I wanted to like this one more, but it just felt weirdly linear and also kinda directionless. ok yeah that sounds stupid, but I really like when there's just puzzles strewn about the map for you to solve as you like. In Phantom of Venice I felt like I was being shuffled along from plot point to plot point and sometimes just wandering about aimlessly waiting for someone to tell me what to do. I've definitely had the occasional trouble with knowing what to do next in these games, but it felt especially bad in this entry.
Puzzles: The puzzles were a bit sparse unfortunately, as those are always my favorite aspect of the Nancy Drew games. But the ones that are present were suitably fun and not obnoxious (besides the water level puzzle). I usually hate big long card games, especially if you need to play them more than once to progress, but shit man scopa is actually fun. I bought a deck of scopa cards because of this game. The part where you need to memorize basic Italian vocab was a neat edutainment puzzle, but why did they need to speak italian weren't the cops already talking to nancy in english, why make it harder for the american teenage detective guys
I also really enjoyed the mosaic puzzle for some reason. I feel like I shouldn't have because it's just slowly copying a pattern, like a tedious pixel paint-by-numbers, but idk it was nice.
OH i almost forgot the diamond stealing puzzle! yeah that one wasn't a hard puzzle, just an annoying one. Not a fan of slowly navigating a maze while a bunch of laser roombas lazily patrol an ugly warehouse. And then having to do the same puzzle 4 times to shut off the power. Not even a good puzzle, one of the ones were you just gotta guess until you narrow it down to the correct combination.
Setting: I love the more interesting and "exotic" locations, so I felt like Italy was a great pick for this game. The actual in-game locations felt a bit empty, though thematically fitting and pleasant to explore. I wish there was more variety than just a couple of empty plazas and the house though.
I'm surprised there wasn't a puzzle where you have to navigate the canals tbh, just seems like it'd be right up the Nancy Drew Game alley.
Navigating between locations was a nice spin on the map concept, like a more interactive version of Danger by Design's metro map. It got a bit tedious at points, but I never hated it or felt that it took too long.
Characters: The suspects were alright, again no big standouts in the cast and they could probably have benefited from being more fleshed out. There wasn't a real need to interact with them for the most part, I would've liked to see more of the lady who owned the house tbh. Journalist lady was forgettable and mosaic guy sucked. wish i saw less of him tbh
Story: Working for the Italian police (or maybe the Italian FBI? i couldn't tell how important they were) as a spy to catch the titular art thief the "Phantom of Venice". I love it, what an absurd story hook. The execution is where it falters for me. It felt like a lot of waiting for my next objective and it was much too linear for my taste.
but doing spy stuff was fun and even though I would have rather joined the international group of art thieves i guess the story was pretty enjoyable all things considered
Final Thoughts: It's a good Nancy Drew game, it just doesn't have what I really enjoy in a Nancy Drew game. It focuses more on plot than puzzles, but it doesn't have any of the fun, goofy characters I like in plot-heavy entries. It has an excellent setting, but I feel like the locations in-game don't reflect that well. But what it does have is a mini game where you perform cheesy dance moves for an audience in a skintight cat suit to some bizarre music for extra cash. the games gotta get SOME credit for that because holy shit
Puzzles: The puzzles were a bit sparse unfortunately, as those are always my favorite aspect of the Nancy Drew games. But the ones that are present were suitably fun and not obnoxious (besides the water level puzzle). I usually hate big long card games, especially if you need to play them more than once to progress, but shit man scopa is actually fun. I bought a deck of scopa cards because of this game. The part where you need to memorize basic Italian vocab was a neat edutainment puzzle, but why did they need to speak italian weren't the cops already talking to nancy in english, why make it harder for the american teenage detective guys
I also really enjoyed the mosaic puzzle for some reason. I feel like I shouldn't have because it's just slowly copying a pattern, like a tedious pixel paint-by-numbers, but idk it was nice.
OH i almost forgot the diamond stealing puzzle! yeah that one wasn't a hard puzzle, just an annoying one. Not a fan of slowly navigating a maze while a bunch of laser roombas lazily patrol an ugly warehouse. And then having to do the same puzzle 4 times to shut off the power. Not even a good puzzle, one of the ones were you just gotta guess until you narrow it down to the correct combination.
Setting: I love the more interesting and "exotic" locations, so I felt like Italy was a great pick for this game. The actual in-game locations felt a bit empty, though thematically fitting and pleasant to explore. I wish there was more variety than just a couple of empty plazas and the house though.
I'm surprised there wasn't a puzzle where you have to navigate the canals tbh, just seems like it'd be right up the Nancy Drew Game alley.
Navigating between locations was a nice spin on the map concept, like a more interactive version of Danger by Design's metro map. It got a bit tedious at points, but I never hated it or felt that it took too long.
Characters: The suspects were alright, again no big standouts in the cast and they could probably have benefited from being more fleshed out. There wasn't a real need to interact with them for the most part, I would've liked to see more of the lady who owned the house tbh. Journalist lady was forgettable and mosaic guy sucked. wish i saw less of him tbh
Story: Working for the Italian police (or maybe the Italian FBI? i couldn't tell how important they were) as a spy to catch the titular art thief the "Phantom of Venice". I love it, what an absurd story hook. The execution is where it falters for me. It felt like a lot of waiting for my next objective and it was much too linear for my taste.
but doing spy stuff was fun and even though I would have rather joined the international group of art thieves i guess the story was pretty enjoyable all things considered
Final Thoughts: It's a good Nancy Drew game, it just doesn't have what I really enjoy in a Nancy Drew game. It focuses more on plot than puzzles, but it doesn't have any of the fun, goofy characters I like in plot-heavy entries. It has an excellent setting, but I feel like the locations in-game don't reflect that well. But what it does have is a mini game where you perform cheesy dance moves for an audience in a skintight cat suit to some bizarre music for extra cash. the games gotta get SOME credit for that because holy shit