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If I had my way, this review would consist of just one line: 'Stop reading reviews and buy this game'.

Something tells me, however, that if I tried that Ophelea would appear next to my desk in a huff and a cloud of smoke. "That is not a review", she would thunder. "That's cheap dramatic hyperbole with no meaningful content for our readers!" She'd be right, of course, but that's still my reaction to Nancy Drew: Deadly Secret of Olde World Park.

I grew up reading adventure stories like the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift, but at some point I moved to reading Nancy Drew. The main factor in this change, I think, was Columbo. I loved the way he put things together just by talking to people and paying attention to what he observed. Besides that, nobody else can leave a room the way Columbo did.

Like Columbo, Nancy Drew solved her cases by talking to people and piecing together the facts. The Hardy Boys, on the other hand, usually just stumbled along until they fell through a trap door and landed on top of the bad guy's diary full of evil plans. They had none of Nancy's cool or resourcefulness, and besides, she was a redhead.

I had hoped that Nancy Drew: Deadly Secret of Olde World Park would do justice to her written adventures and I was very happy to discover that it did. It's not without its flaws, but overall, the development team did a great job of both creating an intriguing storyline and integrating the capabilities of the DS platform into game play.

This is really not so much a game as it is a semi-interactive novel. The story takes some time to unfold, using a classic 'onion layers' approach. An investigation into a missing dress gradually evolves to include bomb threats, insurance fraud, and a possible werewolf sighting. The clues are uncovered through a combination of conversations and justifiable breaking and entering, both of which are handled with different mini-games.

There are up to five mini-games to choose from during conversation interactions. The mini-games vary in complexity, ensuring that there is an appropriate level of challenge for a wide age range. The results of each game don't seem to have any effect on the conversation; either you win the game and proceed to the conversation or you have to play again. You can't skip the mini-games, but if you're only interested in progressing to the conversation, you can stick to doing the easy ones.

Picking locks is also simulated with a mini-game, as is opening a combination lock. Neither is especially difficult. The last mini-game is used when Nancy has to sneak around a location without being caught. It's played in an overhead 3D view of the area Nancy is sneaking around in. A bar on the right side of the screen, the 'shadow meter', shows how likely it is that Nancy will be caught. Staying in shadows and behind the other people on the screen keeps the 'shadow meter' down. Again, if you do get caught, you have to play again until you are successful.

Since the storyline is progressed primarily through conversations, there is a great deal of text to read through. The mini-games break up and balance the text nicely, so that neither feels overwhelming or forced.

As mentioned before, this is really more of a semi-interactive novel than a game. As such, it is very linear and has only one save-game slot - rather like using a bookmark, in fact. It's possible to save at almost any time, and save/load times are minimal.

The storyline is appropriate for a wide range of ages. It's easy to read and enjoy, but there is enough complexity and 'who-done-it' atmosphere to satisfy older children and adults. It is a well-written mystery presented as a well-made game. Many games for the DS either fail to use the strengths of the platform adequately or overuse them to such an extent that the game suffers. Nancy Drew: Deadly Secret of Olde World Park is a great example of what DS games can and should be. In short …

Stop reading reviews and buy this game.