Nancy Drew®: Ransom of the Seven Ships

I think this game was a little bit slower of a pace compared to the many Nancy Drew games I have played. I did like that it took longer to complete as a result with more complex puzzles and with the sailing feature. It was fun to explore the island and the surrounding ocean, but I think that the quality of the controls could be improved for an overall better navigating experience. There was also less interaction with other characters, so be prepared for a lot of independent tasks and puzzles that don't involve interviewing the suspects. Overall, I enjoyed this game, but if you want a Nancy Drew game that is a little bit more fast paced I would recommend checking out some of the others in the series.

I love all the Nancy games, but this one is middle of the road for me. It has the full range of puzzles and tasks, but falls short on the story. The graphics were great as always, and seeing Bess and George was great. The ending has a great twist for those of us who have played all the other Nancy games. On the hole this game is great for players both young and old. Those of us familiar with the Nancy Drew series will be well satisfied.

It is probably a fool's errand to write a review on a game that is no longer available to purchase, but I am going to do so anyway because I have to vent my frustration somewhere. Ransom of the Seven Ships possesses a reputation as one of the worst Nancy Drew games out there, with some declaring it THE worst game of them all. As such, while I've been making my way through the Nancy Drew franchise, I have avoided Seven Ships. As I only have a few games left, however, I finally decided to grit my teeth and give this game a shot. Surprise, it's bad. Really bad. I haven't yet decided whether this game is better or worse than the Creature of Kapu Cave, but it is certainly the most annoying Nancy Drew game I've played. At least Kapu Cave was mercifully short. I had the misfortune of spending 9 hours with this game, and now you get to hear about it. Lucky you. The pros: - The music. This goes without saying, but the music in basically all of the Nancy Drew games is good and this one is no exception. Pleasant steel drums perfectly invoke an island atmosphere, though their lighthearted sound does clash with the high stakes of the narrative. - Lots of puzzles. This has some of the most puzzles in any ND game I've played. This comes with a big caveat of some of them are really tedious, but we'll get to that. - A mystery involving Bess and George is fun....but we'll get to the downsides of that. And that's it for positives. Now for the negatives. Spoilers below: - The story is just a heaping plate of wasted potential. One of Nancy's best friends has been kidnapped and you have to save her by...solving a completely different, 400 year old mystery. What could have been an interesting mystery of Nancy actively searching for Bess instead becomes you just going along with the kidnapper's plan and looking for El Toro's treasure. - Waste of characters. George is available to play as, but you only need to do so twice and she doesn't get to do that much. She spends basically the entire game sitting in the lobby and fiddling with the phone. Then there is the ONE suspect you have who is generally boring and also, surprise, leans into racist stereotypes and blackface (hence why this game is no longer available). Outside of that, you have CouCou the parrot, who manages to be even more obnoxious than LouLou and a group of insufferable monkeys who only exist to make Nancy's life hell and to pad the game. Speaking of that... - Padding. Driving the golf cart, playing endless games with the monkeys, sailing...all are just tedious additions to pad out the run time. They aren't fun and feel more like chores than anything else. Did I mention I have a special hatred for those monkeys? - Many of the puzzles are tedious or so simple that they don't challenge the brain. Many of them are multi-step and just aren't very fun. Forcing you to do underwater puzzles on an air timer is annoying enough, but then there's that ridiculous hourglass puzzle near the end of the game that I cannot see anyone completing without an abundance of time or a walk through. - SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER I don't think I will forgive this game for bungling the cool idea of having one of Nancy's old foes reappear to get revenge. First, they picked one of her most forgettable villains and he ends up barely doing anything over the course of the game. Just felt like a waste of a really cool idea. And that's all I have to say/WANT to say about this game. It is just as bad as everyone says it is and I account it a mercy that Her Interactive has decided to shelve this game. I AM happy I at least got the chance to play it once before it vanished, but I can't say I have a desire to ever play it again. I'd say only Nancy Drew fans who want to play all the games should give it a go....but unless you already own it or get your hands on an old disc copy or unofficial copy, then you're simply out of luck. But don't feel too bad, this is definitely one to skip. Ransom of the Seven Ships gets 2/10

