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Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice | 
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| From: Her Interactive
Category: Video Games
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $15.20
You Save: $4.79 (24%)
New (15) Used (9) from $13.90
Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 1765
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Xp, Windows Vista
Genre: adventure_games
ESRB: Everyone
Media: CD-ROM
Batteries Included: No
Age: 5 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows Vista
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 767861000685
Model: 767861000685
UPC: 767861000685
EAN: 0767861000685
ASIN: B0018XU9SQ
Release Date: July 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Master Italian as you dig for clues | | • | Create a fashion statement or a new disguise | | • | Travel the canals and listen to singing gondoliers | | • | Deal out the fun in the Italian card game Scopa | | • | Cover costs with creative ways to earn Euros |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In the most exciting adventure yet, players will work to uncover the mastermind behind a series of unsolved thefts that have taken place in Venice -- one of the world's most unique cities known for its interlocking canals and sleek gondolas. In the 18th installment of the award-winning adventure series, the Italian police have asked Nancy Drew for help in unraveling a crime ring that is threatening to steal all of Venice's priceless artifacts. Assuming the role of Nancy, players arrive in Venice during Carnival and begin taking on a series of challenges, including an undercover spy mission for the Italian police. Along the way, players must take advantage of the unique Venetian culture such as learning the language and navigating the transportation system (gondola or walking) to accomplish the mission at hand. As the game progresses, the masked thief becomes bolder and players will need to correctly identify the phantom before he or she goes too far.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 30 more reviews...
 Best Nancy Drew Game Yet! July 4, 2009
Lacey L. Buckingham
I loved this game because it wasn't overly challenging like a few of the others in the series, but it wasn't too easy either. It also had many humerous sections in the game which made it more entertaining.
Excellent ND game! May 29, 2009
I have played almost all of the Nancy Drew games released to date, and this is definitely one of the top games on my list! The graphics were fantastic, the story line was different, new and fun, and the characters were really well developed throughout the course of the game. I thought that the length was perfect; any longer or any shorter would have been a little annoying and boring.
The only two flaws in my opinion in this game are the two extremely annoying puzzles (the one where you have to steal a jewel and the final maze in the underground headquarters thing). I didn't exactly find the jewel stealing puzzle difficult, but it is ridiculously long and repetitive! As for the underground maze, I thought that was very hard! I had to look that part up on a walkthrough; i was lost in a second, and i didn't understand how to control the water with the wheels and such.
Overall, one of the best they have come out with, and the next one after Phantom of Venice (Haunting of Castle Malloy) is great too! They just keep getting better! :)
 hmmm May 28, 2009
I tried this game thinking it would finally bring back the good ol' Nancy Drew AMATUER slueth thaught provoking games. I was very VERY ticked off when they had nancy dress like she was a stripper or something and then be called on a mission for the italian gov. What happened to the amatuer? that's what i'd like to know
Another great Nancy Drew game May 8, 2009
Solsa55 (Bay Area, CA)
I've played most of the Nancy Drew games by Her Interactive, and this is a winner. Things I like about these games in general, and this game specifically are:
1. Interacting with other characters -- it's not just puzzle solving, you get to interact with characters to find clues and to move the game forward. I really enjoyed the voice acting, especially Nancy.
2. Puzzles are pretty well integrated into the story -- they make sense. Breaking into the bank, getting into the card club, etc.
3. The atmosphere. Loved the Venice setting, traveling by canal, the snooty lady who owns the place where Nancy is staying, and the charming villian at the card club.
4. The look -- I like the artwork in the scenes.
Best of the series for me was the Curse of Blackmoor Manor -- it was probably the longest of the games and some of the puzzles were pretty tough. Had to use a walkthrough, but absolutely loved the story. Phantom of Venice was still great fun.
Worth mentioning: the newest game in this series "Lights, Camera, Curses" really deviates from the format of all the other games. You should read a detailed description of gameplay before you buy it -- many of the things I love about these games are missing (for instance, you cannot move around inside a room and you cannot walk from room to room on your own.)
Singing gondoliers, gelato, nightclubs and sleuthing, oh my! January 11, 2009
Veggiechiliqueen
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In Nancy's eighteenth adventure from HerInteractive, Nancy makes good use of her passport in her second international outing, this time to Venice, Italy during Carnevale. Her old friend Prudence Rutherford (first heard from in Nancy Drew: Secret of the Scarlet Hand) has enlists her to discover the identity of the Phantom, a masked robber who's been making off with priceless antiques. The mysterious Phantom escapes detection, having knowledge of the security systems for each site.
Nancy's home base is Prudence's old palazzo, the Ca' Nascosta, now in a sad state of disrepair after Prudence sold it to a penny-pinching, ladder-climbing socialite. Nancy shares a room with Helena Berg, a young German journalist who is in love with Venice and hopes to move there. A British art restorer, Colin Baxter, develops a huge crush on Nancy while working on the Ca' and tries in vain to win her affection.
Italian culture is everywhere, and Nancy must even learn some basic Italian in order to participate in an important stakeout. You carry an Italian dictionary, which comes in useful for translating signs and documents. The background audio includes several conversations in Italian, but if you don't speak Italian, these aren't crucial to the game. Many times, characters are simply commenting on the Phantom and his adventures, or about personal events. Also included are several flavors of Italian gelato, the Italian card game Scopa, the various Carnevale masks, and Venetian architecture.
Nancy is working with the Guardia di Finanza, Italy's version of the FBI, to track the Phantom. Because it's Carnevale season, there aren't enough officers to tail him, so Nancy is given a PDA with tracking capabilities. There are several possible suspects, including Antonio Fango, the shady IT dealer who works across from Nancy's temporary residence, Enrico Tazza , a member of the Machiano Crime Syndicate and a fence for stolen goods , Colin, who has past secrets to hide, and the mysterious (and ungracious) hostess La Contessa Margherita Fauberg. Nancy has three modes of transportation: on foot (free), via vaporetto (water taxi, free), or by singing gondolier (between five and fifteen euros per trip). The main map is clearly laid out and is easy to navigate.
Like Nancy Drew: Secret Of the Old Clock, Nancy must earn money in order to purchase items needed in her investigation, including books and costume accessories. You begin the game with 200 Euros, and if you budget very wisely, you won't need extra money (those fashionable shopping trips, gelato cones and singing gondoliers really add up!). If you find yourself running short, there are several ways to earn extra income, including dancing in a nightclub dressed as a slinky black cat (!).I loved the variety of the nightclub dancing, although the character animation was jerky and I would have liked to see Nancy move more than just rotating her wrist in-between moves. From my own experience, you can earn between two to over thirty euros per dance depending on how well you nail the cues (for the hearing-impaired: the dance cues are auditory, but flashing colored lights also tell you which colored button to press).
I played the game on the Senior Detective level, which offers fewer step-by-step hints (there's no to-do list, for one) and more difficult puzzles, and the majority of the puzzles were sufficiently intuitive, but still challenging. The graphics are gorgeous as always; in scenes of the canals, visible from your bedroom balcony, the water ripples in real time. If you choose to ride a gondola (the amount varies depending on the gondolier), you're treated to a combination of still photos of Venice and rendered scenery which proves quite effective (along with the various Italian-language serenades taken from Italian opera and popular songs). Unlike some prior greats such as Nancy Drew: The Legend of the Crystal Skull and Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor, the actual story in "Phantom of Venice" is spread a bit thin; the game could have benefitted from one or two additional suspects. But the variety of puzzles, some of which are new to the series (stakeouts, tracking, jewel heists), and the inclusion of Italian culture make up for these shortcomings.
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