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Posted by: jkdmedia

Nancy has a great life. Not for her are the trials of a bad economy, a frozen job market, the rising costs of living. Nope, Nancy still gets to jet around the world, invited here, there, and yonder by friends and acquaintances. True, most of these invitations involve some type of quid-pro-quo in the form of solving a mystery, but still, Nancy gets to visit some pretty cool places. However, this time, instead of an invitation from some well-off friend who lives in an exotic location, it's from Bess, and there are no strings attached.

Bess has invited her good friends Nancy and George to go with her to stay at the Shark Diving Eco-Tourist Resort on Dread Island in the Caribbean, on a vacation she won in a contest. Nancy had a prior engagement, so is due to arrive at the island a day after her friends. When she does get there, she is met with the terrible news from George that Bess has been kidnapped!. Dread Island is a small island in the Caribbean that is isolated somewhat from the rest of the area, and which has only the one resort and no other inhabited settlements. Of course, the kidnappers have taken care of sabotaging any communications from the island. The staff at the resort have also conveniently left.

While George stays at the resort trying to raise some type of communication with the outside world, Nancy attempts to try to meet the demands of the kidnappers. They want her to find the long-lost treasure left centuries ago by the pirate, El Toro. Thus begins Nancy's 20th Her Interactive adventure, The Ransom of the Seven Ships,

As in the previous Her Interactive adventures, this is a third-person, point-n-click adventure. The games in this series follow the basic format of an interesting mystery, with clues in the form of objects and dialogue, plus lots of puzzles. There are also usually a few mini-games, and some good educational trivia in the form of some type of research that Nancy will have to conduct to solve the mystery. Many of the games also involve some type of job or jobs that Nancy can do to earn money, which she can use in some of the puzzles.

What's new this time around is the addition of George as a playable character. She looks exactly as described in the books, too. However, there aren't many other characters in the game. Nancy does a lot less interrogating of people than in previous games.

The emphasis is mostly on pure puzzle solving. While Nancy will be doing a lot of traveling around to fetch items she will need to solve certain puzzles, the puzzles are the main theme. And boy, are there a lot of them! They range from logical to combinational, with even a slider tossed in, my bane of adventure games. These puzzles are mostly well-designed and will require a good bit of thoughtful deduction, but unfortunately, many of them are timed. Most of these timed puzzles involve Nancy diving underwater with a limited air supply, and she will die if the air runs out. She always has a second chance, but this constant dying gets old fast. And, since this is a series targeted toward children, these types of timed puzzles can lead to some unnecessay frustration for young gamers.

As in all Nancy Drew games, there is some good educational material disguised as needed information to solve puzzles. There are also mini-games, but these are not as fun to play as in some of the previous games. There are lots of monkeys on the island, planted there a while back for research purposes, and who now live in the wild. Recently, a group of scientists came to the island to conduct more research with the monkeys, and they taught the monkeys several games. Now, these monkeys love to play these games with anyone they can get to participate! Nancy will have to play these games many times to gain certain needed items from these monkeys.

The reason these games are not as fun as they could be is due to the difficulty of winning. There are three games, one of which is purely luck and no skill, and one that is wholly slanted in favor of the monkey. Young gamers may get stuck here often, trying to win a game to get some item from the monkey, before they can move on in the story.

While it can get a little tiring to travel back and forth across the island, because of the method of travel (players have to direct a car around a road map, using the mouse), there is also the way more cool method of sailing around in the boat. This is much more fun than dragging the jeep around on the map with the mouse. Here, Nancy will get to sail around the island, and dive for items found underwater. Fun!

The puzzles are of exceptional quality for a game of this type, and will really present a challenge. This is good news for older gamers, but unfortunately, this will place this game out of reach for some younger gamers, even on the Jr. Detective level, unless they have help from an older player. Younger players can choose the Jr. Detective level, which will present a task list and easier puzzles (less steps required for solving), but this doesn't take away the timer. And, hints about what to do next can be gained from the parrot if you give it a guava..

The puzzles are thoughtful, and there is a good variety of different types. There is a maze, a slider puzzle, and even a Soduko type of puzzle. The timer issue is the biggest drawback to some of these. Gamers may need to resort to a walkthrough; Gameboomers is a good site for Nancy Drew game walkthroughs. Most of these puzzles are well-designed, but a few are less so. One of the first puzzles involves Nancy searching for an object El Toro left buried on the island. Players will have to direct Nancy around the screen with the mouse, while counting off the steps she takes on the screen, according to the number indicated by the visual clues. This is a difficult puzzle to solve the first time.

When gamers need a break from the puzzle sovling, they can do many other things in the game besides. The mini-games with the monkeys are always available, and players can also rock climb, scuba dive and sail around the island.

What I especially like about the Nancy Drew series from Her Interactive is the way they are always tweaking the format and changing things around a bit, trying new things and seeing how the public reacts. This time, they have left off the chore list (which many have complained about, but which most of the time I liked, and believe most young gamers like) and concentrated more on the puzzles. It appears to me that this game is geared more toward adult gamers, rather than pre-teens and teens. I liked the puzzles, and thought they were quite good. However, some of them are a bit difficult for children, and the whole timer thing is pretty rough. The story will appeal to teens, and having Bess and George actually in the game is great, due to the care taken to present them closely modeled on the characters in the books.

Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships is an excellent game, and one of the better ones in the series. The story is fun for teens, and the different activities available around the island make gamers feel they are really in the Caribbean. The puzzles are thought-provoking and engaging. The only real drawbacks are the lack of character interaction, the timer on some of the puzzles and the method of traveling around the island by dragging the jeep with the mouse. Everything else is great! Best for older teens and adults.

Gameplay: 8.5
The puzzles are very good, and overall the game is comparable to many traditional adventure games that are usually for the adult market. The interface is easy to understand, and the only real difficulty in gameplay is the timer, which will only be a problem for some. 

Graphics: 8.0
The graphics are pretty much the same type of quality as in previous Nancy Drew games, which is to say, good, but not outstanding. 

Sound: 7.0
The music is pretty cool, and the sound effects are decent. 

Difficulty: Medium
While the game starts off very simple, once you’ve finished the tutorial the difficulty gets a boost. Your ability to take challenges at your own pace helps, though. If an area or section giving you problems, you’ve always got plenty of other things you could be doing, so you’ll never be stuck for long.

Concept: 7.5
The Nancy Drew games are all the same basic format and so aren't really new and innovative, but they do a good job of tweaking the existing formula. Everything here is executed fairly well."

Overall: 8.5
This is the 20th game in the long-running series, hard to believe! I remember the first Nancy Drew game, and how it was wonderful that a company was looking at the preteen and teen female market with a game that wasn't about makeup or horoscopes. Ransom of the Seven Ships belongs with the best of the series, and is definitely a must-have for any fan of the series.