Nancy Drew is back yet again in this ninth installment in the series. Danger on Deception Island features a mystery involving an orphaned orca off the coast of the Northwest Pacific coast. Nancy is invited to stay for a vacation at a friend of George's, Kate Firestone, who owns a whale watching boat.
Of course, where Nancy is, mystery soon follows. Right after Nancy arrives at Kate's boat, she discovers that the boat's engine and other items have been vandalized. Upon questioning Kate, she learns that there is a lot of tension in the town among the locals regarding the fate of an orphaned orca, and Kate is right in the middle of the dispute. Nancy is intrigued by the situation, and begins to investigate. Soon, she realizes that there are more things going on than meets the eye, like a mysterious hermit woman who leaves messages in bottles all around the harbor, a local "old salt" who's running for harbormaster and is hiding something at the old lighthouse, and a businessman who wants to merge his whale watching enterprise with Kate's.
Nancy must travel around the town gathering information, which she accomplishes by bike and kayak. Biking is pretty mundane as it's governed by a map, but the kayaking is more interactive with Nancy actually getting to steer the kayak in the water, which is pretty cool. Like the other Nancy Drew games, players will have to solve puzzles, talk to various people and visit lots of locations. A feature introduced in the last game, Haunted Carousel, there are also mini-games to play that help solve a puzzle. These mini-games can be played over again, but only a couple are randomized. This interactivity is taken a step further in this game by having a beach which features a building activity with sandcastles and a tide pool for exploration.
As in all these games, Nancy can get hurt and taken off the case, but with the Second Change option, she's always ready to try again. Unlike the last game, which had Nancy being fired from her sleuthing job right and left, this game's accidents are handled in a much less personal way, which won't hurt the player's feelings.
The Nancy Drew games are all excellent, and this one is no exception. It's most similar to the last game in the series, and features easier puzzles than many of the previous games. There is also more interactivity in these more recent games, with Nancy using her laptop and phone to gather information and communicate with people, and several simple mini-games for kids to play. Besides the games mentioned above, there is also a cute sandwich making activity in the boat which is a hoot! The only negative thing I can find to say about this game is the inclusion of the cursed "sliding puzzle", which presents its ugly face to players who fail to give all the relevant information during a wood sample identification puzzle. Kids who fail at this must solve a sliding puzzle to have the expert answer any more questions about their wood sample.
Fans of Her Interactive's Nancy Drew adventure games can rejoice, this is yet another superb installment in a great series. Easier than some, older gamers may breeze through too quickly, this ninth entry is probably best for kids under sixteen, although older teens will still have fun even if it's an easy ride. A great selection for families with preteens and teens!
