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