Common Sense Media Review
By Jinny Gudmundsen
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Mysteries combined with easy puzzles, but with tween themes.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 11+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Nancy Drew: The Model Mysteries
What's It About?
NANCY DREW: THE MODEL MYSTERIES is a game that is based on a trilogy of Nancy Drew books: Model Crime, Model Menace, and Model Suspect. This game plays out in three acts which follow the wedding plans of Nancy's superNamodel friend Sydney and her fiancée Vic, a reality TV star. The couple's wedding plans are plagued with by a series of pranks and some life-threatening accidents. The wedding dress is shredded before last fitting, Vic is served a piece of cake laced with glass shards, and Syd gets a series of ominous text messages threatening her death. Players help solve these mysteries by interviewing characters and playing casual games, predominantly hidden object puzzles. There are also games about unscrambling words and memorizing the order of things.
Is It Any Good?
Nancy Drew: The Model Mysteries is a lighter version of the Nancy Drew mystery games developed by Her Interactive. The puzzles are typical of casual games including timed hidden objects puzzle where you must find a list of 10 objects in 3 minutes. There are also puzzles about finding the differences between two pictures, and locating specific details in a larger picture.
To solve the three mysteries, you must periodically interrogate suspects. You are limited to asking three questions at a time, so you may not get enough information. If you finger the wrong suspect, you have to go back and replay the act again, this time asking different questions. The replaying of the puzzles is actually fun because, while the placement of objects in the scenes doesn’t change, the list of what you must find does.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how books become video games. Can you think of any other games you have played that started as a book?
Which part of this game did you like best? The mysteries or the casual games?
Game Details
- Platforms : Nintendo DS , Nintendo DSi
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : THQ
- Release date : February 16, 2010
- Genre : Girl
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : June 19, 2019
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate