The Backseat Game Designer: The Rest of The Danger on Deception Island Review
This is the addendum to my Nancy Drew Game Review in which I put all my opinions
that contain spoilers. If you haven't finished playing Danger on Deception Island yet, you don't want to read this page. Please go back to the regular review site, where I promise to
tell you everything you need to decide whether or not to play this game without giving away any of its plot. These
Backseat Game Designers pages are primarily
a place for me to put all my game commentary that was too revealing for the regular reviews, as well as a place to tell everyone exactly how *I* would have done the
game so much better. Hey, who knows, maybe the Nancy Drew design team'll read this page and be inspired to put a few more twists and turns in their next title.
Ah, well, maybe it'll amuse my friends, anyway. Here's all the news about Danger on Deception Island that's fit to print, just not on the no-spoiler review site.
Personal Reactions
Under construction: It'll be ready soon!
Plot Holes
Danger on Deception Island Game Advances
Things other adventure games should learn from the Nancy Drew games:
1) First and foremost is the excellent "Second Chance" function, which allows a gamer to automatically reload the game from a point just before
making a fatal error. Any adventure game that includes instant-death scenarios and/or timed challenges ought to have a feature similar to
this one--it saves time and frustration and allows gamers to concentrate on the game better, maybe even to appreciate being sucker-punched now and again.
2) The implementation wasn't great, but for a game aimed at beginning players (which this one is), calling Bess and George
on the phone is a good idea for an innovative in-game optional hint system.
3) Nancy Drew really makes a great graphic adventure heroine in general. Too many adventure games hand you characters who
either act so inept it's hard to believe they'd be on an adventure in the first place, or else act so blase about it
that it's hard to believe they haven't already got a knife in their inventory. Nancy Drew is a character who's both
experienced enough with mysteries that you buy her plunging into trouble as soon as she notices some, but at the same
time young enough to be a little wide-eyed at each new scenario and still have to go pixel-hunting around for a flashlight.
4) As in the previous game in the series, Danger on Deception Island includes the interesting feature of awarding the player a special nickname at the end
of the game based on his or her playstyle
("Puzzle Master" for someone who solves puzzles especially quickly, "Magellan" for someone who explores the gameworld especially thoroughly,
etc.) This is a nice way of recognizing the player's contribution to the story... not quite as nice as being able to guess the identity of the villain correctly or
incorrectly in Stay Tuned For Danger, which I'd like to see the series use more often, but still a welcome addition.
Danger on Deception Island Walkthrough
