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Educational: N/A
Overall Design: 5.0
Ease of Use: 4.5
(4.0 = good, 4.5 = very
good, 5.0 = excellent)
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Program Description Commentary Who Is This Program For
Why We Selected This Program Computer Requirements
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Nancy Drew Stay Tuned For Danger is a highly interactive first person adventure game, where you the player are in control of the character Nancy Drew as she enters the world of daytime soap operas involving an interesting murder plot that she must solve. This program is a superb exercise in developing your analytic and deductive reasoning skills, as a crime solving sleuth.
The player must navigate Nancy Drew through New York (see your guide map below) to help determine who is trying to kill Rory Danner, "daytime’s greatest hunk." To do so, Nancy must talk to various characters, including Mattie, the co-star (See middle right), Lillian, the director, Millie, the eccentric owner, and Dwayne, the agent. The player must keep track of the motives and evidence, all of which are extremely detailed, and then make appropriate choices to move deeper into the mystery and hopefully emerge on the other side with a solution.
When speaking with characters, Nancy is given a choice of several dialogues to pursue with them. While the player is not free to say absolutely anything, there are many approaches to take. Some are blunt, some are subtle, all of them lead to interesting new clues and developments. The player may also choose to use the phone in the game to call various of Nancy’s friends to help her sift through the evidence.
When searching for clue, the player must use Nancy’s magnifying glass, which will turn red when it is "getting warm." Some clues can only be activated using other tools that Nancy picks up along the way. Some clues require interactive puzzles to be solved. Some doors require keys, some require passwords.
Danger, intrigue, romance, Stay Tuned For Danger has it all. Be warned! It’s hard to stop playing once you’ve started, and this is not a mystery for the faint hearted.
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"Scene of the Crime"
"One of Your Suspects'
"Map of New York"
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Nancy Drew Stay Tuned For Danger claims to be "for girls who aren’t afraid of a mouse." Its character appeal is certainly targeting an early teenaged female audience (10/11 – 15.) However, from Her Interactive’s web site and chat room it is clear that boys find this game appealing as well. In truth, it should appeal to anyone who loves a good mystery, young or old, male or female. I would not recommend this game for children under 10/11 because of its complexity.
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Nancy Drew Stay Tuned For Danger is a very well-designed program. Its learning value is in building problem solving skills, developing mental tenacity, and strengthening logic and reasoning through an interactive adventure. This has been accomplished masterfully. The choices and possible outcomes are many, the story is brilliantly developed, and the characters and clues enrich and heighten the mystery. The quality of the graphics and the background music make this program visually and auditorally engaging.
Two specific features worth mentioning are the choice of difficulty level and the "Second Chance" replay option. In the more difficult settings, some of the puzzles are more complex to solve. Likewise, some of these have time limits that are shorter in the higher difficulty levels, requiring a player to be more focused on the task. The fine tunings really heighten the sense of danger and anticipation in the game.
We also liked the "Second Chance" option which emerges when a player makes a "fatal" error. (This is likely to happen once or twice during the game) When this occurs, the player can select the "second chance" option to continue playing from the point in the game just before her error. In this way a player can learn from her mistakes and continue the game. A very clever design element to the program.
Her Interactive web site (www.herinteractive.com) is a good place to seek out tips and hints in the event you get stuck. If you are drawn to a good mystery and love the idea of cracking a case this one will get you.
- Kevin Dempsey teaches Grades 3 and 4 in Fort Ware, British Columbia and is a Learning Village reviewer.
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Pricing and Online Ordering
(or call toll free -1-800-250-9229 )
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Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP, 200 MHz Pentium Processor, 16 MB of RAM, 160 MB hard drive space, 16-bit color graphics card, 16-bit Windows-compatible stereo sound card, 8X CD-ROM drive, Mouse and speakers
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or to see other thinking and problem solving programs
Reader Rabbit Thinking Adventures - ages 4-6
I Spy School Days - ages 5 - 9
Cluefinders Search and Solve Adventures - ages 9 -14
Zoombinis' Logical Journey - ages 9-14
Zoombinis' Island Odyssey - ages 9 -14
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