One of the most famous thieves in pop culture, Carmen Sandiego, has a long history in video games dating back to 1985 with her debut game, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, and many more in the years that followed. Despite being a video game series, they were also educational. They taught children fun facts about the world as they collected clues to track down and arrest various thieves, including the Scarlet Super Thief herself.

The Queen of Crime also had her animated series in 1994 that ran for four seasons and kept the same educational theme, then a self-titled reboot series on Netflix in 2019 that made her the protagonist instead of the antagonist. The latest game, published and developed by Gameloft, is based on the Netflix Original and, just like the show, puts players in the red trench coat and hat as Carmen Sandiego is now ready to steal the show on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4|5, Nintendo Switch, PC and mobile devices.

VILE is back on the scene, and for once, ACME and Carmen Sandiego have a common enemy. In a rare and temporary alliance, the world’s greatest thief must track down the syndicate before they can pull off their next big heist. Rookie gumshoes and seasoned detectives are invited to test their sleuthing skills, whether in the narrative-driven main campaign or the classic mode ‘The Acme Files’.

For the first time in the game series, players will take control of Carmen Sandiego, and just like in past games, they must travel the world collecting clues to track down and arrest thieves. Each mission has a different thief stealing something of high value, and players will begin in the country where it happened and search for clues by talking to people and staff and looking at any points of interest marked out in the game. There will also be various puzzles, such as opening safes and hacking into computers, plus some simple quick-time events. The gameplay keeps things simple and is never complicated.

The real challenge is piecing the clues together to find the culprit and put them behind bars. Each mission has a certain number of days and hours, and certain actions take time. Making mistakes will cost you time, so time is crucial. Checking everything and talking to everyone is the best way to find as many clues as possible and leave no stone unturned. Players will have a list of possible suspects, and with the clues they’ve gathered, players can narrow them down to just one and have them arrested.

The clues can be the colour of their eyes and hair, the food they like, their hobbies, fears, distinguishing features, etc. Certain clues may or may not be accurate, but players can have them checked, though each one takes another hour out of their time.

During all this, players will also learn some fun facts about the world while visiting each location, which will also come in handy to track down each criminal. Certain clues will mention a country’s currency, a description of its flag, cuisine, landmarks, and more, and these can lead you to the next destination where the thief has travelled. The game provides some handy information about each location, but you will have to look up certain things on your own, which isn’t much of an issue with most people having smartphones these days.

Each country you travel to only gives you a small section to explore, which isn’t a lot, but it works in the game’s favour to keep it simple and not overwhelm the players. Players will travel to the USA, Brazil, Japan, Egypt, Iceland, and more, including Brisbane in Australia, the home base of MKAU Gaming.

Extra points can be earned by completing each mission in the least amount of time and boosting your rank, as some missions can only be unlocked at a certain rank. It’s also possible to arrest a thief with the least amount of clues if you already know who it is after completing that mission once, but it also helps level up your rank quicker to unlock more missions, giving the game some replay value.

There are also ACME missions, which are a nice throwback to the original 1985 game, utilising the same 8-bit graphics but with some elements of the latest game. These missions work similarly to the main game but are much shorter and quicker to complete and also help boost your rank. It’s a nice nostalgia trip to see how far Carmen Sandiego’s games have come since her debut game from 40 years ago.

Based on the latest animated series, the game tries incorporating the same art style and presentation but with 3D graphics. Since this is a mobile game with console and PC ports, it does look outdated on bigger screens. Cel-shaded graphics would’ve worked much better to recreate the look and feel of the show. Regardless of the graphics quality, it is still a good-looking game with the same charm and personality. Playing in Nintendo Switch’s handheld mode doesn’t look any different from playing in docked mode or compared to other consoles, PCs, and mobile devices.

I tried to look up the voice cast to see if the actors from the show reprise their roles, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find any information. There isn’t much-spoken dialogue anyway, other than a few one-liners that sound like the voice actors from the show. Most of the dialogue is in text, so you won’t hear the characters speak for most of the game. This isn’t entirely a bad thing though, because having to read the conversations and any information provided forces you to think and can also help highlight certain clues.

The soundtrack mostly features suspenseful tunes, perfect for a game about catching thieves. The cutscenes mostly feature action sequences that reflect the show. They are short but convey the point and get you back in the game.

The latest Carmen Sandiego game features just enough for longtime fans and fans of the Netflix show to keep their thinking hats on to explore each location, collect clues, and capture international criminals. Playing as the Scarlet Super Thief for the first time in the series is a big and welcomed change, utilising her highly skilled thief experience to catch other world-class thieves worldwide. The overall game keeps things simple, engaging, educational, and fun. Even after 40 years, Carmen Sandiego is still stealing our hearts.

Written by: Sammy Hanson