Mr. Potato Head Saves Veggie Valley
Reviewed by Jason Levine
Published by Hasbro Interactive/Playskool

Age Group: Age 2 to 5, Age 4 to 8 Type: Puzzles/Memory Price: 30.00

Description:

Veggie Valley is in trouble! A drought has caused severe problems, so our plucky friend and his daughter, Sweet Potato, have headed off to lasso a rain cloud. (Hey, that's no sillier than a city I lived in once that spent MILLIONS each year to "seed" clouds.)

Playing the Game

The scenes in this game present information, obstacles or puzzles. You can choose to play the Midway Games independently of the Adventure, but you don't win any prizes. Use the arrows to move Mr. Potato Head and Sweet Potato in the direction of the pointer. There are lots of clickable characters and objects that animate or give more information or game hints. When the cursor is a white hand, click to animate the character or object the hand is touching.

Sweet Potato's Backpack is where you'll put objects required to solve the various puzzles. To see the objects, click the backpack icon to open it. To use an object, click that object in the open backpack.

Change My Face can be opened by clicking the icon at the bottom of the screen. Some of the time, Sweet Potato appears on this icon and is in the "Change My Face" activity. During the game, there are several areas in which Mr. Potato Head needs a disguise - and you're in charge of his wardrobe!

You may PRINT Mr. Potato Head after you've dressed him up.

Save a game by dragging the miniature image of the game into an empty slot, then release the image by clicking. Saved games may be opened at the beginning of the game.

Getting to the Fair

The game begins at Mr. Potato Head's home. Pick up the leaves, you'll need them later - put them in Sweet Potato's Backpack. Then follow the path to the next scene.

Caterpillars are the next obstacle - they must be distracted by feeding them the leaves from Sweet Potato's backpack. If you don't have a leaf, you have to go back to the first of the game and get those leaves!

The Onion Troll won't let you across unless Mr. Potato Head and Sweet Potato are dressed like him! His favorite outfits are of a cowboy, pirate or queen. They must wear at least two of the three items that the Onion Troll is wearing.

At the Lettuce Pass, select a path up the hill. Click adjacent empty rocks to lead them to the last rock before the slide opening.

Entering the Fair!

Mr. Potato Head and Sweet Potato didn't bring money with them and don't have the $.10 for admission! However, if they dress like the character on the blackboard (a cow, pig or clown) they can be admitted free.

Bringing the Cloud to Veggie Valley

You must visit all of these places at the fair:

• Zoom-a-Plane ride to get a list of items to bring back to Mr. Mushroom.
• Popcorn Stand Mr. Popcorn gives Sweet Potato a box of popcorn to put into the backpack.
• Pie eating contest - The faster you click, the faster they eat! If they win, they get pie tin helmets.

MIDWAY - there are items you must obtain at each of the three Midway games. Click the entrances to enter.

• Counting Pinballs will give Mr. Potato Head the chance to win a glow-in-the-dark ball. A second try could result in winning a pinwheel.
• Match and Catch Fishing - Click pairs of fish that match. You win when all the fish are in bowls. The prize is a jump rope you'll need to lasso the rain cloud.
• Funny Photo Booth is fun! Change the faces of Mr. Potato Head and Sweet Potato, then click the camera to take their picture. The photo ID goes into the backpack.

The Silly House, Ferris Wheel , and Borrowing the Plane!

Be sure you have that glow-in-the-dark ball with you when you enter the Silly House, you're going to need it so you can see. And get the bouncy shoes while you're there, okay?

If Mr. Potato Head gets stuck on the Ferris Wheel, you'll need the bouncy shoes and the jump rope to get him down and lasso the rain cloud. (I tole you to get those bouncy shoes!)

After you've collected the propeller, two helmets, picture and popcorn, then lassoed the rain cloud, they automatically return to the Zoom-a-Plane ride. Give Mr. Mushroom the items so he'll lend them the plane.

So You've Lassoed a Cloud?

Drag it home and start working on getting it to rain! To do this, you'll need all the vegetable characters from largest to smallest to make a pile that reaches the rain cloud. Next, give Sweet Potato a silly face to cheer up the rain cloud so he'll rain on Veggie Valley.

Sounds and Graphics

The music was a bit annoying some of the time, but the graphics were quite entertaining and the animations ran smoothly. The sound effects were fun throughout the game and the speech was clear.

Mr. Potato Head Saves Veggie Valley

aims to develop investigation, problem solving and creative design skills for ages 2 to 6. My feeling is that 2 year olds will enjoy watching their older siblings play - the mouse pointer is a bit difficult to control for smaller children (and this adult.) Our 3 year old daughter spent some time playing and enjoyed every bit of it. The versatility of this title means that children will be able to use it for some time to come - younger kids will enjoy the clickables, pre-schoolers can play the games and later move up to the harder level and play the adventure. This game might be more appropriate for ages 3 to 7.

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