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> Results: Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull
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The ESRB Says
Mild Violence: GamerDad saw some mildly violent encounters. It is amazing to think that the same perky teen who was such a hit seventy-five years ago is still around and doing well - the Nancy Drew franchise has seen plenty of activity lately, including a feature film, a Nintendo DS game and another addition to the fine series of adventure games from HER Interactive. GamerDad has reviewed many of these games (review for the most recent is here, for others simply search reviews for 'Nancy Drew'), and all of them have been very good - the review scores have been either 4 or 4.5 stars across the board. With an established history of excellence, I entered The Legend of the Crystal Skull with high expectations, and found that this might be the best one yet! Nancy is taking a vacation, and Ned asks her to look in on a friend whose uncle recently died. Of course, the moment she arrives strange things start to happen and she ends up all over the the New Orleans area, from the bayou to the French Quarter and beyond. One great addition is that Nancy traveled with Bess - and you can switch back and forth between the two teens as simply as calling each other on the cell phone! The game is very atmospheric - you are advised to play in the dark with the lights out, and doing so definitely adds to the experience. I also tend to play with headphones, which also adds to the eerie atmosphere. The game has a wonderful story that differs from the sameness that has seemed to creep into some of the more recent entries in the series, and there is also a much greater focus on completing interesting puzzles - and less on simple tasks. Voice acting, graphics, sound and all other technical details continue to be stellar - and I love the integrated 'desktop' that brings together all mysteries in the series. But it isn't required to know about Nancy Drew or have played any previous entries - so there is no excuse not to get out there and give this one a try!  
Characters doing responsible things who are also relevant to kids and early teens are a rarity - but Nancy Drew has been doing it for decades! The ESRB rates the game as E with only a caution for the mild violence seen in some encounters, however I found that the game was a bit creepy and really aimed at tweens to young teens in terms of theme and atmosphere. Of course, that is also using my kids as a yardstick - if you have a 6-year old who loves Nancy Drew and is not easily frightened, by all means have her play this game! The puzzles are wonderful - it is the sort of 'edutainment' that kids love to play while also learning something ... and getting to play through some wonderful stories that have entertained kids for ages.
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