Nancy Drew: Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake

The Good
In Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, Her Interactive brings to the player the same familiar features as were used in the previous 6 games.

The point-and-click interface is simple, clean and very easy to use. Scenery is realistic as is the representation of the characters and objects. Inventory storage and usage is basic and without frills. Conversations are written on-screen as they are spoken, and the voice actors and actresses did a marvelous job. The in-game music is pleasant and in keeping with the atmosphere of the game. The sound effects, too, are excellent, especially the songs of the birds and chirps of bugs and other critters.

As a whole, I would categorize the puzzles in this adventure to be of medium difficulty, even in the Junior Detective level, which I played. Some were variations of some puzzles seen in other games, such as block turning and tile swapping. Other puzzles involve turning wheels to open valves in a special order, travelling through maze-like forest paths and organizing folders in Roman-numerical order. There are, of course, the normal object oriented puzzles. There is one timed sequence when Nancy must find a way to escape a burning building.

All of the people you meet during the game are suspects, but their motives are not clear at all. Not until the very end of the game do you find out whodunnit.

The Bad
While I liked the game overall, it was not one of my favorites.

My main complaints include: