Nancy Drew: The Deadly Device -- A Review by Rushes

Nancy is taken on at the “Technology of Tomorrow Today” research facility to investigate the death of physicist Niko Jovic. Will she make it out in one piece?

Nancy Drew: The Deadly Device Review

Wonderful review Rushes! Thanks for the great read.

Ana

Great, Rushes! Thanks.

Thank you Rushes!

Very nice, Rushes !!

Thank you for the review, Rushes; I was very interested to read that you thought this might be the most challenging ND game to date. I don't think I've ever felt quite so clueless with any ND game as I did with this one - I needed a lot of help to get through it.

Thanks, everyone. :)

I'm glad I'm not the only one, Marian!

I had limited play time so I used the WT a lot so I could finish in the time I had. I thought it was because I do not play adventures so much anymore, but I did indeed find myself lost not knowing how to move forward so I peeked at the WT often. MaG, you are a wonder how you get through them and write the WT's for us.

Without MaG, I'd still be wandering the corridors, shaking my fist and frightening the physicists.

Ana :wave:

Me too!!

Thank you Rushes

Same here. Mazes are my least favorite puzzles. Give me a fiendish slider any day or night or day or night and so on again and again for at least 60 clock sets over a maze leading out of a room I can't find again. I even knew about the right hand method but thought that applied only for real world mazes.

The first problem I used the WT for was to discover that what I had mistakenly branded a typical Nancy Drew ploy to get me thrown out of the facility was, in fact, essential to moving the game along. That device was clever in its simplicity. I looked at the object in question at least five times and thought, "You're not going to sucker me, Nancy Drew. I just need to remember that hotspot for the end of the game when some villain is chasing me." Wrong.

While the dialogue isn't as amusing as in Captive Curse (for example, "No castles? Then how do you protect yourselves from peasant uprisings?"), my impression of Deadly Device is that it's a bit better than a solid B and a cut above the usual HER Interactive fare. I haven't finished it yet though so I can't be certain.

I absolutely am not cheating on the code in the notebook. Never. Well, hardly ever. At least not yet.

Nice review! I'm looking forward to



a role usually played by Bess.

He really doesn't warrant looking forward to, Becky. Thanks!

Great review Rushes! I just finished it and sure glad you found it challenging too. It sure was more challenging for me. Don't think I have ever done so many second chances or not knowing where to go or what to do next. :lol:
Thank goodness for Mag's walkthrough. Don't know how she does it, but I sure thank her.
Kay

The 2 Zap-up puzzles were both trial and error for me. The logic was elusive. My carpal tunnel cried. :lol:

The last puzzle; I took a screen capture and worked that at my leisure. Cut and paste the components using my graphics program. Hahahahah. Is that cheating?

I had help from Her Interactive.

I wish I'd thought of that!

Hi Mag, Your carpal tunnel deserves a wonderful rest now. No way is that cheating when you just slow it down a little.
I finally just copied a few of your answers to the puzzles that I couldn't do in the amount of time they gave you. Now that's cheating!!! :lol: Thank you so much for doing the walkthrough.
Kay

Thank you Rushes for an interesting and insightful review. I'll be buying the game eventually as I need my annual ND 'fix' - sounds like it's going to drive me up the wall!

Let us know what you think of the game, chrissie; this game made me feel quite stupid!

Just finished. Phew!
When I started the game I thought I would be both bored and right out of my comfort zone. The latter was certainly true; my brain just isn't wired to understand physics.
Bored? I loved it. It was so challenging, the puzzles so intriguing. I, also, had to peek at the walkthrough many times but found that I didn't lose the immersion in the plot.
Playing at master level, there were no phone calls from "dopey Ned". Such a relief not to have stupid Bess twittering away too.
This was a really "grown up" game.
So many thanks to Rushes for a review that made me want to try the game even when the synopsis on HER's website convinced me this game wasn't my thing.
And many thanks to MaG for getting me through it.
Long Live Gameboomers!

Very glad that you enjoyed it, meryl! The Master level has major benefits then, in eradicating Ned.

I love Ned, don't you? He is so conventional and grounded. His girlfriend is never around, risking her life all the time, and he does not complain much.

I also love so far the details and complexity concerning how to produce electricity and Tesla's research. I think it is important for children to know that, if we are ever to solve the energy crisis and save the planet.

And if you think back to the Tomb of the Lost Queen, all this egyptology and hieroglyphs were not easy either.

I like Ned too and was surprised to hear he was "dopey" in the Amateur version. He and Nancy have always been so much more mature than the Hardy boys and Bess. (George is OK)
I find Nancy Drews quite challenging and the only reason I now play at senior level is so I can avoid much of the inane chatter.
Like you, I enjoy learning something complicated in each game. The games are very educational and i wish they had a wider distribution among young people in the UK. It's a fun way of learning... though not painless!

Thanks Rushes. I have the game but haven't started playing yet. Sounds like I'll like the master level.