Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice Game Review

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Her Interactive, the makers of the famous Nancy Drew Adventure games, brings us today the latest installment in the long-running series which stars the world’s most famous teen detective. This time around, you get to travel to Italy’s famous artistic water world in the Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice game, as you track a very mysterious criminal stealing priceless works of art.

As always, in this game, you’re put in the shoes of Nancy Drew as you solve yet another mystery that will put your amazing sleuthing skills to the test. The thing is that Nancy was asked by her previous client, Prudence Rutherford to help the GdiF (the Italian version of the FBI), track down a masked suspect claimed to be stealing priceless works of art. Known only as “The Phantom”, this man leaves very little trace behind and operates just like a how a notorious crime syndicate had also acted in the past. And as part of a group of people put up to help the GdiF, you are given a small task in spying for one of the suspects, but as we know, Nancy’s tasks were never ever small.

Starting as an ordinary task to watch over a certain Antonio Fango, Nancy had gotten herself into a web of deceit once again as she soon discovers that even the people closest to her hide their own little secrets. And since this crime also has a magnitude that she had never imagined, in this game and unlike any of her past adventures, Nancy gets caught in a wild goose chase all over the whole of Venice.

Much like The White Wolf if Icicle Creek and Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, your task in Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice is to find clues, solve puzzles and interrogate suspects in the hope of cracking down the case at hand. As always, you have your trusty magnifying glass in the ready to check out every nook and cranny of all the game’s scenarios through a first-person point of view. And since for this game, you have to travel all of Venice, I say that there’s certainly a lot of looking you’ll have to do this time around too.

What’s new in Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice though is the addition of the green cursor which is often used in the Hidden Object style mini-games, and the outfit and purse icons. Well, yeah, in this game, you get to do fashion too as you dress up Nancy depending on your liking and at one time, necessary too to progress the game. Also, all that traveling and having fun costs money, and to do all you need to do in Venice, you will need to find a way to earn money too, making this game more dynamic than your average puzzler.

One thing I really liked about this game is how the story flows nothing like its linear counterparts. While taking on your adventure, you can always have a side trip and ride gondolas while listening to various Italian songs. You can go to the Rialto market and learn buy and sell for some spending money. Or you can buy Nancy various outfits and play dress-up according to your own taste in fashion.

Nothing short can be said about the game’s story too. It seems that for all the times we’ve reviewed a Nancy Drew game, the plot just gets more mysterious every time, and Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice is really no exception. This game has more exhilarating moments and more twists and turns than the previous installments that will really make you wonder how Her Interactive comes up with all of this amazing plot stuff.

The overall presentation is great too, filled with engrossing graphics, music and gameplay that is typical of any Nancy Drew game, and I certainly loved the various cinematic sequences. The voice-overs are well-made also and I had fun listening to the witty dialogues as you engage in conversation with all the characters. Even the difficulty is considered since you will be able to choose whether you play the game as a Junior or a Senior detective, depending on your experience with these types of games.

All in all, I enjoyed this Nancy Drew experience very much and I say that it’s really one of her best adventures ever. I guess the only downside to all this is that there’s no trial period for this game, but certainly the small investment is worth all the fun you’ll be getting… but only if you’re up to the challenge of the mystery though.

Download the Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice game here.

Download the Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice strategy guide here.

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