dandj's Full Review: Nancy Drew Danger on Deception Island Mystery 9 fo...
The History
In 1930, the first Nancy Drew mysteries were published and became instantly popular. Unfortunately, creator Edward Stratemeyer lived only twelve days after having seen his original idea come to fruition with the help of ghost writer Mildred A. Wirt Benson. Not only did he not get to see how wildly loved Nancy would become, he would never know of her incredible longevity and adaptability through the more than 7 decades to come. He may not have lived to see any of it, but I’ve no doubt he would be unbelievably proud.
Nancy has seen some of the worst eras and survived through them . . . the depression, WWII, Vietnam, and more. She has continued to grow insofar as modern progression, if not in age. Besides her original book format, she has been on television, in movies and board games. Now, she solves mysteries in three-dimensional interactive format on our computers. In 1998, Her Interactive released the first Nancy Drew PC game--Secrets Can Kill--based on the first of the Nancy Drew Files, a spinoff of the original series.
The copies I collected as a child may have been reprints of those first released by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, but I adored them just the same. I still have them, in fact, and when my daughter began bringing home Nancy Drew games from the library, I realized that once again, the girl detective was growing in popularity.
The Story
My introduction to the Her Interactive computer games was via the ninth installment, Danger on Deception Island. In this mystery, Nancy is off to Snake Horse Harbor on a whale-watching excursion. George Fayne has set the trip up through her friend, marine biologist Katie Firestone.
Nancy’s arrival coincides with Katie discovering her boat has been vandalized. A note was left warning her that she’d better stop meddling. It seems Katie got several people riled up the night before during a town meeting wherein the people discussed what should be done with an orphaned whale that was hanging around the channel. Katie’s methods of handling it had hurt the fishing business and caused steep fines for anyone who got near the whale . . . except for herself. She’s been given permission to get close enough to study the creature.
Katie’s problems aren’t the only ones, though. There has been quite a bit of suspicious activity going on in Snake Horse Harbor. This means that Nancy has just found herself in the middle of another mystery.
During her investigation, she’ll meet a few interesting people that appear to have viable motives for going after Katie . . .
Holt Scotto is a veteran fisherman who’s running for harbormaster because he’s tired of all the interfering environmentalists, a category he feels Katie falls into. Although he’s got some interesting stories to tell Nancy about men being shanghaied and Cadborosaurus (the local version of the Loch Ness monster), he does so in an stand-offish way. He’s got his own agenda and an impatience for anything that interrupts him.
Andy Jason is the owner of Whale World, a museum and interactive learning center. Like Katie, he gives whale watching tours. He’s not comfortable with competition, though, and has been trying to convince Katie to sell out to him.
Jenna Deblin owns the Hot Kettle Cafe and vehemently believes that the orca should be returned to its pod. She’s best known for her famous clam chowder, but she seems to have something to hide. Just as her cafe hides secret underground passageways which may have been used for the shanghaiing many years before.
Via her cell phone and laptop, Nancy will also have helpful contact with Casey Porterfield of the Maritime Library. His hearing problem will provide some exasperated amusement for Nancy. Dr. Predovicie is the Assistant Director of the National Wood Laboratory. They will be of help to Nancy in identifying a suspicious piece of driftwood she comes across.
Nancy’s best friends George Fayne, Bess Marvin, and Frank and Joe Hardy will be invaluable (albeit a bit clairvoyant) in their hints that help Nancy along.
And lastly, quirky ex-Hollywood writer/producer Hilda Swenson, who was once also mayor of Snake Horse Harbor, became a hermit after her husband’s death. She left the residents behind and headed off to live alone on a nearby island. She left something very important behind, though. Something that she’s discovered could cause a lot of trouble if it gets into the wrong hands. She’s decided Nancy is just the person to retrieve the item for her. Trustworthiness and intelligence is a must for this mission, so Hilda sends Nancy on a sort of psychological scavenger hunt that requires plenty of skill to complete.
Nancy will need to do lots of footwork, biking and kayaking back and forth between the lighthouse, Katie’s boat, the Hot Kettle Cafe, Whale World, and Scraeb Island. By doing this, she will conduct interviews, gather clues and trade favors for information. The favors include such things as fixing broken pipes, rearranging books in a drawer, clam digging, taking a seamanship quiz and more. In the end, if she stays safe, asks the right questions and successfully completes her tasks, she will solve the Snake Horse Harbor mysteries. All with you at the controls, of course.
Game Play
Before actually beginning the game, there are important things to know with regards to the menu screen options. “Game Overplay” is a wonderful interactive tutorial that tells you most of what you will need to know about playing the game. It will explain why the cursor changes from a magnifying glass with white edges to one with red and what can be done with it. It will also explain the significance of when the cursor turns into an arrow or an object that you pick up from the tool box/inventory window (a place to keep all the items you’ve gathered as potential clues).
From this screen you can also save your game, load one that’s already saved or begin a new one. It’s best sometimes for safety’s sake to come here once in a while, click on “save game“, then click on “continue game” to return to playing. The game might hiccup at what may prove to be the worst times and you will lose any clues and tasks you may have gotten through up to that point. I didn’t have that problem with this particular game, but I did in a couple of others, so it doesn’t hurt to just go ahead and save every now and then.
