Carmen Sandiego Word Detective

Carmen Sandiego Word Detective

Developer(s) Brøderbund
Publisher(s) Brøderbund
Series Carmen Sandiego
Platform(s) Mac OS, Windows
Release date(s) 1997
Genre(s) Educational
Mode(s) Single-player
Distribution Optical disc

Carmen Sandiego Word Detective is a game in the Carmen Sandiego franchise which was released in 1997. This game is intended to teach language arts for kids age 8-14. LearningVillage describes Word Detective as a "spy adventure".[1] The title is very similar in format to Carmen Sandiego Math Detective, which was released a year later.

In the game Carmen Sandiego has invented a machine called the Babble-On Machine, and the user, playing the role of Agent 13, has to thwart her plans and free all the other agents which have been captured by Carmen.

The game comes with many bonus features, including "3 levels of difficulty, an electronic dictionary, 10,000 spelling words, customizable spelling lists, 50 spelling rules and an on-screen progress reports."[2]

Gameplay

The intro starts off with Agent 12 (Ann Tickwitee), who has found Carmen's hideout. Under the orders of Chase Devineaux (The Chief-type character), she creeps inside, only to find herself trapped and start to babble. Carmen enters and explains that she has invented a "Babble On" machine that turns speech into gibberish.[1]

When the player begins, they are Agent 13, who has just been called into the case. The player must "free all twelve agents in order to stop her grand plan to achieve world illiteracy". They do this by going to enemy hideouts and solving language problems in order to get passwords which allow then to retrieve keys which they use on the machine to free agents.[1]

The games are:

Critical Reception

The GameFAQs rating average is 7.2, based on 5 user responses.[3]

An analysis by Learning Village explains that the "engaging" game will be enjoyed by people who like a "good sleuthing experience and a good chase". It explains that the 5 minigames "cover...an excellent range of basic and important skills in language arts [and are] visually engaging". It pointed out the "3 dimensional crossword puzzle" game Code Breaker as "a very well designed thinking challenge that very creatively exercises the user's spelling skills and tests their vocabulary knowledge". The fact that difficulty increases throughout gameplay was also praised, as were the vocabulary dictionary and the practice mode. It concluded by saying "this program has significant content both in terms of the duration of the pursuit as well as practice time in the various areas of language arts".[1]

V.I.L.E. henchmens' hideouts

Further information: V.I.L.E. henchmens

Key Chart

Lairs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
New York United States Library Green tick Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X
Monaco Estate Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X
Austria Music Hall Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Green tick
Ship Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X
Illinois United States Office Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Green tick Red X
Romania Laboratory Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Green tick
Hungary Graveyard Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X
Nevada United States Cave Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Green tick Red X Red X
Tanzania Treehouse Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Green tick Red X
Peru Space Lab Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Green tick
Egypt Crypt Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X
England United Kingdom Playhouse Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Red X Red X Green tick Red X Red X Red X Green tick

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Carmen Sandiego Word Detective". Learning Village. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Carmen San Diego Word Detective". Kidsclick. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Carmen Sandiego: Word Detective". Gamefaqs. Retrieved November 1, 2012.

External links