So here's the thing, this is going to be a rather unique situation, although this page says the game was released in 1989, the version I have is the one with the Folk music added, also my plans had to be reduced today because I got boosted so now I'm less likely to get the worst of COVID now.


Gameplay and Story: Basically it's the same idea as The World PC game (which I will review eventually) except we get a different Chief, no travel agent, the warrant division people is actually a human instead of a robot. We get a different group of snitches and witnesses (oddly enough the vice president is a witness and the president was seen taking Candy from a baby...yeah too easy), and a chase a new batch of baddies through all 50 states (plus Washington DC).

Graphics: So these animated cronies that are used against actual photos from National Geographic's library, some of which are dated...like that night time picture of New York City. I think the graphics are just okay but I think they have a reduced budget (again I'll talk about it when I get to World deluxe, oh wait they didn't get these tracks from Smithsonian Folkways did they?).

Soundtrack: I really like the folk music used in this game but I don't like the game sounds, like the further you get in the game the more annoying the sound issues get, like for example if you go to Boston, you had better hit the mute button before you do or at least turn off the folk music and don't turn it back on until you leave, the sound gets real scratchy and annoying and it then you get the blue screen of doom, something in the MIDI's is also screwed up whenever you catch the culprit and the helicopter shows up, also there are periods in the game when the background sound can linger and yes it's actually annoying like someone won't let go of the synthesizer key or you push the echo pedal of a piano, and that's why I have to push the mute button on the phone. Anyway like I said I do love what they picked for Folk Music in this game, some of it has made it's way into my MP3 rotation like this song:



and this song:



and this song:



and Red Bud Rag by Jerry Douglas, and at least one more track by Mary Mcaslin....all of which didn't make it into the re-release, but I'll talk about it when I talk about it tomorrow. I do have good news though the track that is used in Boston, it actually works fine in the Source Information program (it's where you get descriptions and information about the photos and the folk tracks used in the game).

Addictive: Hey a majority of the Carmen Sandiego games are quite fun of course it's addictive.

Depth: Unlike the World game, Carmen shows up randomly after you get promoted to Super Sleuth, so it gets a lower score because it's not that long, I mean you can keep going after you catch her but that's up to you, me I'm the type of person that likes to start over. Also this offers quite a bit more in the game I think I have that extras video in there somewhere ah here it is and all it took for me to work on that was a power outage. Also Like the re-released World deluxe game, although we see a criminal listed they don't get caught in the game

Difficulty: Well considering that I do not live in the US, of course this would be a challenging game. I mean I get confused with some facts too, and here we go deeper into the criminal's interests like Music taste and Hobby is added replacing the criminal's features and vehicle.....I think it's been awhile since I played this, not sure I will do a full marathon with this game though since the sound issues kind of hurt the game a little.

Post Review Follow-up: I'm really glad I finally got a chance to play this game when I did, it gave me a sense of completion when I did (even though I didn't play junior detective for about a year. They offer a little bit more in the game, like for example, we get a different courtroom setting, where surprise surprise we see Carmen show up once in awhile but oh we can't arrest her because we don't have a warrant because she wasn't the thief in this one(we still get the occasional jailbreak though). We also see the Dossier profile pics show the criminals get their mug shots rather than some random thing, and once the crook is convicted we see them in a jail cell however if we screw up the warrant, they get acquitted and we see them go on vacation, I don't have a video uploaded but a buddy of mine did a screw ups special, look for the ACME Deux account.

This concludes my review, join me tomorrow when I review the Learning Company re-issue of Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego (which would be Where in the USA 1999), and I am looking forward to it.