Overall 9 Graphics 10 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 8 Difficulty 6
9
Cluefinders 4th Grade Adventures Puzzle of the Pyramid classgame
so aside from this week being a "rate" week during the TDV, it also seems that for a majority of the week, there's going to be a slate of Cluefinders reviews from me which is a good thing because I will have alot to say, and let's just say that The Learning Company's strong spots are in the grade based games rather than subject based, and this game is an example of a good grade based game.
Gameplay and Story: So in this second installment of the Cluefinders series, we find out heroes this time in Cairo,Egypt where they are about to unearth the tomb of this long lost Pharaoh, they are joined by this professor (yeah thing is I don't know how they know this guy, unless he knew Joni's uncle or something we never find out, all we know is that the kids sacrificed their summer vacation to do this dig) and a sinister curator from a museum in London.....guess who the bad guy is. So while poking around the tomb Joni tries on a ring that look like a beetle and it clamps on to her finger and it won't let go, they get thrown out of the tomb after Owen fools around with a bunch of jars (I wouldn't juggle them either if I were him), so after the cluefinders leave, the curator kidnaps the professor because he has sinister plans to awaken this evil god associated with the Pharoah. When the Cluefinders arrive at the tomb the next day they suddenly have bigger problem's that Joni's ring issue, the professor is gone, and the tomb was deserted, however their dog (I'll get to that in a minute) Socrates finds a hidden passageway and they find a scroll, they decide to head to Cairo to find someone who can translate the scroll but the 5,000 year old antique salesman can't translate without Cairoglyphs. After they accomplish this they had to a kingdom on the Nile where they spot an Obelisk (yeah I don't know why they call this puzzle of the pyramid if it's actually more of an obelisk) and they have to help an Egyptian cat queen retrieve gems in order to enter her palace, but the mice in her kingdom act like Ancient Egyptians. Even then afterwards their task isn't over, they still have to fight these evil dude the curator wants to summon.
Graphics: While not on par with Cluefinders 3rd grade, everything seems brighter (but then again they are in Egypt) though when we are at one puzzle in the second act, the design kind of makes Santiago look like Disney's Aladdin. The cut scenes are rather entertaining and at first I thought "oh man this professor is going to be at Inspector Gadget level of stupid isn't he?" but no he wasn't he actually was quite concerned and upset when the curator reveals his evil plans(oh and he sends his minions after the Cluefinders because Joni still have the ring on her.)
Soundtrack: The soundtrack definitely fits theming of this game
Addictive: well the story was addictive for sure since the stakes are higher than usual here, some of the puzzles are fun, some are tedious annoying after awhile (yeah looking at you picture description puzzle in the Nile kingdom).
Depth: This game is longer than 3rd grade adventures, it took me 3 hours to finish this in one sitting, likely because most of the puzzles involved being rewarded every time we complete two of something. So unlike the previous entry in the franchise this time the whole team is on the front lines, so the red videophone isn't necessary, instead we get the cluefinders mascot Socrates (this is his only game by the way) who doesn't really speak but he speaks with his thoughts the game offers four activities per zone (plus the region ending puzzles).
Difficulty: This game is aimed mostly at 4th graders and I first played this game just as I was entering Grade 7 so almost 20 years ago 2001 was a very busy gaming year for me (as I explained in several commentaries I did this year).
Post review follow-up: So like I said I first played this game nearly 20 years ago this September. I thought this was very fun to play, I'm glad this wasn't the last of the cluefinders games I would play it was a good franchise that didn't get enough love, I mean it should have gotten the fame that Carmen Sandiego got, I would have loved to have seen a tv series...get on it Netflix. or a movie, but I'll get to that if Real World Adventure Kit makes it onto the site.
This concludes my review, join me tomorrow when I review Cluefinders.....Math Adventures: Mystery of the Himalayas. Which one? TLC actually remade this game when they released the final two games of the series (one of which I already reviewed, and the other hopefully will be added to the site soon), eh I'll talk about both versions because this site doesn't have a page for Cluefinders Math Adventures 9-12.
Graphics 10 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 10 Depth 8 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 07-12-21
Review Replies: 0
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