Edutainment without the fun
Edutainment titles must be pretty difficult to create as you have to find the right mix of education and entertainment if you want to succeed. The Carmen Sandiego and Headline Harry games got things pretty much right on the nail and managed to be both enjoyable and illuminating. Code: Europe is unfortunately far from being in the same league as these classics and stands as being a pretty poor example of the genre. Players take on the role of a spy who must venture into Europe in order to solve a baffling case, and which takes the form of a series of puzzles. You have a network of informers in various countries across the continent and they provide a bit of information about a country, and you then have to answer a followup question correctly. If you get it right, you get another clue and potentially even a puzzle item, with the idea being to collect all the puzzle items. You only have a limited time and budget to compete your mission while if you complete enough successfully, you get promoted (although this seems to serve little real point). Code: Europe could have been an interesting game but is rather too tedious for its own good. The visuals are pretty decent, with good levels of detail and some attractive portraits and the like, while the questions are pretty challenging and should test anyone's knowledge of Europe. The problem though is that it's all just too text book-like and boring, with a distinct lack of actual fun. If you do want to brush up on your Euro facts then this might be of interest but for real enjoyment value, look elsewhere.
