Video Game Review: Nancy Drew: The Deadly Device

During school breaks, my sister and I have a tradition of playing games from Her Interactive's Nancy Drew series, and therefore, I've been a fan of it since childhood. So when I saw the cover of The Deadly Device, I just about died of excitement.

Further examination reveals a plot dripping with steampunkness, and, to my great joy, lots of references to Nikola Tesla. The plot begins with a modern-day scientific genius being murdered in the midst of an experiment based on Tesla's theories. A police investigation reveals nothing, so the owner of the lab takes the obvious next step: hiring a teenager, of course! (Suspension of disbelief, people. Use it.) And that's where you, playing as girl detective Nancy Drew, come in.

To begin with, I won't be able to review this without comparing it to it's many predecessors. The occasionally tedious point-and-click puzzle formula remains unchanged throughout the series, but the plot lines, remarkably, have grown less predictable in the later games. Whereas the early Nancy Drew games almost always put the most friendly and non-suspicious character in the role of perpetrator, The Deadly Device kept me guessing all the way through, and with all the suspicious characters and misleading clues, it really did feel like walking into a mystery novel.

Those who play this series for the scare factor will be disappointed. Her Interactive has indeed been flirting with the horror genre quite a bit as of late, but not once throughout the Deadly Device was I genuinely scared. This wasn't really a problem, per-se, as the mystery aspects and epic steampunk scenery were more than enough to keep me engaged, I can't help but wonder if a good scare or two might have made it more memorable.

As a side note, I originally meant to do a let's-play of this, which failed due to some technical issues. But, if at some point in the distant future, I actually find a decent screen capture program, I might go through with it. If I do, I'll put a link on this page, so feel free to check every now and then if you're interested.