When I was in 10th grade, my life was full of misery thanks to a nasty divorce, and I desperately needed something every morning to take my mind off my life. My high school had just the remedy with computer games. While Bryan Station High School in Lexington, Kentucky couldn’t afford more than a room full of 286 machines, which ran dual-disk drives, one for the operating system and one for the software you wanted to run, those machines made everything right in the world, if only so briefly.
Inside that classroom of computers, every morning I popp,ed in Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, as it provided my brain a kickswith start to the learning process for the day. It made me feel smart, alive, and aligned with my logic for my future. This was before I drank coffee and depended on it.
Fast-forward 30-plus years and that need to feel smart, alive, and logical has been rekindled with Gameloft’s Carmen Sandiego take. The game features a strong essence of the original game series with a hint of revamp from the cartoon that appeared on Netflix. Combined, both bring about a good sense of mystery, logic and some mystery-solving modernization of the original game series. While that original gameplay essence aged a bit, its structure still rings true with its purpose – solving mysteries, which is what it accomplishes with this new game.
So, sit back, break out your pen and paper, and get chief on the phone, because we’ve got a VILE review to uncover.
No need for a remake
While it may seem tempting to retool and remake a classic series like Carmen Sandiego, it is all but unnecessary. The joy of the original game was broken into two key elements:
- Logic problems
- Reading comprehension
Those two gameplay elements, combined with a simple mystery to kick it off, always made the joy of learning less of a classroom experience. It was a well-crafted educational experience that defined the term, “Game-based Learning”. You wouldn’t know that the game was throwing history and facts at you, as you jump from clue to clue. Carmen Sandiego was born on requiring the player to read through everything carefully, memorizing bits of breadcrumbs along the way, and then asking the player to use those crumbs to make their best guess on whodunnit. Again, this was the core of the Carmen Sandiego learning experience and it worked repeatedly, so much that eventually its popularity sprang forth into a television game show. This was the Cheerios of games with a touch of sugar, where you didn’t know you were consuming something healthy because the sugar was hiding it.
With that simple structure in mind, what did Gameloft do with their version of Carmen Sandiego? They brought those two gameplay elements to this newly released game, as well as a plan B in case players lose interest. Both elements are wrapped with a campaign mode in the game and a mode called Acme Files, which is more traditional CS gameplay.
Must-play Modes
The campaign tells the story of Carmen Sandiego helping the good guys catch VILE in the villainy act (multiple times). Paired with a person called Player, Carmen must track down several criminals who have stolen valuables from around the world for the VILE organization before it’s too late. The campaign includes the gathering of local facts and clues, and making a logical deduction on where to go next or who to arrest. The campaign changes the formula with Carmen’s character going out and doing things beyond just talking text and clues. The original series was text-based with amusing cutscenes to keep it all interesting (and art), but this game took that idea to a new level.
The campaign can take Carmen on the streets wherever she is to find clues, take her on a chase through a cityscape, or even have her become a stealthy person and follow someone. The game also throws in the occasional puzzle such as untangling wires, adjusting radio frequency to intercept VILE calls, snaking through an electronic mess to unlock clues, and/or even finding a combination for a safe to crack it open. These extensions still contain the core original gameplay but make for a longer adventure toward an eventual VILE arrest.
While I enjoyed my time with the campaign mode, I can see how some of the gameplay elements feel forced. Gameloft did their best to bring small moments of player-controlled gameplay to life in an old formula, and they succeeded for the most part, but it all may have been unnecessary. The text would have worked just as well but I can see why Gameloft took the game this route. It makes it more interesting and engaging for a more modern gaming audience. Overall, the campaign mode features a solid story to drive the action, which helps to tame that forcefulness in the gameplay, but it is noticeable. Not terrible at all, but not as good as the original formula.
Speaking of the original formula, the Acme Files mode takes that route with its gameplay. Most of it is driven by text, putting together context from interviews, and then tracking down criminals without stepping a foot into a character-controlled environment. It’s just like the old days when the game wants you to read, look up possible answers asked, and then come up with a logical conclusion of whodunnit. This mode is pure, it’s fun, and it is what made the original game so addictive. It is the fallback for entertainment in this title, but for my money is the driving point of entertainment that is still effective in its educational cause.
Now, I’m sure that Gameloft saw the lopsidedness of these modes, which seemed to prompt them to make a leveling system that works off both. As you progress through the game, you’re given a certain number of days to solve whatever mystery you’ve uncovered. If you make mistakes during those days, then you lose time. Your goal is to conserve as much time as you possibly can and nail down an arrest before time runs out. The quicker you make that happen, the more you are rewarded.
The rewards in Carmen Sandiego are based on objects (money, goods, etc.) that have an XP value, which unlocks game pieces as you continue both modes. You must reach a certain XP level with Carmen before going to another step, which pushes you to flip-flop between the modes. It is a slow upgrade process, so you’re going to play a lot and get small sips of XP. That’s a great way to extend the experience for the player but less rewarding as you go through 15–20-minute mission sessions (and dialogue).
To add more value to the process, the game does feature collections, such as costumes and art, while also storing away historical facts of places you visit. While the latter won’t replace Google anytime soon, it’s still nice to see a bit extra going into the effort of this game. Again, this is a classic series that was led by educational gameplay elements, and the latter proves that it retains that core.
At the end of the day, the gameplay of Carmen Sandiego is worthy of its predecessors but doesn’t surpass how those two original gameplay elements worked in ye olden days. Now, having said that the game is still worth your attention and is a wonderful tool for younger gamers in a household that need to be fooled into learning things. In that regard, it does a commendable job of representing.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap this review up.
Conclusion
Carmen Sandiego from Gameloft contains a wonderful nod to the original series on PC. It brings the same elements of logical reasoning and reading comprehension requirements that the old series wore as a badge of honor. The new game does force these elements into some unnecessary gameplay wrappers but still manages to beautifully weave the original essence of the Carmen Sandiego series within it all.
