There’s a whole genre of computer game that’s almost extinct these days, the inventive educational semi-simulation. Some examples include the beloved M.U.L.E. and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, and another one is Scholastic and Tom Snyder Productions’ Agent USA. Chris Gallagher on Hardcore Gaming 101 tells us all about it. (Note about HG101: it seems only http links work there at the moment. Visiting the site right now over https brings up an error.)
The educational aspect, as with the best of these games, is not the foremost aspect of gameplay, it teaches by having the taught information be useful to the gameplay rather than its entire point. You’re Agent USA, a white hat with legs trenchcoat, and you’re trying to save the United States from the “FuzzBomb,” a device that spreads a kind of zombieism by contact with people (black hats with legs).
Your only weapon, and defense, against the “FuzzBodies” are crystals. You can drop them on the ground and, while they’re there, they’ll slowly grow, making more crystals around them. Bystanders love to pick crystals up off the ground, so you have to keep pushing them away, but FuzzBodies that touch crystals turn back to normal.
Winning is accomplished by collecting 100 crystals and touching the FuzzBomb, but you have to avoid touching FuzzBodies as you approach it. If you get touched, you lose half of your crystals, and if you run out you get Fuzzed youself, and are forced to watch your character walk around randomly until it happens to touch a crystal, which could be nearly immediate or take quite a long time.
The educational aspects come from geography, knowing the names of towns to visit, and learning state capitals, which have a special significance to the game. Capitals are the only cities with info booths, which supply various pieces of info as well as the location of the FuzzBomb. There’s also an aspect of time management: trains depart on strict schedules, and you may end up having to wait a bit after getting your ticket.
I have vague memories of reading about Agent USA when it was new, and always wondered about how it worked. Another game from the same publisher and developer, and from around the same time, was In Search Of The Most Amazing Thing.
