Carmen Sandiego Geography Learning System
Carmen Sandiego Geography 2007 lets you travel the world, encounter exotic sights and sounds, meet unusual people -- and arrest them! Carmen Sandiego's international crime ring is filching world treasures ordinary thieves wouldn't dare tackle. We're counting on you, Gumshoe. So when you think you've got the goods on the bad guys, submit your evidence, make a case, and go to court. But beware! Your evidence must be airtight or your suspect will go free! Subjects include:
Carmen Sandiego Geography Learning System Accessories
 Carmen Sandiego Math Detective
Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?
Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?
The Oregon Trail, 5th Edition
Carmen Sandiego Word Detective
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego
Crazy Machines: The Wacky Contraptions Game Win/Mac
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Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Classic
Carmen Sandiego Geography Learning System Reviews
The storyline in the game has just enough mystery and suspense, plus the thrill of gathering clues and eventually discovering hidden secrets, to be perfect fun for this age group, which the manufacturer lists as 8-12. In any case, the storyline, action and characters are compelling for kids. So as for the 8 to 12 year age range. So although we haven't even tried out the USA game yet, I think we got our money's worth, if not more. That being said, it sure is fun for our kid.
So we're quite pleased overall. At the younger end of the spectrum, where we are, the child may not be systematic or patient enough to find all the clues in the most efficient order. Our third grader is hooked on the World game, despite being occasionally challenged by it, and enjoyed the DVD enough to request more than one viewing of it. We're using an older computer with XP, and had no installation problems. There is no real violence and no other causes for parental concern that I can see. Just the same, our child is definitely learning to make at least a few connections and associations, and is perhaps soaking up a lot more than that. The game has a lot of educational content built in, but I'm not sure whether a typical kid will really pay attention to all of it. As far as I can tell, the game will provide pretty much the same action no matter how well the child plays it.
In each scene, in settings around the globe, the characters discuss a few specifics about the place and the people there, and in searching for clues, the player hears still more. So I think it's a fine choice, and recommend it for any child who likes mysteries and action. Intermediate steps during each mystery may be geographically-related, but the final solutions are generally based on some kind of logical or mathematical challenge the kind of thing one could get from a book of brainteasers or the like.
Unlike other purely educational games (Reader Rabbit, etc)., there doesn't seem to be any method of "leveling" in which the game is easier, or harder, depending on the child's progress. The "Where in the World" game runs just fine for us; if we have problems with the USA version I'll come back to make a note here, but so far this purchase has been great. This can lead to retracing steps, or otherwise becoming frustrated enough to give up, at least temporarily.
I think that's just a broad marketing guess by the company. The main reason I held off from giving it five stars is simply because the game does not enforce any kind of true, serious geographic learning in order to solve the individual mysteries. There is a lookup feature necessary to type in clues, and thus determine the next stop on the detectives' itinerary which taps into a pretty detailed geographic database.
But so far, we haven't found game action that actually requires studying the information very closely. At such times, a bit of parental oversight or assistance can get past the tricky parts; after that, the child is eager to get control over the mouse and keyboard again, and to continue the hunt.
The children love it and are learning amazing facts from the game. You can't go wrong with this one.
Fun game, relives childhood nicely, which is what I wanted, but I have a brand new laptop, and I don't think it was built for the new windows.
The other two discs kinda sucked. Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego is great.
The game requires a good bit of reasoning but the average 9 or 10 year old could probably play it solo. Once you solve a mission you can not go back and brouse the countries you visited. In Where in the U.S.A. This box set contains two CD-ROMS, Where in the World and Where in the U.S.A. you travel the United States capturing Carmen's V.I.L.E. is Carmen Sandiego. It also contains one 30 minute DVD of the Stolen Smile segment of the Carmen Sandiego television series. The game is very fun and can be enjoyed by the young and old alike.
I had no problems loading both CD-ROMS on my PC. You can read about the states in the game's database, answer trivia questions or be given a guided tour. My 7 year old enjoys visiting and learning about the states but can't solve the missions without my assistance. There are many ways to learn without solving a mission. The truly studious can learn about the countries in more depth within the game's database.
agents. I didn't find this game to be as much fun as In the World but the ability to visit and learn about a state at your own pace makes it a great choice. My 11 and 14 year old neighbors, found the game challenging but solveable. My 7 year old loves visiting different countries and learning about them but does not have the reasoning skills to complete the game.
The box says that it is designed for ages 8-12 but realize that solving the missions requires the player to listen intentally, methodically search the countries, and solve logic puzzles. I am running Windows XP. For him to enjoy it, I must gently guide him through the game. Along the way you learn many interesting things about the countries you visit and will even learn some common language phrases. Where in the World is a "treasure hunt" style game that requires you to travel the globe looking for the necessary clues to solve 8 interconnecting missions.
Each mission is short and requires you to know certain facts about the states (guessing is part of the learning) and interpret the analogies the locals give to describe the crook.
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