Aimless Island - a review of Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships!

My wife and I have played almost every Nancy Drew adventure game to date. We just finished Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships. Want to know what I thought of it? Read on!

What I liked Some good puzzles Setting was nice What I didn't like Hard to figure out what to do next Very few characters Minimal music Weak conclusion Teeeeeedious

Quick Plot

Nancy's friend is missing! Go to the island and find her!

Highlights

Features

• Standard point-and-click travel and environmental interaction
• New sailing feature
• New scuba diving feature (gotta keep that tank filled!)
• Rock-climbing (this might be new)
• Driving, as seen in other games
• Playing games with monkeys
• Metal detecting and digging
• Puzzles

Music For some reason, the music didn't do much for me this time around. There is very little variety in the music for most of the game. It provides some accompaniment, but it's nothing special. The composer for the Dossier series is pumping out better music for that line of games. Story The story was one of the best parts of the game. It involves some old Spanish ships and some treasure. Playing the Game This is where the game falls short of previous Nancy Drew adventures. I can imagine the developer meeting where they planned the game:

Developer 1: "You know, we just need to get this game done. Any ideas for speeding up the process?" Developer 2: "Well, what gamers want is a good chunk of time spent in a video game. Time equals value for the gamer." Developer 3: "That's right. How about this: What if we just make a lot of the mechanics tedious and repetitive so that it feels like the player is doing something even though he really isn't!" Developer 1: "Brilliant!"

And so they got to work. And it shows. You spend a huge portion of the game not solving puzzles, gaining new insight, or discovering new fascinating locations. Rather, a hefty majority of the game is spent driving a golf cart around the island. And wouldn't you know it - the map of the island isn't with you for easy access - no - it's all the way back at the resort where you're staying - so you have to memorize it! When you're not driving, you're climbing (and getting pelted by rocks), sailing around an expanse of water, playing boring games over and over to win prizes from monkeys, scuba diving, and traveling all the way back to the resort to fill up your scuba tank! Doesn't that sound like fun? No? That's because it isn't really. Good adventure games keep you playing by leading you to

• participate in interesting conversations with interesting characters,
• discover clues in interesting locations, or best of all,
• solve (challenging or interesting) puzzles.

This brings me to the best part of Seven Ships. There were, thankfully, some fun, amusing, and challenging puzzles in this game. That was the part where I told my wife, "Okay, let me take the mouse now!" Oh, and to top it off, they give you one of the all-time adventure game no-nos: a maze. Sure, you're scuba diving, and there are symbols which are supposed to guide you, but it's still a maze. To avoid spoilers, I won't go into much detail, but I'll say that I was dissatisfied with both the resolution to the mystery, and with the ending.

Suitable for the family?

The kids sat with us for much of this game. There's a talking parrot in the game, which is great for the weefolk. And, of course, the monkeys.

The family man's final ruling

This game often leaves you with little direction. Usually, I like to solve these games without looking online for hints. This time, we had no choice. We had to visit UHS multiple times. You're supposed to get your direction from an old journal you find. This just didn't work well. Honestly, I was disappointed. I have been having a lot more fun with the newer Nancy Drew Dossier series than with the long-lived adventure series. My wife is the primary Nancy Drew fan in our house, and she was disappointed with this game too. I would recommend trying some of the older entries if you're new to the series.

You'll like the game if... You're a die-hard or completist Nancy Drew adventure fan You love a tropical island setting for an adventure You won't like the game if... You want lots of good puzzles and gameplay that provides constant forward momentum

My rating:

Here's mud on your face! - a review of Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting to Danger

Before Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting to Danger, my favorite casual game was Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses. Well, this new sequel is now my other favorite casual game. Read on to find out why!

What I liked Top-notch music Fun and original mechanics Great story Multiple endings Mini games / puzzles Excellent voice acting (for the most part) What I didn't like A few of the voices The reward for achieving Master Detective rank Short allotted time for bomb puzzles Too short of game length! Give me more!

Genre

Adventure / Mystery / Object-combining

Quick Plot

Someone at the luxurious Redondo Resort and Spa is planting bombs. Your job as the illustrious girl detective is to track down the perpetrator. Which of the six mysterious suspects is responsible?

