Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math

Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math
Developer	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publisher	The Learning Company
Released	2011-2012
Platform	Wii, Windows 8
Modes	Single-player

Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math is a series of five games released for the Wii and Window's 8 from late 2011 to early 2012. Its design is based on comic books.

Games in the Series

• The Lady Liberty Larceny (Dec 15, 2011)
• Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Big Ben Burglary (Dec 29, 2011)
• The Case of the Crumbling Cathedral (Jan 12, 2012)
• Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Great Gateway Grab (Feb 2, 2012)
• Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Island of Diamonds (Mar 22, 2012)

Plot

All five games follow a similar plot. That being that Carmen Sandiego and her henchmen have stolen an item from a diifferent location around the globe. In order to put an end to the elusive thief and finally bring her to justice for her crimes, The Chief contacts a player to use their knowledge and track down Carmen and her VILE henchmen. In order to locate them, the player goes around the world and talks with multiple people in various cities for important information.

Production

At the time of the its release, the Carmen Sandiego games were part of a trend that included many edutainment media being resurfaced. When asked for his take on the matter, Bethlam Forsa, EVP Global Product Development for Houghton Miffin Harcourt stated that "For decades, Carmen Sandiego has remained one of the most beloved, engaging educational institutions-helping students to master key concepts in reading, math, history and geography. This new slate of games for the Wii, starting with "The Lady Liberty Larceny", will change students with fun new stories and characters".

Gameplay

Despite the games subject focusing more on math rather than the geography aspect, the gameplay continues to follow original route of the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? game in which the player uses their knowledge to track down the namesake character. In order to appeal to the younger audience, the game's characters often have pun-related names. The game's topics include geometry, angles, axes, logic related puzzles and fractions. when it was released, the game was aimed for students in the fourth and fifth grades and was presented in an animated comic book format.

Locations

• New York City, US
• Shanghai, China
• Berlin, Germany

Characters

V.I.L.E

• Carmen Sandiego
• Robot guards
• Henchmen

A.C.M.E

• The Chief
• Ivan Idea

Reception

Nintendo Life's overall reaction to the Adventures in Math series was that it had a lot of charm it further stating that "The one intelligent thing about these episodes is the ability to carry your character profile from one game to the next".

The Lady Liberty Larceny

For the first instalment of the series ,Commonsense Media gave it a 3/5 stars due to its quality saying that it was a "fun, low-budget, educational gumshoeing adventure" though recommending it for those who preferred reading to reflex-based action and took note on how the puzzle aspect of the games were difficult and hard to navigate making it difficult for players to progress further. Commonsense Media also praised it for its properties of mathematical related concepts of cultures and customs. After the Professor Layton series released in 2007, IGN commented that it shared similarities with the Carmen Sandiego franchise further stating that "Whoever picked up the Professor Layton games and realised their styles of puzzles could reinvigorate the Carmen Sandiego franchise was a genius--it's a great combination of a newer type of video game puzzle play and a classic educational brand". Even though the game faced some criticism, it was given an 8/10, Nintendo Life later gave it a 5/10 criticising it for its lack of puzzles commenting that "Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Lady Liberty Larceny could have been great, but falls very short of being significant. It looks and sounds nice, controls well and has a whole of charm, but what it comes down to is the actual game itself as a whole package isn't very satisfying, even for 600 points. If there had been more puzzles, or at least a different variety with each playthrough, then this would have been a very different story, But, as it stands, it's a bit of a robbery in itself" and gave the game another score of 13/30. After Wiiloveit reviewed the game, they wrote that "Simply put, this so-called "comeback" of such a beloved educational franchise is far from enjoyable and I actually find it very upsetting that the developers didn't go to further lengths to fully capture what Carmen Sandiego has always been about" USA Today's review stated that "Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Lady Liberty Larcency makes doing math fun and it also presents a great mystery for kids to solve" giving it a 3.5 stars out of 4.

The Big Ben Burglary

Although the original game faced a variety of reasons why it was good, its sequel faced criticism that it felt like a copy of the first one with Nintendo Life giving the Big Ben Burglary a 5/10 stars due to it having no replay value and added that "the visuals are still underwhelming yet charming, and the music follows suit" concluding that "newcomers might want to stay clear, but fans of the first won't be disappointed" with IGN noting the similarities between its previous game ending their statement with "anyone who enjoyed solving the mystery of the missing Statue of Liberty should be assured that bringing home Big Ben is similarly satisfying" giving the game a 7/10.

The Case of the Crumbling Cathedral

For The Case of the Crumbling Cathedral, it faced further criticism than its previous instalments faced due to it still copying what the first two did as Nintendo Life rated it 5/10 saying that "Without having played the previous two games in this ongoing series , you probably won't be too interested in getting this one either. While it retains all of the charm of the first two episodes, it does nothing more to improve on the formula or stand out as a worthwhile investment. At 600 Nintendo Points, the asking price isn't too outrageous, but the lack of depth and replay ability is a glaring issue for anyone looking for a game with any sort of lasting appeal. Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Case of the Crumbling Cathedral is more of the same, and at this point, you should know that it's not much to behold". PixelBit gave the game a 2 stars out of 5 giving the game a review of "With this third episode, it becomes even clearer that Carmen Sandiego's adventure in math should've been released as one retail title that featured more polished gameplay and a greater selection of puzzles. If you've already picked up either of the first two episodes, The Case of the Crumbling Cathedral is not for you".

The Great Gateway Grab

• Nintendo Life: 5/10 stars
• Commonsense Media: 4/5
• PixelBit: 2/5

The Island of Diamonds

• Nintendo Life: 5/10

Concept art

Production

Carmen Sandiego

The Chief

Dr. Depth

Chester Catt

Double Trouble

Patty Larceny

Jane Reaction

Baron Wasteland

Jaqueline Hyde

Dr.Belljar

Trivia

• Of the V.I.L.E. agents seen in the series, only three are new, these being Dr. Depth, Chester Catt, and Jane Reaction. The remainder are modernized versions of crooks from the game shows.

External links

• Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math on Wikipedia
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Releases Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math Educational App for Windows 8 on hmhco