It has been a long time since I have heard the name Carmen Sandiego. I remember many years ago, there was a TV show, where players had to figure out where she was by certain clues. Then at the end of the game, one contestant had to put “flags” on the counties she visited within a time limit. There was also a cartoon series with a similar premise, with young detectives trying to capture the illusive Carmen Sandiego. This series is a really good one for kids, because it is not only entertaining but also educational. How does this premise translate into the game: Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums? Read on to find out!

Players take control of the young and adventurous Cole Gannon, an ACME agent in training. He is a computer genius and a master of different forms of martial arts. One day he is looking through the ACME database, and he discovers clues that lead him to believe that the cunning crook, Carmen Sandiego, is back on the prowl once more. Cole decides not to share this information with anyone and takes off on his own to try and catch the world’s most notorious thief. There will be many challenges ahead for this young detective that will take him around the world, the question remains, do you have what it takes to capture Carmen Sandiego?

Better not fall

To help players keep track of everything in this game, they will have access to Coles PDA. This stores all of the information that you will need to complete a level. The Atlas gives payers plenty of geographical information about the place that you are currently at. The Map screens shows the entire area where you are at, and throughout each level there will be updates that Cole can download into the PDA to show the locations of enemies, puzzle pieces, and other things. The GPS system will help players track down Carmen each time you collect another Compass. If you ever need to visit any previously visited locations you can get there by using the Transport function. Finally as players progress through the game they will receive video mail with new information about the whereabouts to Carmen and clues to help you through the level.

Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums is not a straight puzzle game as you might think it would be, especially in comparison to the other games in the Carmen Sandiego franchise.  Instead this game relies heavily on platforming elements. Think of a really dumb version of any popular platforming series. The problem is that the game play is not as smooth as any of the platform games that are currently available.

One of the biggest reasons for this is because of the camera. The camera in this game is really bad and instead of helping you, will usually be your biggest deterrent. It will get stuck on walls and other things and obscures all of your actions. This is not a good thing, because it caused me to get caught by the enemies while I am trying to sneak around. Players can control the camera with the second analog stick, but it still is not that much help.

They won't know what hit them

This game is broken down into two elements: platforming and stealth missions. Throughout each mission you will have to jump around collecting various items to analyze to get your next clue to finding Carmen. The stealth portions are pretty fun, but the main problem is that I have been spoiled to higher AI in the enemies. If you are spotted, and you immediately find a place to hide, the guards will completely forget about you, it will be like you never existed in their minds.

It is painfully obvious that the graphics for Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums was not the main focus of this game while it was in development, which is fine if the gameplay is something out of this world. The game tries to mimic the look and feel of the cartoon that aired several years ago, and does an ok job with it. The problem with this game is that the game is lacking any visual flare. The character models have slightly more detail than the rest of the environments you visit, but not much. The particle and other special effects you will see throughout the game are ok, but you can tell that the developers didn’t do anything to push the hardware. To put it bluntly, everything in this game looks very plain and “blah.”

The sound effects, music, and voiceovers for this game aren’t any better. The music gets repetitive really quick and will have you reaching for that mute button faster than you can say cheese. The sound effects are palatable but very generic in nature. The voices used aren’t the best, but I have definitely heard worse.

Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums is rated E for Everyone. It requires 45kb on your memory card for saves.

Gameplay: 5.2
It feels like Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums was rushed out the door; because this game is in serious need of better refinement in many different areas. Also this series is known for its educational values, but there are none in this game, why??

Graphics: 5.0
Everything you see in this game is really plain looking, there is nothing that makes this game stand out.

Sound: 4.5
Boring and repetitive.

Difficulty: Easy
The AI in this game really poses no challenge. The most challenging thing in this game is trying to get a good view of what is going on thanks to the stupid camera.

Concept: 5.0
This game doesn’t offer anything new that you haven’t seen in other games.

Overall: 5.0
Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums is definitely geared for younger gamers, but it really lacks polish so it might frustrate them as well. If you are a hard core Carmen Sandiego fan then you might want this game, otherwise it is best to look elsewhere.