Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? (video game)
Travel through time to track and arrest Carmen Sandiego.
In this game, you work for the Acme Detective Agency, chasing Carmen Sandiego and her crew through history using a time-travel device called the Chronoskimmer. To catch them, you must gather clues and warrants by looking up facts in the New American Desk Encyclopedia, which comes with the game. The historical events, inventions, and people you encounter date from 400 AD to the 1950s. This was also the first Carmen Sandiego game to place ACME’s headquarters in San Francisco.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Broderbund
- Designer
- Gene Portwood; Lauren Elliott
- Series
- Carmen Sandiego
- Released
- August 1989
- Genre
- Educational, strategy
- Modes
- Single-player
- Platforms
- Apple II
- Classic Mac OS
- Commodore 64
- Amiga
- MS-DOS
- NES
- Super NES
- Genesis
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Players begin as a Time Cadet and can be promoted through ranks including Time Patroller, Time Investigator, Time Inspector, Time Detective, Ace Time Detective, and Super Time Sleuth. The objective is to track criminals' movements through the time stream, figure out each thief's next destination, obtain an arrest warrant, and send a Capture Robot to make the arrest. At each location, the player asks people for clues; travel clues hint at the next destination, and selecting the correct option triggers a short animation of a VILE agent. Clues about the culprit's physical appearance and interests are used to complete the warrant. The player can arrest the crook if the warrant is correct and they are in the right location before time expires. The game requires capturing 80 criminals to finish. It supports five languages: English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian.
Reception
By January 21, 1990, the game had sold more than 100,000 copies and was the best-selling software game during the 1989 holiday season. After shipping all 95,000 copies of the bundled encyclopedia ordered in October 1989, Broderbund requested a special print run of 35,000 more copies in December. Macworld named the Macintosh version the Best Adventure Game of 1990, inducting it into the Macintosh Game Hall of Fame and calling the graphics and gameplay top-notch. Compute! in 1989 called Where in Time the most exciting in the series, stating it was 'besides being one great game [it] has the added value of being an exceptional educational program'. Computer Gaming World reviewed it favorably, calling it challenging and fun as well as educational. Entertainment Weekly ranked it the #13 greatest game available in 1991. Newsday gave it a rating of 8 out of 10, noting its educational nature. Nintendo Power scored the SNES version 3.2/5 in March 1993. Power Play rated the Genesis version 57 out of 100 in June 1992. Nintendo Power gave the NES version 3.6/5 in November 1991, while Electronic Gaming Monthly rated it 58 the same month. GamePro (US) gave the NES version 5 out of 5 in December 1991.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? (video game) released?
Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? was released in August 1989.
What platforms is Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? (video game) available on?
Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? was released for Apple II, Classic Mac OS, Commodore 64, Amiga, MS-DOS, NES, Super NES and Genesis.
Who designed Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? (video game)?
Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? was designed by Gene Portwood and Lauren Elliott.
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