Nancy
Drew is at it again in HerInteractive’s “Nancy Drew and
the Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake.” It’s the very best title
the series has ever had, but it’s hardly the best game in the
series.

Don’t get me wrong.
It’s solid and entertaining, like each entry in the series has
been so far. But after the strides the series took in Nancy’s
last outing, “Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Scarlet Hand,”
I was struck by the modestness of “Moon Lake.”

But you know what? Modest
is just fine as long as its good. This time around Nancy is planning
a visit with a friend who has a cabin on beautiful Moon Lake in rural
Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, upon her arrival a storm causes a huge
tree to fall, thus blocking her car from leaving. Even worse, her
friend had fled the place, due to nighttime visits from a pack of
ghostly and very scary dogs.

What’s
a trapped teenage sleuth to do? Get busy solving the mystery of the
Ghost Hounds, of course.

One of the things I admired
about Nancy’s last HerInteractive outing (“Scarlet Hand”)
was how organic the puzzles were. “Moon Lake” continues
this tradition admirably. One of the characters Nancy interacts with
is a birdwatcher, and he triggers a fairly involved puzzle involving
snapping pictures of several rare birds. The local general store proprietor
has Nancy do everything from sort soda cans to scavenging for bait.
The park ranger has dusty old files for her to organize. In addition,
there are several things that need doing around the cabin: testing
the water quality of the well, repairing a decayed floor, etc.

All
of these tasks fit in perfectly with the context of the game’s
story, and they’re all fun to do.

Like most of HerInteractive’s
Nancy Drew games, the backstory of “Moon Lake” is suffused
with local history. Even though Moon Lake is a tranquil place for
family recreation, its past was a good deal rowdier, as a major gangster
happened to live in the area. Many of the events surrounding his activities
may have very real repercussions in the present day.

As usually happens in a
Nancy Drew story, the past eventually comes back to haunt you. The
more clues Nancy
uncovers, the more reasons appear not to underestimate the local lake
residents. Each one probably knows more than he or she is telling
. . .

As always, the pre-rendered
graphics are rich and inviting. The voiceover work is generally well
done. The traditional alarm clock plot device has been streamlined,
which for this player is a welcome change (there are only two choices,
morning and evening).

There’s
only one problem with these lovely graphics, mysterious characters,
scary pooches, and fun puzzles: There just isn’t very much of
any of them. There are only three (seen) characters and very few locations.
Ghost Dogs feels significantly shorter than recent Nancy games. And
while this may actually be a convenience to a harried reviewer, it
might prove to be an irritant to the game purchasing public. As long
as you don’t mind your adventures short and sweet, I can heartily
recommend Nancy Drew and the Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake.

Final Grade: B

System Requirements:

• Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
• Pentium 200 MHz
• 16 MB RAM
• 8x CDROM-drive
• 160 MB available hard
  disk space
• 16 bit Windows compatible
  color graphics video and sound cards
• Mouse and Speakers

This
review is copyright Ray Ivey and Just Adventure and
may not be republished elsewhere without the express written consent
of the author. Republication of said review must also contain a link
back to Just Adventure.