Nancy Drew is hot on the sleuthing trail again, this time in Hawaii. As in the 13^th game of the series, Train to Blue Canyon, the Hardy Boys are also present, but this time players get to actually play as the Hardy Boys! This combination promises to be a lot of fun, but as in much of life, the reality falls a bit short of the expectations.

Nancy Drew: The Creature of Kapu Cave is the 15^th installment in the long-running Nancy Drew adventure series from Her Interactive. Most of the elements are the same, such as the interface; the option of playing on a Junior or Senior Detective level; the use of a phone, map and journal to keep Nancy moving along and on track; mini-games; and activities to earn money, which is used to gain information. Some features are new, such as playing as the Hardy Boys and the use of GPS coordinates in the map interface.

This time around, Nancy Drew isn’t actually on a case; instead, she is heading to Hawaii to fill an internship with an entomologist. While she is there, however, she soon becomes aware of a mystery involving Dr. Kim Quigley, the entomologist, and the secretive Hilihili research facility on Kapu Island. To make matters even more confusing, the Hardy Boys are also at Kapu Cave, investigating the owners of an adventure/excursion outfit. Soon, these two mysteries become intertwined.

As in many of the games before, there are lots of “fetch and carry” errands that players will need to do in order to earn money, namely fishing and gathering shells. Unlike the endless car driving errands in Secret of the Old Clock, though, these activities are pretty fun. There is also a mini-game in the shop, but I never could figure out how to play it, and as it wasn’t integral to the game, it was a meaningless addition for us.

The puzzles are very easy to solve, and mostly involve entering in information such as numbers, names and types of various items into objects that will then be operable. There are two difficulty levels available which don’t change the difficulty of the puzzles themselves, but gives players hints on how to solve certain puzzles and what items need to be done next to advance the game.

The characters in Kapu Cave are few, but are interesting and fun. We especially enjoyed Big Mike and Pua, his surfing-obsessed daughter. The dialogue is engaging, which is good, as it can’t be clicked through.

We enjoyed playing Kapu Cave, and the fishing and necklace activities were neat, and snorkeling was fun, as well. The look of the game is pretty, and the beach is cool to experience. However, there are several things that unfortunately detract from the overall quality of the game as a whole.  The biggest problem is that it’s entirely too short and can be finished in a couple of hours. There aren’t enough mini-games, the puzzles are way too easy and some of the errands are boring, such as the plant classification activity that players have to do for Dr. Quigley.

Having the Hardy Boys as playable characters is a good addition to the Nancy Drew series, but these last two games in the series, Danger by Design and Kapu Cave, just aren’t as good as many of the earlier games, such as Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon, Curse of Blackmoor Manor, Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, Secret of the Scarlet Hand and Shadow Ranch (which was not as challenging as the other games, but was a lot of fun for younger sleuths). The activities need to be relevant to the story, the puzzles more varied as to difficulty and the mini-games need to be better designed, in order to be on the same level of quality as previously.

I would suggest this game for families with several children that can play, or for avid Nancy Drew fans. Otherwise, parents may want to wait until next year’s installments.

Gameplay: 6.5
The game is fun to play, but is entirely too short. Also, there aren’t enough mini-games and puzzles to do.

Graphics: 7.0
Everything looks nice and the look of Hawaii is captured well.

Sound: 7.0
The music is also fairly well-handled and is pleasant on the ears.

Difficulty: Easy
The game is very easy, too easy.

Concept: 6.0
There is nothing new here at all, really.

Overall: 6.5
This game just doesn’t compare to previous Nancy Drew games. It’s too short, too easy and doesn’t include enough variety. It’s hard to maintain a consistent high quality in such a long series, but we’re hoping that next year’s games will be back on track.