and published by Humongous Entertainment in 1998. The game is the fifth entry in the Putt-Putt series. Jason Ellefson is no longer the voice of Putt-Putt, and this is the first of two games to feature Nancy Cartwright as the voice of Putt-Putt.
Production
The game was created by Humongous Games as part of the popular edutainment series Putt-Putt in 1998. The game was re-released in 2014 for iOS, Android, and Steam.
Plot
Putt-Putt and Pep receive a letter from Redline Rick inviting him to enter the Cartown 500, and he's been waiting for this type of event all year, so he's definitely going to accept it. But he needs some things before he enters, so he needs to drive around Cartown and look for them. Putt-Putt has to find the number of important objects before he qualifies for the race. When all of the objectives are completed, Putt-Putt is allowed to enter the race. At the end of the race, Redline Rick announces Putt-Putt as the winner with the medal and trophy. However, Redline Rick rewards Putt-Putt a ribbon if Putt-Putt does not win first place in the race.
Promotion
The game was officially unveiled at the 1998 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta, May 28–30, at booth 5626. Humongous Entertainment executive vice president of marketing and licensing, Ralph Giuffre, said "We're very excited that for the first time ever, kids will actually sit in Putt-Putt's driver's seat and take a spin around the Cartown Speedway with their favorite purple car." On January 14, the Humongous Entertainment website launch a week-long online celebration for the game, which included offering players free downloadable demos, online games, contests and other items the at Putt-Putt's Pit Stop. In December 1999, Humongous partnered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation for a holiday promotion where customers could " donate the full $10 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation or donate $2 to the charity and receive $8 back" at participating national software retail outlets for Humongous's best-selling 16 software, which included this game.
Commercial performance
According to PC Data of Reston, the game was the 5th top-selling educational title across 13 software retail chains for the week ended January 16, and the 9th top-selling home-education software for the week ended May 1.
Critical reception
Sonic praised the game for being both fun and educational, while challenging kids in creative ways. Superkids said the game was best-suited to children who have curiosity and patience. Eugene Register-Guard described the game as " challenging and entertaining". The Bryan Times praised the user interface. Lakeland Ledger thought the game was "charming". Ouders Online said the game was highly fun, and added that Putt-Putt was a good role model. The Boston Herald praised the game's "smooth animation and appealing characters", while saying that its complexity would appeal to older players. The 52 year old reviewer at The Colombian, enjoyed the interactive content, commenting that the game had a high "Giggle-to-Click Ratio". Star Tribune said that, like other Humongous games, this title was "high-quality" and "entertaining", while complimenting its replay value. The game was used in a study by The Mirror. Daily Herald deemed the game "above average" and "sweet". PC Mag said a parent "can't go wrong" with buying the game for their 3-8-year-old child.
