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> Results: Nancy Drew: The Deadly Secret of Olde World Park
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by Michael Anderson
November 30, 2007
Join Nancy, George and Ned as they get to the bottom of another spooky mystery!
Reviewed for DS.
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Scroll down for our Kid Factor.
The ESRB Says
Mild Violence: GamerDad saw indirect violence in scenes and through descriptions - no direct violence.
The great joy in an adventure game comes from having a great story and working to uncover all of the plot twists. Nancy Drew: The Deadly Secret of Olde World Park gets half of it right - there is a very nice story with plenty of twists and turns. Unfortunately uncovering the plot involves nothing more than investigating all marked items in an area and waiting for the next mini-game to reveal a plot detail.
The game plays as a mix of 3D exploration, top-down stealth, and a series of mini-games. You enter an area and see someone with an exclamation point over their head and talk to them (this isn't difficult, there are less than a dozen characters in the whole game). Depending on their mood (reflected by a 'smiley' next to the item) you might need to play a mini-game to get them to talk. There are about 9 of these, from finding paths to collecting orbs to unscrambling puzzles. These allow you to progress in the game - but don't worry if you fail, you can just retry until you succeed. Lockpicking is a similar mini-game that will not pose a problem. The mini-games do break up the game pretty nicely, but unfortunately there is nothing to explore or find - everything is laid out in a linear fashion to the point that it feels more like an interactive storybook than an adventure game. If you are looking for a decent adventure there are better ones for the DS, but if it is a nice Nancy Drew fix you want, the story here is solid and the characters are fun. You will finish is a few hours, but it is decent fun along the way.
This game is pretty clearly aimed at 'tween girls with a focus on relationships with boys and other girls. But there is nothing about it that makes it inappropriate for younger kids - this is a simple tale of a girl trying to do the right thing. Nancy takes chances and does things we wouldn't want our own kids doing, but she interacts respectfully and her heart is always in the right place. The spirit of the books lives on here and I think that anyone up to the reading requirements would enjoy this story and give the game a GamerDad Age Seal of 6+.
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us
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> Results: Nancy Drew: The Deadly Secret of Olde World Park
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