♥ Mixed puzzles. When I was younger, I was always held back from making further progress in Nancy Drew games by how difficult the puzzles were. It seemed to be that I'd struggle with one, struggle, rage, struggle, finally get it only to stumble upon an even harder puzzle. Now that I've returned to playing the games, I'm glad to see more diversity with the difficulty of the puzzles. It seems to be more of a mixed bag when it comes to Ransom of the Seven Ships. I was able to solve several puzzles on my own - only two I had to consult walk throughs for. ♥ Driving a golf cart? Scuba Diving? Sign me up! I found it a lot of fun to be able to zip around the island (though the car goes rather slow) and be able to explore underwater for things. I actually tried three times and was able to find the Easter Egg buried under some coral. Her Interactive placed focus on having the player explore the environment....and the ways they urged you to do so are fun, if not great. ♥ The monkeys! I quite enjoyed playing mini games with the monkeys. There are three mini games that you can play and if you win, you may choose a reward such as a quest item, fruit to feed the parrot, or even silly things like eye patches and sea shells. Since the game can feel taxing with going here and there and everywhere, I appreciated the break that playing with the monkeys provided. ✘ More like a chore than a game. The main quality that I highly disliked of Ransom of the Seven Ships was how tasks would make you go all over the place. Is it fun to explore? Yes. Would I prefer only being able to investigate one place? Of course not. However it became extremely tedious...go here, do this, only to find out that I needed to go back to the beginning to get what I needed, then back again, etc. Sure it tacks on to the amount of gameplay. However does it add on to the amount of fun? No. ✘ Flat. Flat. Flat. When I first played this, I was so excited for George to appear. I love when Nancy Drew games branch out to involve other characters such as Bess, George, the Hardy Boys, etc. In this game you can interact with George or the beach bum. Okay? Cool! ...Not so. The characters just felt so FLAT. I thought the history behind the treasure was interesting and enjoyed the puzzles, as challenging as they were, yet there seemed to be no connection between what happened and how the characters responded, aside from Nancy. Dialogue with George was more like a chore than a conversation...and the beach bum? Yawn. The man's journal you find has a more interesting voice & detailed personality than the living AI do. ✘ The twist is eh....? When it comes to the ending of the game, I felt it was quite flat compared to others in the series. The "twist" is only shocking if you have played the previous title that the antagonist was featured in. It didn't have quite the same effect on me, nor will it to others I imagine, who haven't played the game connected to this one. Overall I would only suggest playing Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Seas if you are trying to play through the entire series. While it has some solid virtues, I feel like it fails to entertain, and finishing the main story feels more like a chore than anything else.

I have all of the ND games, and I find them to be great fun. However- this game felt like a chore. It's not at all fun, and the puzzles are super weak. Skip this one and spend your money on The Haunting of Castle Malloy or Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake.

Although this game gets a lot of hate at times, I LOVE this game! I love the beachy atmosphere and music. There are a lot of fun puzzles in this game. I can criticize the amount of characters in this game, thinking there def should be more suspects. But at the end of this day, I love replaying this game.

В своё время эта часть Нэнси Дрю для меня казалась чем-то особенным. Разработчики к тому моменту уже давно поняли, что троп "они сделали это ради сокровища" слишком прост, чтоб писать под него головоломки, поэтому начиная с третьей части у нас практически в каждой игре есть спрятанный макгафин. Но здесь мне нравится сама идея того, что Бесс похищена ради этого самого сокровища, поэтому выкуп надо быстренько найти. Ну и да, это первая игра, где наконец показали в лицо подруг Нэнси. Хоть их дизайн потом несколько раз меняли, здесь он прямо такой книжный, ты прям чувствуешь их. Сама игра довольно занятная, паззлы в меру сложные, кроме пожалуй песочных часов, без секундомера фиг знаешь как решать. Ну и расшифровка дневника Эль Торо для начала игры довольно хардкорна, но спасибо английским артиклям и местоимениям, это было проще чем в русской версии. Из придирок - поездки по острову в гольфкарте к концу игры приедаются, попугай, дающий подсказки лишь за гуаву, которую можно лишь получить за миниигры от обезьян - это самый халявный способ растянуть игру за счёт миниигр. Которых тут считай всего три. Ну и подозреваемых толком то и нет, хотя и тут студия вышла победителем замутив не один, а аж два твиста, один из которых понравится хардкорным фанатам серии.

I'm going to write a pros-and-cons list style review, which I don't usually do. I would give this game a rating of 6/10. PROS: -Funny hint-giving bird similar to the one in Blackmoor Manor -The one suspect is interesting and a colorful character -Diving, rock-climbing and driving make this one of those interesting "change-of-pace" games with a little more arcade-y adventure than usual CONS: -There's an overall creepy feeling that I can't explain. It isn't suspense, just something weird in the scenery -The music is wayyyyy too cheery considering we are dealing with a kidnapping, and is really repetitive -The puzzles are too complicated and the tasks are too far-reaching, making it take you forever to reach the end -Character switching was not used to its full potential in the slightest (see: Kapu Cave, Alibi in Ashes, even Crystal Skull) All in all, I think ND lovers will enjoy this more than new players, because the puzzles were too frustrating and the tasks too involved. Adding even one more character would have made it more interesting, though I appreciate that the lack of interaction did lead to a change of pace that would be normal to feel on an isolated island. Try it out if you love every ND game - otherwise, you may want to try another game first.