Nancy Drew – The Deadly Secret of Olde World Park
Having played all 16 of the PC Nancy Drew Games put out by Her Interactive – this feels like Nancy Drew Lite but it holds its own.
Having never seen the character, Her Interactive's Nancy is a sort of a
first-person mystery -- seeing strawberry blond Nancy was a mild shock.
Gorilla design studio has made her attractive, charming, modestly dressed with a good animated walk.
For all the possibilities of the touch screen, they have used almost none except for minigames and the journal,
and to touch "A" for questions. It could have been on a GBA.
I kept on attempting to use the stylus on the top screen to move Nancy. The X button is used for everything else.
The mystery involves the disappearance of Thaddeus Belmont, just as the vacation park he has created is about to open.
Before long another mystery surfaces – the disappearance of a mystery writer who writes "true" stories about werewolves.
As in all Nancy Drew stories, action is moved along by questioning the characters,
and not all are exactly forthcoming.
To encourage these characters to talk, Nancy has to gain their trust, and this is done by playing games.
It is very touchy-feely. Gain your suspect's trust by tapping color symbols to match her/his mood; sympathize
with your suspect's mood by catching falling symbols; find common ground with your suspects to gain their
trust by unscrambling an image. – you get the idea.
The puzzles are quite inventive, giving a new look to old forms, and fit in with the context of the game.
Clues as to where to walk, what door to open and who to talk to make for easy navigating.
Nancy's journal keeps the clues she find in icon form. It is like a playing a game with a walkthrough.
For younger players, this will be fine.
All in all, it's a satisfactory game, and Nancy Drew is an iconic character that has girl-appeal;
and while this is an original story, there are literally hundreds of stories to draw from and games to make.
But please, make better use of the touch screen.
Reviewed by: Editor - 10/07
Ages: Everyone
Fun Factor: Interesting new take on using the Nancy Drew character in a game.
Female Factor: Nancy's a good female character.
Player Friendly: Needs better use of the touch screen.