Highlights

Mechanics I love the original object-matching mechanic used in the Nancy Drew Dossier games. Most of the game puts you in one of many rooms where there are various objects to locate with your magnifying glass (mouse cursor). You hover the mouse around the room until it sparkles on some object or area, at which point you can click to reveal a usable feature of the room. You are told how many of these objects exist in each scene. As you find these objects, you can match them by clicking two of them in a row. If the match is successful, you earn points. If not, you get nothing and your points counter resets. With each successive correct match, the number of points you earn increases. For this reason, I always make sure to find every object in a room before attempting matches. It is too easy to make a mistake if you don't know what all of your options are. Once you've found all of the matches in a room, the game progresses. Puzzles and mini games Throughout the game you'll face various puzzles and mini games including (but not limited to):

• Bomb-diffusing (connect one end to the other end, like the pipe game)
• Mud masking spa clients (logical sequence puzzle)
• Getting correct answers in conversations (requires you to be observant as you go)
• Animal-catching
• Riddle-solving
• Unlocking various objects

Music You know I'm picky about music in games. Fortunately, Her Interactive has hired Matt Sayre to compose the music for the Dossier series. I respect Mr. Sayre. He's one of the few good composers out there working on casual games. The music is fitting and fun in both Dossier games. This helps push the game to the "great" category. Production The best thing about the Dossier games is the attention to quality. So many casual games feel as if they were thrown together, with a terrible lack of quality writing, editing, and English in general. In this game, the music, graphics, writing, voice work (except for maybe 2 exceptions) are all as good as it gets. It's so fun to play a game with a well-written story! Her Interactive has my confidence that they will always deliver the goods, whether it be with their adventure game series or their Dossier series.

Suitable for the family?

Yes. The kids really enjoy this game. The geniuses at Her Interactive put a recurring dog character in the game, which is perfect for drawing the attention of the little ones. Additionally, the game is always moving and changing, which keeps the halflings from growing bored.

The family man's final ruling

It doesn't get better than this, friends. Go download Lights, Camera, Curses first, and then play Resorting to Danger. My main gripe is that, knowing how tricky it was to achieve Master Detective rank in the first Dossier game, I was very careful to avoid mistakes this time around so I could earn enough points to unlock whatever tasty morsels they had for me at the end. I was very disappointed. All that work turned out to be for nothing, really. Grrrrrrr. In my mind, Master Detective rank should unlock some great 10-minute movie to wrap-up the plot or show you what happened afterward or something. As it is, it was a huge letdown. The payoff for Master Detective rank was much better in the first Dossier game. In my mind, the reward should be spectacular. Couldn't Her Interactive have polished this element of the game just a bit more? On the other hand, they offered multiple endings this time around, which provides replay value. You may find yourself wanting to go back and play it again immediately, just to find out what happens in the other endings. So, this is as much fun and quality as you'll find on the casual game market.

You'll like the game if... You like Nancy Drew games You like solving mysteries You like a variety of puzzles and mini games You like a good story You won't like the game if... You don't like matching or combining things You don't like Nancy Drew mysteries

My rating:

Nancy Drew games - so many options, so little time!

My wife has played all but one of the games in Her Interactive's Nancy Drew adventure game series. I have played a handful of them as well. Then, several months ago, Her Interactive released a new style of Nancy Drew game - a casual-style game called Nancy Drew Dossier. I played through Lights, Camera, Curses once and narrowly missed achieving enough points to gain Master Detective rank, which is required if you want to get the bonus ending. So I played the game again, and it was still fun a second time.

 

The main mechanic of the game involves going from scene to scene, locating objects, and combining the objects in the right order. Each time you combine the correct items in the correct order, you gain points. The points increase for every additional success. If you mess up, the points start small again. Another big part of the game involves interacting with a cast of voice-acted characters who all seem suspicious in one way or another. During conversations, you are given a list of responses to choose from. If you choose the correct response, you earn points. Finally, there are mini games dispersed throughout the game. They are usually simple puzzle games which allow you to earn more points. As you collect points, your detective ranking increases. If you achieve the rank of Master Detective, you get to watch the secret alternate ending. I'm really looking forward to the next game in the dossier series. One other feature worth noting was that the music in the game (composed by Matt Sayre) was excellent and perfectly fit the mood of the game. This is still probably my favorite casual game to date, and among my top 3 Nancy Drew games. It's definitely worth trying. Big Fish Games has it for $6.99 which is much less than what you'll pay at the Her Interactive website.