Any video game that is published by Scholastic has to have some educational value, for anyone who knows anything about Scholastic knows that they have the market about well cornered on educational products and tools. They cover everything from books to chemistry sets to…yes, video games. Developed by Tom Snyder Productions Incorporated and released in the middle eighties, Agent USA is an edutainment title that was ported to many formats besides DOS, including the Commodore 64 and the Apple II. It features some puzzle solving and strategy elements, but is primarily an educational title that focuses on the geography of the United States of America.
The game revolves around the Fuzzbomb, which is a television set that has gone bad. It has been working its way across America, fuzzing innocent people. A fuzzed person basically becomes an unthinking zombie who will do nothing but walk around and fuzz other people. The user will play the part of a U.S. secret agent who has been charged with the task of ridding the world of the Fuzzbomb and curing the people who have been turned to zombies.
To do this, the player utilizes some magical crystals that have the ability to fix the fuzzed people. Once a fuzzed zombie touches a crystal, the crystal is absorbed, but the human goes back to normal. The problem is that the user
only begins with ten crystals. He has to grow more in order to have enough to save the human population. If he throws a crystal into the earth, it will grow a diamond plant and multiply. The only problem with that is that other people will find value in the crystals other than as medicinal tools, and they will try to steal the diamonds as they grow. The agent will have to protect the diamonds or he will have no way of saving the world.
The educational aspect of the team comes as the user travels from town to town seeking infestations. As he moves from city to city, he will discover some practical information about each town, particularly those that are state capitals.
Overall, Agent USA is not a bad little game and it certainly has merit as an educational title. It is very clever about hiding the learning in the fun, and most users will never know that they are playing an educational game, sort of like the
Oregon Trail Download. This game features colored graphics, despite its age, and should interest many younger children.
