My Review of Facebook's New Game: Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

I was excited to hear that "Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?" was being released as a Facebook game. However, when I read that it was being made by the same company that released The Oregon Trail, I was disappointed. I hoped that Carmen Sandiego would not have as many bugs and issues as did The Oregon Trail. Despite this, I decided to play it, and after a day of playing Carmen Sandiego and I have found it to be a hundred times better than The Oregon Trail!


First of all, there aren't any lag issues or bugs that I have come across in the game. I have completed 40+ cases and everything has run smoothly for me so far.

In addition to this, you are not forced to purchase ACME Coins, nor are you required to add friends, in order to advance in the game. You can choose to use ACME Coins to help you answer clues, or instantly travel to a destination, but it is definitely not necessary.

Without these restrictions, you can freely play this game just like the original Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego? The old Carmen Sandiego music is even the same!


The Game
The game itself is pretty straightforward and getting started is easy. You start out by getting your first case, which requires you to enter the Chief's Office.

Once you click on the cases on the Chief's desk you can then choose which particular case you want to take. When you first start there will be four cases you can choose from. As you progress through the game, you will be able to save more cases in your "Saved Cases" area on the right.

As you solve cases, they will accumulate on the Chief's desk until she reviews them. Once a day you can click review and you will receive 10 bonus xp for each case that you solved during that particular day. Make sure to do this once a day.

Solving The Cases
In order to solve cases you must gather clues from people all over the world. There are usually three people in each location that will give you a clue.

If someone has a clue for you, there will be a magnifying glass icon over his or her head.

In the top left of your screen you will have a certain amount of time to solve each case. As you travel to different destinations, it will cost you some time.

Make sure you listen to the clues that you are given so that you travel to the correct locations. If you just fly to random locations you will run out of time and fail to solve the case.

Clues

Clues will usually be given in a "tricky manner". For example, the clue on the right says:

"Your suspect was excited to take in a game at Fenway Park, then wait until the game was over and steal all the bases."

For this clue, you should only pay attention to the "Fenway Park" part and forget the rest. This is a location clue, so the fact that the suspect wants to steal all the bases is irrelevant.

Clues will either be Location Clues or Trait Clues. If it is a Location Clue an arrow will point to the globe on the bottom right of your screen. If it is a Trait Clue, the arrow will point to the warrant screen on the bottom right of your screen. 

Make sure to pay attention to what type of clue you are given. I have found that you get 1 Trait Clue and 2 Location clues in every correct location you visit. Your clues will be documented in your clue log for the case you are currently on.

Warrant & Arrest

Once you have enough Trait Clues to narrow down the suspects to one, you can get a warrant. This part is very important, because without the right warrant you cannot solve the case.

With the "Easy" cases, you only need two different Traits to narrow it down to one suspect. Though I have not gotten past the "Easy" quests yet, I would guess that the more difficult quests require three or more Trait Clues to narrow your suspects down to one.

Once you reach the location where the suspect is, the clue givers will say things like, "You are getting close", or "You better watch your step".

Finally you will click a clue giver and the screen will say searching... and then you will see a screen similar to the picture on the left.

Click to Nab'Em and if you have the right warrant, you will capture the suspect and be awarded with experience! (In one case I even captured one of my Facebook friends as a suspect, haha)



Conclusion
All in all, I feel that Blue Fang did a great job making this game (Can't say the same for The Oregon Trail). They brought back all the features of the original Carmen Sandiego game, while including new clues for the present era. Even with search engines such as Google, (where you can find some answers in an instant) I still found this game to be fun and entertaining. In relation to all Facebook games currently out, I would give Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego? a 9/10.

I Hope You Enjoyed My Review, Thanks for Reading.

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