Editor’s note: I originally authored and published the below post on a now defunct site called “The Cool Ship.” Enjoy this reprised content!
There is a simple question that keeps me up at night, gives me chills and causes me to break out in random cold sweats, where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? You have asked yourself the same thing many times I’m sure, so to put all our minds at ease, I tried the classic educational crime puzzle game (enough adjectives for you?), Where In the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Summary
The objective is to use your crime solving skills and position with Interpol to seek out and apprehend international thieves, but the point of the game is to teach kids geography. Now you might say, why would I play a game based on middle school geography that requires a textbook as reference? Because now I have google, and Carmen Sandiego needs to be stopped. She can’t just be left alone to steal anything she wants, that devious femme fatale!
The problem with this game is I might have acquired knowledge of basic geography and history trivia while playing. The benefit of this game is I can apply my new knowledge to Trivial Pursuit, a game I am pitifully bad at playing. I would rather dig a four foot trench by hand than learn trivia, but somehow playing this game I don’t mind so much. Maybe that’s because I love a good puzzle.
Qualification: it’s an ok puzzle game, but not great because adults may find it too easy. Technically though it was made for children, and since I no longer have the palpable, developing mind I had when I was 8, I shouldn’t be too quick to judge. I will say that I have never forgotten what it was like tracking down the notorious Carmen Sandiego, or the annoying theme song from the tv series.
The nostalgic perspective
My parents must have been laughing their heads off that I played this game as much as I did. I never liked school, but they tricked me into learning through an addictive game with simple gameplay and an engaging story. Poor, witless me, I invested hours into catching the bad guys, and I remember leafing through that textbook disguised as a game manual for the answers to the trivia so I could get promotions in the game.
Did you notice how much that sounds like in-game achievements? That’s quite modern for being a game from the early 90s isn’t it?
The now perspective
I’ll be honest, I mostly remembered trying to catch Carmen Sandiego, but until I played this retro title I forgot about some of the details. For instance, did you know the game introduces young minds to the concept of a victory condition, but it doesn’t punish you for losing? So you flubbed your case because you blew all your travel money visiting Paris, Istanbul and Mexico City? No big deal, here’s another case.
Those morally depraved thieves are always lifting priceless items, so you will never run out of opportunities to track them down one by one and lock them up. They also leave behind a trail about as inconspicuous as a stolen credit card making thousand dollar charges in a busy mall. You know you’re on their trail because one of their henchmen walks slowly across your screen looking obvious, wearing a burglar hat and sneaking appropriately.
If that’s not obvious enough, when you get close to apprehending your suspect, the people you interview start telling you to watch your step and a dagger gets thrown at a wall, presumably to scare you off. I’m not scared, I have a gun. In the game I mean. Not in real life. So far what I’ve learned is that criminals are dumb, they fly everywhere, and if one throws a knife at you start shooting.
Now where is that darn Carmen Sandiego?
Final thoughts
If I had never played the Carmen Sandiego games as a kid, I don’t think I would have tried them again at my age. Then again, if I had never played them back then I wouldn’t have done so well in middle school at Geography. In fact, if I remember right, I thought that class was fun. So Carmen Sandiego really is evil because she steals stuff, AND she made me enjoy education. Curse you seductive woman in a red trench coat!
Before you play this game, ask yourself, do I enjoy playing old games even if they require critical thinking and my full attention? If you answered yes, and you don’t mind being smarter than a 5th grader through the use of google, you should dive into this series of classics. If you answered no, download it anyway so your kids can play it. Take if from me, they’ll never even know they were learning stuff.
Links:
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/13/Where+in+the+World+is+Carmen+Sandiego.html