Customer Reviews

Carmen Sandiego Geography Learning System

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This box set contains two CD-ROMS, Where in the World and Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego. It also contains one 30 minute DVD of the Stolen Smile segment of the Carmen Sandiego television series. I had no problems loading both CD-ROMS on my PC. I am running Windows XP.

Where in the World is a "treasure hunt" style game that requires you to travel the globe looking for the necessary clues to solve 8 interconnecting missions. Along the way you learn many interesting things about the countries you visit and will even learn some common language phrases. The truly studious can learn about the countries in more depth within the game's database. The game is very fun and can be enjoyed by the young and old alike. The box says that it is designed for ages 8-12 but realize that solving the missions requires the player to listen intentally, methodically search the countries, and solve logic puzzles. My 7 year old loves visiting different countries and learning about them but does not have the reasoning skills to complete the game. For him to enjoy it, I must gently guide him through the game. My 11 and 14 year old neighbors, found the game challenging but solveable. Once you solve a mission you can not go back and brouse the countries you visited.

In Where in the U.S.A. you travel the United States capturing Carmen's V.I.L.E. agents. Each mission is short and requires you to know certain facts about the states (guessing is part of the learning) and interpret the analogies the locals give to describe the crook. The game requires a good bit of reasoning but the average 9 or 10 year old could probably play it solo. My 7 year old enjoys visiting and learning about the states but can't solve the missions without my assistance. There are many ways to learn without solving a mission. You can read about the states in the game's database, answer trivia questions or be given a guided tour. I didn't find this game to be as much fun as In the World but the ability to visit and learn about a state at your own pace makes it a great choice.

The "system requirements" stated are not accurate. The "Where in the USA" game is not Mac compatible. This is clearly labelled on the bottom of the box--although the front says Mac compatible.

So a Mac user ends up getting a 12-year-old, 25-minute cartoon on the DVD, and only a one-disk game ("Where in the World..."). Given that disk is available for $9.99, this seems a poor value.

Like the previous reviewer, we have found this software package to be disappointing as well. The help file does not work in the Mac version, and so we all found that very frustrating just trying to move along figuring how things work. Then it froze up. Thinking it was because of being on a older iBook (in OSX mode), I ran it on a fairly new MacBookPro and it froze up on that too. Huge disappointment.

Broderbund (The Learning Company) offers only some web-based help (29 notes), most of which is for Windows, and none of the notes pertained to our problem. There is no phone or email help for this software. Even for the low price, it is a waste of money. My 8 yo is very disappointed.

Our third grader is hooked on the World game, despite being occasionally challenged by it, and enjoyed the DVD enough to request more than one viewing of it. So although we haven't even tried out the USA game yet, I think we got our money's worth, if not more.

We're using an older computer with XP, and had no installation problems. The "Where in the World" game runs just fine for us; if we have problems with the USA version I'll come back to make a note here, but so far this purchase has been great.

[UPDATE Jan. 2009 - I installed the USA game and it runs for us under XP. I got nervous when the installation routine wanted to install an ancient version of Quicktime, which might potentially have caused problems. Luckily I was able to cancel that step, and the rest of the Setup continued just fine. The USA game does not appear to be as cool or compelling as the "World" game, but as we get used to its approach (and figure out how to be more efficient at clue-finding), it is becoming more fun. Best of all, it completes the set and works fine on our PC.]

As for the World game, the storyline has just enough mystery and suspense, plus the thrill of gathering clues and eventually discovering hidden secrets, to be perfect fun for this age group, which the manufacturer lists as 8-12.

At the younger end of the spectrum, where we are, the child may not be systematic or patient enough to find all the clues in the most efficient order. This can lead to retracing steps, or otherwise becoming frustrated enough to give up, at least temporarily. At such times, a bit of parental oversight or assistance can get past the tricky parts; after that, the child is eager to get control over the mouse and keyboard again, and to continue the hunt.

The game has a lot of educational content built in, but I'm not sure whether a typical kid will really pay attention to all of it. There is a lookup feature -- necessary to type in clues, and thus determine the next stop on the detectives' itinerary -- which taps into a pretty detailed geographic database. But so far, we haven't found game action that actually requires studying the information very closely.

Just the same, our child is definitely learning to make at least a few connections and associations, and is perhaps soaking up a lot more than that. In each scene, in settings around the globe, the characters discuss a few specifics about the place and the people there, and in searching for clues, the player hears still more.

In any case, the storyline, action and characters are compelling for kids. There is no real violence and no other causes for parental concern that I can see. So we're quite pleased overall.

The main reason I held off from giving it five stars is simply because the game does not enforce any kind of true, serious geographic learning in order to solve the individual mysteries. Intermediate steps during each mystery may be geographically-related, but the final solutions are generally based on some kind of logical or mathematical challenge -- the kind of thing one could get from a book of brainteasers or the like.

Unlike other purely educational games (Reader Rabbit, etc.), there doesn't seem to be any method of "leveling" in which the game is easier, or harder, depending on the child's progress. So as for the 8 to 12 year age range? I think that's just a broad marketing guess by the company. As far as I can tell, the game will provide pretty much the same action no matter how well the child plays it.

That being said, it sure is fun for our kid! So I think it's a fine choice, and recommend it for any child who likes mysteries and action.

The children love it and are learning amazing facts from the game. You can't go wrong with this one.

Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego is great. The other two discs kinda sucked.