You last saw them in Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon! The problem is, the pineapple crop has been damaged, and it's your job to find out why. When you get there, you discover that the Hardy Boys are also on the Big Island. You, as Nancy Drew, have been sent there to work with an entomologist, Dr. However, Creature of Kapu Cave was not the best.
Though not as scary as some games, such as Dark Fall and Scratches, HI has managed to create some really great games. Still, I have always loved the atmospherical quality of almost all of the games (with the exception of Secrets Can Kill and Stay Tuned for Danger, the first two in the series). Her Interactive has good technical support, though not the friendliest employees. Nancy Drew: The Creature of Kapu Cave may not be the strongest title in the series, but is head-and-shoulders above a lot that’s out there, and worth the download.Ever since about 2003, I have loved the Nancy Drew game series. The characters are all memorable, and the intrigue will keep you hooked for the whole game. For that alone, the game is worth a look.
Her Interactive has a very rare thing on its hands: a long-running series that ages well, doesn’t get stale and keeps up the high level of polish. However, the package as a whole is very well put-together, and is very much worth playing through. The game also seems to end too quickly (about six hours), just as the story really gets going, and is only explained in an epilogue. I needed eight bucks to buy decent bait to go fishing, so I had to gather shells on the beach to make a necklace to earn enough to buy the bait to catch the fish to sell the fish to earn some bucks to… and so on. To rent the gear, they need 30 “Big Island Bucks” which are earned through menial tasks like making necklaces or fishing. For example, while playing as the Hardy Boys, they needed to go snorkelling. Some of the challenges seem to be there just to make the game longer. One particularly mind-numbing puzzle involves collecting plant samples, separating the different bits from your sample bag, weighing them, double-checking which species the seeds are, analyzing the results, then checking the sample against eight others collected… You get the idea. Unfortunately, the game sometimes takes this a little too far.
Some of Nancy’s tasks include repairing a solar panel so she can power on a radio, figuring out how to get her 4×4 out of a ditch, or harvesting seeds for someone who is allergic to them. What’s very nice is that all the puzzles are relevant to what Nancy is doing, and along the way, you will actually learn a fair bit about Hawaii, which is a nice touch. Some of them are fairly straightforward, while others rely on you to take serious notes on all the evidence you gather (seriously, keep a notepad beside you you’ll thank me later). Naturally, it wouldn’t be a Nancy Drew game without puzzles, and this one has it in spades. There are lots of little touches too, such as walking over a river and hearing the water get louder as you stand in the middle of the bridge, then quiet down as you pass. The graphics are beautiful (even for a two-year old game), and the sound and voice acting is well above average. The Creature of Kapu Cave shares much of the other games’ style and substance. Nancy explores various locations around the Island (which are opened up by finding new co-ordinates for her GPS device) while Joe and Frank stay behind at a resort called Big Island Mike’s.
Using a cool cell phone feature, you can switch between Nancy and the Hardy Boys virtually any time by calling the other. Actually, Frank and Joe Hardy become integral to the gameplay.