I bought this discount-rack item for my kindergarten-age nephew shortly before the holidays. I read a series of negative reviews on Amazon.com and frankly didn't expect a whole lot from the game.
Superficially, there are problems. The animation looks like it was drawn by Charles M. Schulz, but the rest of the game convinced me that it was designed by people who'd never read the comic strip or seen the TV specials before. After all, the first words spoken during the introductory sequence are: "The Peanuts!". The CD case itself points you to a German website, and I get the impression this game was designed by German programmers who know English only as a second language. Some of the things the Peanuts characters say during the game are 100% at odds with Schulz's deceptively simple use of the English language.
Once you get past the surface complaints, the game itself is a lot of fun. I solved it with my nephew over the course of four sessions (each about a week apart, but he kept asking to come back to it). I will honestly say I could not have solved this game myself without frequent reference to the help file included on the CD-ROM. Then again, I grew up playing all the Sierra "Quest" games (Space Quest, Police Quest), none of which you could solve without buying the hint book... at least here the solutions comes free of charge! To be fair, I didn't read the answers directly to my nephew, I just gave him hints as to what he was supposed to do at certain dead ends.
As with any good kids-oriented video game, solving the mystery is not the only goal of playing. There are several funny sight gags. There are nine games to play along the way, each at two levels of difficulty, and once you reach a game you can go back to play it at any time. The games vary hand-eye coordination with problem solving.
In sum, a rewarding game that is not as cheaply made as it appears.
Kindle Customer
Bud Foxx