July 23rd, 2009

IGN games rated “Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships” at 7.3

Yes, it is maybe so, that Nancy Drew used to be your mother’s detective heroine, but while stepping in the world of Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships, you have to forget about this. The team from “Her Interactive” has turned the game into a collection of puzzles and mystery offering a package suitable to be played with family and friends. The action of this game takes place in Bahamas, due to a winning trip that Drew and her friends have won. Upon their arrival, one of Drew’s friends has been kidnapped, and Drew is forced to solve a mystery in order to get her friend back. The mystery is revealed to be the discovery of a long lost treasure that once belonged to a Spanish fleet. This is the pretext of the game to begin solving some interesting puzzles, while you are carried through unusual situations; no, not that kind of danger or menace.

You are supposed to start your quest for clues, at the same time facing common obstacles that stay in your way. In your quest and trial you meet a lot of characters who are there to help you, but only after you help them first. The interesting thing is that an entire variety of things to do are offered to put your skills (navigating a map, decipher messages) at work. Unfortunately, the puzzles are not working that well, and beside this there are some reflex-based puzzles that test your ability to hit targets, and in case you are a slower paced thrower then it is a real problem for you.

At some point of the game you are allowed to take off on a boat and do some scuba diving handling a metal detector in order to find more clues. The further you advance, the more difficult the puzzles become, and for those who enjoy being brainteased this is for sure a way for you to feel excited. In your play there are situations when you might need to use pen and paper in order to take notes, but more useful seems to be a cell phone’s camera because there are some puzzles that need to be analyzed with a timer countdown. In this case the camera may help to take a photo of map directions, without you needing to write it down.

The game provides two difficult levels, one for the junior detective and the other one for the senior detective. Once you started as a junior you have the option to replay the game as a senior offering you in this way a more challengeable playgame. The values of the game’s production are low-tech, being displayed in a 2D without the possibility to adjust a resolution that is fixed. The exciting thing is that this game can be played on any PC that exists, and has an audio system appropriate for most of its part.

The feeling one gets, while playing is that of navigating through a series of puzzles that are connected by a not so convincing narrative style, rather than a mysterious game that offers puzzles to be solved. IGN games rated Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships at 7.3 which is considered to be a decent game.