Aloha! The second half
of 2006 brings us yet another adventure from the world
famous sleuth – Nancy Drew. In her 15th mystery – The Creature
of
Kapu Cave – we find ourselves traveling to Hawaii to assist an entomologist
in her search for the answer to a sudden population explosion in moths. Add to
the mix a mythical creature called Kane Okala that is running around terrorizing
the area, a highly secured biochemical lab doing experiments on plants, and the
rumblings of Pele herself and you get the idea.

As a fan of the series
of Nancy Drew games, you can expect the same tried and true interface – 1st
person slideshow with the familiar directional arrows for navigation,
the magnifying glass for examining
items closer, and the hand for manipulating objects.

One of the first things
that hit me was that this one came on 2 CDs. My initial hope was
that it meant this game was going to be
longer than some of the previous titles, but all in all it played
out about the same – around 5-6 hours without a walkthrough
as a Junior Detective. My assumption is that the need for 2 CDs was
based on there being some rather large cut scenes and slightly larger
locations to explore.

Once again you are joined
by the Hardy Boys and actually get to play them this time around.
If you ever need change roles from Nancy
Drew, you just use your cell phone to call the Hardy Boys and you
will now be playing in their shoes. When you want to return to Nancy,
you (as either Frank or Joe Hardy) call Nancy. I found this to be
a nice touch, especially when you were stuck in playing one role
or the other. Can’t figure out what Nancy has to do next or
stuck on a puzzle? Jump over and play the Hardy Boys for a while.

Weren’t
we here before?

While diehard fans of
the Nancy Drew series will not be disappointed, there is a strange
sense of déjà vu here. I just couldn’t
shake that ‘been there, done that’ feeling. Just like
in Secret of the Old Clock and Danger
by Design, you’ll be
running around doing errands to make money. You’ll deal with
people who won’t give you either an object or information until
you do them a favor first. At certain points in the game you’ll
find yourself running around collecting seashells in order to make
necklaces for money. Leave the area and go back and they are repopulated
so you can collect more. Going fishing is also required for a favor
and money. If you have played other games in the ND series, this
should all seem somewhat familiar to you.

I did find some of the areas quite enjoyable. For example, the snorkeling
and exploring the inside of a volcano were two high points for me.
Unfortunately, some areas seemed too familiar like the shop with
the coin-operated video game and coin-operated information center.

Put your brain
on auto-pilot…

The game play was somewhat
disappointing. I really didn’t
feel like I was doing much of my own thinking. I was primarily following
orders and completing tasks given to me. Around 80% of the game is
like this, which caused me to start to lose interest. Sadly, when
I did reach an area where I had to figure out what to do and my interest
was peaked, it was at the end of the game. I really wish that area
had been much lengthier as it was exceedingly enjoyable.

I really think that method
of running errands is flawed. It doesn’t
really do anything to enhance the story. If anything, it takes you
away from it. They more or less become fillers for making the games
take longer to complete. Nancy’s work with the entomologist
was grueling to say the least and not fun. By the time I finished
it all, I had nearly forgotten what I was doing there in the first
place.

I can only assume that
Her Interactive knows something I don’t.
I felt that Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon was a step in a new improved
direction as I felt I was doing more sleuthing to figure things out
on my own and much less ‘busy’ work like in Secret
of the Old Clock and The Secret of Shadow Ranch. Unfortunately, it looks
like the running errands method has won out. In all fairness, these
games are designed for teens and maybe that’s what they prefer.

The other thing I’ve noticed is that you don’t really
rule any suspects out in these games. At the end when the culprit
is revealed to be person X, they really could have had any of the
cast of characters pop out and made it fit. The full explanation
that follows seems to be completely new information that you never
heard through the entire game – The Creature of Kapu
Cave was
no exception.

If you are new to the
series, I think you will enjoy it since much of this will be new
to you. However, if you are like me and have
played most, if not all of the games in the series, you might just
walk away feeling disappointed, as there really isn’t anything
new here other than the setting.

System Requirements:

• Windows XP/Vista
• Pentium 1GHz processor
• 128MB RAM
• 1Gig hard drive space
• DirectX compatible
  video card (32MB)
• DirectX compatible sound card (16bit)
• 24X CD-ROM drive
• Mouse and keyboard