Using the “Game Setup” button, you can adjust such things as Voice, Music, FX Volume, Closed Captioning and Auto Movement.
Then there are, of course, the extras like the “Help” button, the “Credits” and “More Nancy Drew”, which will show you different games, books, strategy guides and the Her Interactive website.
Most importantly, and I do mean most, is the “Second Chance” button. This will become your best friend, especially near the end of the game. This is what you will want to use if you get Nancy in deep trouble such as being hurt or caught by the bad guys. When something like that happens, you will be given the opportunity to return to where you left off before you made the major mistake. In this way, you won’t lose any of the items or information you gathered. And the best part is, there’s no limit to how many times you use second chance.
You can choose to play as either a Junior or Senior Detective. I would suggest that if you are unfamiliar with Nancy Drew games, you opt for the Junior your first time around. In the Junior game, you have the added benefit of a task checklist on the computer. This will tell you what things you need to do sometimes before you even realize you’re supposed to. Examples of other differences between the two levels--skipping stones to get to a bottle containing a message is more difficult as is rearranging the books in the drawer. Worse is the higher level of difficulty in playing the poker puzzle built into hidden spaces in the walls of the Hot Kettle Cafe. Instead of being able to turn each card individually, clicking on one might change two or three at a time. Similarly, a game of concentration is played across three separate boards you need to toggle between instead of playing them individually as in the Junior level.
There is one main thing to remember when playing . . . Lifelines. If you get stuck, pick up the cell phone and call Bess and George or the Hardy boys. And always check the computer for new information and new tasks on the checklist. It provides you with internet access and a journal which keeps track of what you’ve done or learned so far. Oh, and leave no stone unturned, so to speak. Look at everything you can possibly look at. Read signs, books and postcards. Make sure you are thorough when you look through areas and know that things may become touchable that weren’t before. As you perform each step, new information will come to light and more things or areas will be accessible.
You control everything Nancy does. From what she picks up, reads or plays to what she says to people. You will be given choices for dialogue. Sometimes every available question or comment will remain available until you’ve systematically gone through them all. Other times, you’d better hope you choose the right answer or question, or you may just lose out on some valuable information.
Pros and Cons
I loved almost everything about this game. In fact, I had a difficult time tearing myself away from the computer when I finally got over a couple of hurdles and ended up not going to bed until 4am because I was determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. The best part for my daughter was that if you really get stuck and absolutely can’t figure out where to go or what to do next, there are strategy guides available for purchase. Or you can simply go to www.herinteractive.com and go to the message boards where there are plenty of people who either have played the game or own the strategy guides. They’re more than happy to give you hints or spoilers to help you along.
The visual aspect is wonderful. The characters are not quite lifelike, although they’re more so than some of the first games which had odd shadows in the faces and moved a little more awkwardly. Some of the scenery, though, is quite impressive. When you’re in the kayak rowing along, it almost looks as though you are gliding atop a real body of water. Likewise, walking along the beach picking up stones and especially digging clams is very realistic.
The audio effects were perfectly complementary to the game. The music was soft and unassuming, mysterious at times and relaxed at others. The voices of the characters were one of my favorite things. They were so fitting to the personalities that you just grew to adore some of the people.
On the other hand, there were some exceedingly frustrating moments. When kayaking through the channel, you must use a GPS system to guide you, and it takes some getting used to. I finally used the GPS only for adding new coordinates, but used buoys and other landmarks to familiarize myself with what direction I was going. I was also annoyed toward the end of the game when I had to use the Second Chance no fewer than 5 times, and that was in the Junior Detective mode. The way the game is set up at this point, I think it’s virtually impossible to get through without using that option at least a few times. That could be upsetting to the younger players. One would assume that it wouldn’t take so many tries for a game that is aimed at ages 10 and up.
I think children will also have a tough time playing the Senior Detective level overall. Especially when it comes to the Anagram Buster if they haven’t played the Junior level first. The Anagram Buster takes a batch of mixed up letters and rearranges them into several words. The player then chooses which they think is the correct one. The rearranging can be done either automatically or manually. The manual option is the only one given for Senior Detectives, and if you don’t already know what the word is from playing before it could take forever to figure it out on your own.
Once I got the gist of everything and felt I knew what I was doing, the game was entirely fun and fantastic. I’m not quite certain I’ll ever be brave enough to try playing as a senior detective first, but maybe some day. These games are a great way to take yourself back to a childhood when you loved to read Nancy Drew, or an equally great way to introduce a whole new generation to this strong girl detective. And hey, you may learn a few things along the way like what GPS stands for or what cetaceans and geocaches are. Not only will you be giving your brain a good workout in following the clues and solving the problems and puzzles, but you’ll expand your vocabulary also. And you’ll receive a cool certificate for all of your effort.
System Requirements
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
200 MHz Pentium Processor
16 MB of RAM
200 MB hard drive space
16-bit color graphics video card
16-bit Windows compatible stereo sound card
8x CD-ROM drive
Mouse and speakers
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