Carmen Sandiego: the Secret of the Stolen Drums

It was with some sadness that I discovered that Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums does not come with a spiffy World Almanac. Those of you who��ve played these games in the past will also be disappointed to find out that you don��t perform investigative work (questioning witnesses, examining evidence) to generate an arrest warrant for a particular criminal, eventually working your way up to catching Sandiego herself. Rather, you get a run-of-the-mill action-adventure game with sprinkles of puzzle solving and fact learning tossed in.

As Cole Gannon, you run around, hit robots and monsters with your staff, collect puzzle pieces, and use said pieces in actual puzzles related to the region (like unscrambling a tribal symbol). The puzzles and between-mission areas give you chunks of educational info, but the rest is just mediocre running, hitting, and jumping action.

For a potentially edutaining game aimed at youngsters, the stealth aspects (you often need to sneak behind Carmen��s robots to hit them) are a bit difficult; press too hard on your analog stick, and you��re detected right away. Also, the camera gets sticky in the most annoying places.

It��s sad to see an old franchise become something so generic��if you��re really set on learning something while you game, try listening to Ulysses on tape the next time you play Ratchet & Clank.

2.5 Stars

Publisher: BAM! Entertainment

Developer: Artificial Mind & Movement

MSRP: $39.99

ESRB: Everyone

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine.