Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships

Reviewed by Jason Venter (July 26, 2009)

Ransom of the Seven Ships works because it has high ambitions. When you step into Nancy's shoes, you're doing more than clicking through a few lifeless menus. You're arriving at the edge of a hauntingly beautiful island, one that you'll cautiously explore over the next six or eight hours of play. White sands, lush foliage, towering cliffs and murky pools of water all meld perfectly to form Dread Isle, the sort of destination that should scare off tourists by reputation alone. The place is large enough that you'll use a golf cart when it comes time to explore everything, plus there are outlying islands that you'll have to reach by way of sailboat. The resulting sense of freedom adds a lot to (and to an extent defines) the whole affair.