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Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill
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Graphics & Sound:
Nancy Drew is celebrating it's 80th anniversary this year, and as a way to help commemorate the longevity of the school-aged sleuth, Her Interactive has re-released the first of it's hit series, Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill. Plus, the "Remastered" version gets a bit of a facelift, a new ending, and an update on all the mechanics that have been introduced into the series since this game's original release in 1998.
I will say, I didn't get the chance to play this particular Nancy Drew game when it first came out, so I can't really comment on any changes that may have been done. What I did notice is that some of the scenes, particularly the pictures of the various buildings before you go into them, seem to be at a rather low resolution. Thankfully, that's really the only time that happens. Locations like the diner, Nancy's aunt's house and the school look good once you are inside, and while they won't win any major graphics awards, they still get the job done.
According to the back of the box, one of the remastered features includes 3D characters. While I don't know how they were portrayed before, this time around, they don't look too bad. They are about on par with the last few Nancy Drew titles I've reviewed.
As for Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill's sound, it definitely gets does what it needs to, but like most of the graphics, doesn't really blow you away. Nancy, whose voice you will hear more than anyone else's, sounds right and doesn't really sound phoned in. Meanwhile, other characters like Hunk and Connie, sound a bit stereotypical, but then again, these characters were just that. |
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Gameplay:
Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill has Nancy going undercover as a new student at the home of the Fighting Manatees, a Florida high school. Apparently, one of the kids, Jake, was murdered, and Nancy has been asked to talk to the students and get them to open up to her.
What she finds when she starts attending school is a few students who seem to be connected to Jake, even if they don't say so, a lot of strange messages on the bulletin boards, and some strange secret Jake was trying to keep under-wraps.
There are several features that have been added to the Nancy Drew games over the past few releases, and it was nice to see that Secrets Can Kill's remastering included these features, giving it pretty much the same feel as the most recent release, Nancy's 22nd adventure Trail of the Twister. Of course, the one feature missing here is one that doesn't make sense in the context of this story, Nancy's fancy new GPS, so its fine.
What this remastered version includes is Nancy's cell phone that she can use to not only call various characters for help, but also take pictures of what she sees for future reference. This is incredibly helpful since the game will show you many hints that won't be used until much later in the game. This handy feature does a good job of keeping you from having to take notes, or keep you from backtracking quite as much.
The other helpful additions includes the Task List window which keeps track of the various things you need to do and the Journal window which provides a nice summary of the story so far. Both of these features have become indispensable in past Nancy Drew games, and the inclusion of them here just helps the overall package quite a lot.
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Difficulty:
I found Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill to be quite a challenge, more so than the more recent titles in this line. I don't know if that is because adventure games were simply tougher back then or what .... well actually, I do believe that's the case, but that is purely my opinion and not something I could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt.
One of the reasons I know this game was generally more challenging than most modern adventure titles is because Secrets Can Kill was one of the first times, in a long time, when I actually had to pull out a pen and paper and actually take notes. This is primarily due to a series of encrypted messages sprinkled around the town, and a secret code hidden among them. In the end, it was too much to attempt to hold in my head at one time, and as the list of messages and codes grew, I knew I had to write them down.
Like other Nancy Drew games, there are two difficulty settings. The easier one gives you better hints and provides easier to solve puzzles, while the other setting should only really be attempted by long-time adventure gamers. One example of a difference in puzzle difficulty includes a slide-puzzle. In the easier mode, you only have to deal with a nine-piece puzzle, while the number jumps up to 16 in the harder setting. |
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Game Mechanics:
The inclusion of the more recent additions to the Nancy Drew series to the classic Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill game not only helps to put a fresh face on a 12 year-old game, but it also seems to be designed to appeal to the current series followers, younger girl gamers. Since I firmly believe that a vast majority of adventure games that come out these days are generally easier than those from the genre's heyday, the 90's, adding features to help you keep track of what tasks you are doing and take pictures of the scenes are bound to make the game more accessible, especially since this is a tougher title than most Nancy Drew games.
Overall, I would have to say that Secrets Can Kill is the most enjoyable Nancy Drew game I've played, and definitely one of the more challenging ones in recent memory. Even adventure gamers who have been avoiding this obviously girly-themed series might want to check out this re-released Nancy Drew game. |
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-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer |
Minimum System Requirements:
Windows XP/Vista/7, 1 GHz Pentium 3 Processor, 256 MB RAM, 1 GB Hard Disk space, 32 MB DirectX 9.0 compatible video card, 16 bit DirectX compatible sound card, 24x CD-ROM drive |
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Test System:
Windows 7 Ultimate, Intel i7 X980 3.33GHz, 12 GB RAM, Radeon HD 5870 Graphics Card, DirectX 9.0c |
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