textfiles/games/REVIEWS/carmap.rev

 WHERE IN AMERICA'S PAST IS CARMEN SANDIEGO?
 
 Pieces of American history are disappearing from all parts (and times) of
the country. After returning the lyrics to THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER, The
Chief has just informed you that an unidentified man was seen stealing the
Olympic Village from Lake Placid in 1980. Never mind how he stole an entire
village; just travel through time to find it and the criminal. (This review
is based on the IBM-PC version.)
 
 WHERE IN AMERICA'S PAST is the fifth installment in the CARMEN SANDIEGO
series of educational games. You must travel to find clues to the criminal's
present location and track him (or her) until you eventually catch up with
him and make an arrest. But you also need a valid warrant, or else the
criminal will get out of jail.
 
 When you start as a new tenderfoot detective, the clues are very easy.
Even though there are three ways of getting information at each location
(asking a bystander, consulting a source, and listening in), you will
probably know exactly when and where the criminal is, as both a date and
location are given directly in the clue. Later, you can rely on personal
knowledge of basic American history, although locations are rarely given
explicitly (a typical clue would be something like "He went to witness the
signing of the Declaration of Independence."). But as you progress to the
higher ranks in Acme Detective Agency, you will have to consult the included
book, WHAT HAPPENED WHEN to track down the criminal. In the process, you
will learn pieces of American trivia, such as when and where the first play
was performed in North America.
 
 Unlike earlier CARMEN SANDIEGO games, WHERE IN AMERICA'S PAST does not
limit your choices of where to travel. You can select any of the five
regions (West, Southwest, South, Midwest, and East) in any of the nine time
periods at any time by clicking on the "Map" button. Once you have selected
a new destination, "Launch" the Chronoskimmer (your time travel device) and
hope that you interpreted the clues correctly. If you did, more clues will
be available to lead you to another place and time. Otherwise, you'll have
to use the travel log the game records and backtrack in your search and hope
that you can re-read the clues (or possibly find new ones).
 
 At each location, you will be presented with an impressive graphic
(presumably digitized) and an accompanying history on the region at this
time. The history lessons do change, although the graphics do not, so the
lessons must all revolve around a central theme. The designers also chose to
break the time periods into twenty-five-year intervals, rather into
historical periods, so you might receive a lesson on the Depression in one
area, but on World War II in another (during the same time period).
 
 While you are searching for the criminal, the generous folks at Acme will
send you information on the suspect (such as hair and eye color and favorite
animal, artist, and athlete) through your electronic mailbox. Most of this
information will be in the form of simple clues, such as "She had hair the
color of burgundy." Tracking down the name of an artist or athlete from the
clues might be difficult if you are not familiar with the people, although
all of the information can be found in WHAT HAPPENED WHEN. However, since
you will have to search each entry for each of the possibilities, you might
be better off looking in some other reference book (if one is available)
that contains all of the facts on a person in a single entry.
 
 In your first few cases, Acme will occasionally fail to provide enough
information for a warrant. In these earlier stages, you will have to search
through all of the available information to give others time to send you
warrant information. However, it is entirely possible to read every clue,
make no mistakes in selecting a destination, and still find the criminal
without a warrant. But as your reputation (and rank) increase, the clues
will come more readily, so that you often have a warrant long before you
reach the destination.
 
 Of course, to make the game more challenging, you do not have an unlimited
amount of time to find your suspect. The Federal Time Travel Commission
allocates a certain amount of time (which is used up in travelling and
searching for clues) for you to find the guilty party. This amount of time
increases with each promotion. Although the cases are longer after
promotions, with more locations to visit, you also have more margin for
error. Added to the fact that once you have information for a warrant (which
comes more quickly in later stages), you only need to gather one clue in a
given location, it is quite possible to finish a case with more than a third
of the allotted time remaining. On the other hand, you will be pressed for
time earlier in your hunting.
 
 After solving a case, you are given a certain number of cases to complete
before receiving a promotion. To get to the "Super Scout" (the highest)
ranking, you must catch Carmen Sandiego. Then, after solving 80 cases, you
can be admitted into the Hall of Fame and retired from active duty. But
oddly enough, I was able to reach the Super Scout ranking after only about
40 cases. This still left another 40 cases to solve before finishing the
game, but without any change in clue difficulty. I personally would have
preferred a slower promotion path, to keep the last half of the game from
becoming repetitive. But as it stands now, the path from the last promotion
to the end of the game is way too long.
 
 The combination of serious historical graphics (among the best graphics
currently on the market) and cartoonish animated sequences of the characters
is very nice. VGA, MCGA, EGA, CGA, Tandy and Hercules graphics cards are
supported. All the major sound cards (Roland, Sound Blaster, and AdLib) as
well as the standard IBM, Tandy, and PS/1 internal devices are supported,
although you get very little other than the same background music and a few
minor sound effects from any sound device.
 
 WHERE IN AMERICA'S PAST requires 640K of conventional memory for 256-color
(VGA or MCGA) graphics, and 512K for all other modes. Slightly more than 2
MB of hard drive space is also required. The game comes with both six
low-density 5-1/4" (360K) and three low-density 3- 1/2" (720K) disks,
containing compressed files. You must install with the provided program in
order to uncompress these files. You do not need to specify graphics or
sound modes, as the main program will automatically detect the best
combination for your system (although you can override these selections with
command-line options).
 
After receiving a promotion, you are required to answer a question
(obviously with the specific wording) from WHAT HAPPENED WHEN. You will not
be expected to search through the index, as all of the information needed to
find the answer is given in the question. Since you will probably already be
using the book to solve the clues, this copy-protection scheme does not
require too much from the user.
 
 The only documentation that comes with WHERE IN AMERICA'S PAST is a small
eight-page newspaper (of which only six pages is dedicated to a set-up of
the game's premise, information on how to use the program, and tips). While
it is adequate, it also contains several minor omissions, such as how to
abort the animation sequences throughout the game (with either the ESCAPE
key or right mouse button).
 
 Aside from the odd learning curve and the few minor documentation problems,
there is little not to like about this game. Not only does it provide
excellent graphics and a satisfying game, but it also serves as a learning
experience. It is rare to find an educational game that can be enjoyed by
players of all ages. The CARMEN SANDIEGO series provides such games, and
WHERE IN AMERICA'S PAST IS CARMEN SANDIEGO? is no exception.
 
 WHERE IN AMERICA'S PAST IS CARMEN SANDIEGO? is published and distributed
by Broderbund.