Carmen Sandiego Switch Review
Summary: We know where Carmen Sandiego is but where in the world is VILE?
3.8
Educational
The scarlet super thief Carmen Sandiego is back! Adorn Carmen’s signature red hat and play as the vigilante herself to navigate a world of espionage, utilizing high-tech gadgets, and ultimately capturing VILE. Rookie gumshoes and seasoned detectives are invited to put their sleuthing skills to the test whether it’s in the narrative driven main campaign or the classic mode ‘The Acme Files’.
The game begins at the National Air and Space Museum. Where ‘The Phantom’ – an advanced fighter jet with super stealth technology, is stolen by an unknown VILE operative. Carmen, currently enjoying a much-needed vacation, receives a call from her longtime friend (and genius hacker aka Player), who was able to track the location of the jet to New Orleans. Working with ACME, Carmen must use her super-sleuth skills to find the jet, track down the thief, and place them behind ACME bars. But it won’t be easy, as VILE always seems to be one step ahead.
Each case is called a ‘caper’ and you have between 5 to 7 days to complete it. Starting in New Orleans, you have the option of visiting three different locations to collect clues about who the suspect is and where they are heading to next. These clues come from interviewing witnesses, chasing down and interrogating VILE thugs, exploring your environment, completing quick time events, and solving mini puzzles. But time is not on your side, as everything you do detracts hours away from your days to make an arrest, or else VILE wins.
Collecting clues increases Carmen’s XP, which is needed to level up and move onto the next caper. If you don’t have enough XP, you have the option to replay a previous caper, or solve a cold case from the ACME files. Once enough suspect clues are collected, you can use the ‘ACME’s CrimeNet Database’, to narrow down a list of potential thieves based on information you have been given about them (hair color, eye color, hobbies etc.), in order to obtain an arrest warrant. Clues given about where the suspect might be heading to next (flag description, monuments, currencies etc.), open up options to fly to other cities and source out where the VILE activity is currently operating.
Dialogue between the characters is displayed on the screen and is minimally voiced. The background music provides the vibes of action, stealth, and espionage. The 3D graphics are vibrant and immersive, especially the cut scenes, where it feels like you are watching a short animated tv episode. Each character has their own unique (and distinguishable) persona and each environment is beautifully detailed.
Final Thoughts?
Carmen Sandiego, is a good educational adventure game that targets a younger audience (especially those that have watched the animated tv series on Netflix) but still pays homage to the original version. Especially in regard to the cold case files that have a retro feel in terms of the graphics. The mini puzzles are not hard, but they are repetitive, so it would be nice to see more layers of difficulty and variety. The same goes with the options of cities to travel to. I found myself revisiting the same ones over and over and would have liked more options available to provide more exploration. Having to replay capers or solving the cold cases (just to gain more XP) took some fun out of the game because it felt limiting (and more like a chore), but I liked how it was easy to just pick up and play, then put down when I wanted a break.
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