Nancy Drew Secrets Can Kill

by Nancy Drew

Product Details

• ASIN: B00006JZBH
• Media: CD-ROM
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,564 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Investigate clues as Nancy Drew unlocks a killer's secret! Suspects are everywhere and not everyone welcomes Nancy poking around town. Think fast on your feet to solve challenging puzzles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Consider Both the Pros and Cons, August 5, 2008

By 

J. Eaton - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Nancy Drew Secrets Can Kill (CD-ROM)

As a longtime fan of Nancy Drew games, having currently played (and sometimes replayed) eleven different titles, this first one in the series is not all bad, everything considered. According to the publisher it's not Vista compatible (probably due to its' age); so you will likely need an older computer to run it. This can be a plus or a minus, depending on the PC system you have. Like many of the Nancy Drew games made for the PC (particularly the earlier ones in the series), they are relatively easy on computer system resources like hard disk space for installation, memory and graphics card requirements.

One of the most annoying features (and difficult if not impossible to overcome) is the two installation CDs and having to switch between them to access different parts of the game. HerInteractive would have done better (and saved a lot of users' tempers) to design it so that the disks were needed for installation only.

There is also an annoying in-game navigation (discontinued in later releases) where the player has to pan vertically as well as horizontally to view the entire field in certain scenes. Most of the time the areas along these top and bottom edges are not interactive and contained no visual clues; but it was time-consuming and tedious to have to keep checking them *just in case*.

Other than this, it was an interesting and intriguing game to play. Unlike later Nancy Drew games, it offers a third "Master" detective mode along with Junior and Senior. The often-derided cartoonish-looking 2D character graphics did not bother me in the slightest, as it was the storyline, interactive areas and puzzles which kept the game moving along. While they admittedly were not "glitzy," unlike some other 2D and 3D games of this class created during roughly that same time period they were at least well-drawn and clearly rendered. There are a lot of areas to interact with; and although some of the "evidence" and in-game hints (including cryptic encoded messages posted on walls and bulletin boards) were obviously a bit contrived and illogical, they serve to entertain and keep the interest of younger players during times of lesser overt activity.

Speaking of the pre-teen crowd, this game came under fire from some more family-oriented advocates when first introduced, as it was the first (perhaps only) Nancy Drew title to directly involve the death of a potential murder victim as part of the main plot. The background music served to heighten the suspense relating to this theme at certain points during the game. Although neither graphic or gratuitous, later releases in the ND series (or at least games #1 through #10) noticeably tend towards a considerably lighter atmosphere, if more limited and predictable plot.

In the end analysis, I would conclude that "Secrets Can Kill" is a worthwhile addition, just perhaps not a good *introduction* (especially for the novice adventure gamer) to the Nancy Drew series. Except for experienced die-hard gaming fans and/or those with considerable patience towards investigating mystery puzzles, it'd be better rather to go back and pick this one up only after becoming acquainted with the more user-friendly interfaces and mechanics utilized in ND #'s 2 through 5 or later.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For Diehard Fans(mostly), April 19, 2011

By 

Bre "Bre&Bubba" - See all my reviews

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Nancy Drew Secrets Can Kill (CD-ROM)

Well, for a first effort, it's a good game. Sure, it's got two disks you routinely have to swap in and out. The characters are drawn up cartoon style, and it's probably a miracle someone hasn't sued for the stereotypes that surround them...aka the smart Asian, the jock, blah blah. Thankfully, Nancy Drew games got a whole lot better after this. Unless you're a diehard fan, you might consider skipping this. The school itself was kind of plain, and two dimensional, causing me to actually get lost in the halls a couple of times. (Yeah, this can happen at a real HS too.) The cartoon characters made me laugh sometimes too.
But...if you can get past these things, the storyline of this game is actually the best of pretty much all the games. We'll probably never get murder as a storyline again...not that there's anything graphic here for sure. Also...the music. It's some of the creepiest stuff I've ever heard. Kind of a psycho, knife murderer blend that peaks when you enter the kitchen in the diner. Wow, I don't think I've ever heard anything scarier! Desperation and fear to the tenth power. There's also the typical Nancy Drew style investigation. I really had fun with the slider puzzle at Aunt Eloise's house. Phone calls can be fun on here too.
Really, it's not a terrible game by any standards. It's actually edgy for a Nancy Drew game, and I wish more of them would have that edge now.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Secrets Can Kill, January 8, 2009

By 

A. Ellison "homeschool mom" (Princeton, WV USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Nancy Drew Secrets Can Kill (CD-ROM)

If you enjoy puzzles, and like mysteries, this game is for you. When played correctly, this game will stretch your thinking skills.

If you have played other Nancy Drew games, remember this one was the first. Every time a new ND game is released there are improvements, but this one is still good.

I orginally bought this game for my son's 10th B-day. I ended up playing it too. Now I'm hooked and keep coming back for more. The puzzles are challenging, and the setting interesting. We now own 17 of the 19 games released.

For those of you who have played some of the later games, you might want to back up and play this one so you can see how things have changed, and so you can say you have played them all. But beware there are a lot of "clues" in this one that don't really lead you anywhere. They are just there for the fun of solving them (or they go to motive). Be careful and don't miss the real clues.

Nancy Drew fans will not want to miss this one.