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| Carmen Sandiego takes you to fifteen cities around the globe |
| Quick Info | |
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| Reviewed by: | Mark Goninon |
| Developer: | Gameloft |
| Publisher: | Gameloft |
| Release Date: | 4 Mar 2025 |
| Time played: | 8.5 hours |
Carmen Sandiego: The Next Generation
Geography was one of my favourite subjects at school, so it probably comes as no surprise that one of my favourite edutainment titles growing up was Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Deluxe back in 1992. Whether I liked the game because I already had an affinity with geography (I was a nerd that loved reading atlases) or whether it was enhanced because I played the game, I guess we'll never know. Ever since playing the original, I've been looking for a game that recaptures that same feel: using your knowledge of people and places from around the world in order to determine where to travel next in a race against time.
Chinatown Detective Agency got close, but it wasn't quite close enough, so when I heard that the Brisbane studio of Gameloft were working on a new Carmen Sandiego game, I had mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation: I was excited that a new game based on the franchise was coming out, but Gameloft is a company renowned for mobile games, meaning PC players were likely to get a mobile port and the fact it is a game based off the most recent Netflix series (as good as it is) meant it might be more concerned in emulating the show rather than the original game.
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| Me too Player. Me too. |
Speaking of the Netflix show, for those that are not familiar with it, it's well worth a look, especially if you have kids. Like the game, Carmen Sandiego is seen travelling around the world but in this series, Carmen is a reformed V.I.L.E. villain and goes head to head with them as well as ACME (the detective agency the player usually works for). This game is set after the events in the Netflix series so while you'll be getting assistance from your loyal Guy-In-The-Chair, Player, you'll also be gaining assistance from ACME too.
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| Some of the mini-games involve gliding like this segment through Gardens by the Bay in Singapore |
Core Gameplay is Familiar
The game is a weird mish-mash of new and old concepts. A reassuring bit of news for fans of the original game series is that the core gameplay loop is similar: i.e. your job is to chase down a V.I.L.E. villain around the world by gathering clues at each city you visit. The clues will give you some information about their appearance and hobbies (so you can issue an arrest warrant for the correct villain) and also some hints on where they are travelling to next. For fans of the TV game show, there's even a rock version of Rockapella's theme song in the Collection screen. What is a bit different is that the game is peppered with mini-games that relate to Carmen Sandiego's character from the Netflix show, so you'll be dodging laser beams in underground complexes, rewiring circuit boards or grappelling between rooftops. All of these are fine and there's enough variety in the mini-games to ensure you're not going to be playing the same ones all the time, but there is another part of the game where it does feel rather repetitive, especially for someone who enjoys geography, and that's the lack of cities to visit.
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| Sometimes the clues don't really give a definitive answer and you'll have to guess |
Lack of Cities and Quality Clues
To be fair, this game actually has levels based off each of the cities you visit, meaning a lot more work has gone into making the experience feel more immersive compared to the still photos you'd see in older games in the series, however you only end up with 15 cities you can visit in this game - that's half the number available in Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Deluxe. Worse, it's quite common for you to even visit the same city twice in the same caper which just further cements how very few locations there are.
I also find the quality of clues in this game to be somewhat of a downgrade compared to previous Carmen Sandiego games. For example, sometimes they're along the lines of "the flags have stripes" or "the airport code has the letter 'N'" and this can exist for two out of the three choices you have to make, meaning it's very easy to pick the wrong one all thanks to questions I don't really deem to be geography trivia. I would have preferred more questions about a country's geography, history or culture instead.
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7
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Carmen Sandiego is faithful to the Netflix series and its core gameplay loop is similar to the original games, although a lack of cities to visit and lazy clues makes for repetitive and frustrating gameplay. |
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