Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice

Game review by Jinny Gudmundsen, Common Sense Media
Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 10+

Great mystery about going undercover in Italy.

Windows 2008
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Parents say

age 10+

Based on 1 review

Kids say

age 10+

Based on 6 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this game.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this is an E-rated mystery game with no offensive material or media issues. It can be challenging to solve and thus we've set the age appropriateness at age 10. This is a game that cross-generations can play together, particularly mother and daughters or grandmothers and granddaughters.

Community Reviews

Hayster
Hayster Adult
April 8, 2010
age 10+

More Fun if my computer would handle it!

The game is fun to play an explore. The only bad side is that our computer is not advanced enough to truely show the graphics. This makes it hard to get through the game. For instance, I cannot read any of the dialoque or task and diary lists. All I see is blocks that represent the letters or numbers. I quess this just makes it more of a challenge for me.
See all 1 parent review

What’s It About?

NANCY DREW: THE PHANTOM OF VENICE is a PC mystery game in which you take on the role of Nancy Drew to solve a series of Italian robberies. Nancy flies to Venice to help the Italian police infiltrate a Venetian crime ring that has been stealing valuable artifacts.

Since you become Nancy Drew, you see the city of Venice as if you are looking through her eyes. You move through scenes by pointing and clicking. At times, your cursor will turn into a magnifying glass which allows you to sleuth up close. By talking to people and snooping, you will unravel the mystery. Since Nancy is undercover with the blessing of the Italian police, you get to do some cool spy things like planting tracking devices.

Is It Any Good?

What make this mystery game so good is that it's complicated, has fascinating characters to meet, and it's set in beautiful Venice, which is depicted in near photo-realistic graphics. The game play includes solving challenging puzzles and even playing arcade games.

As in previous Nancy Drew games from Her Interactive, you will never die or fail because if you make a fatal mistake, the game brings you back to the moment before the error, to let you try again. This unique feature lets you be scared, but never too scared.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about whether this game does a good job of reflecting the Nancy Drew license. Does playing the game make you want to read the Nancy Drew books? Does the setting in Venice, Italy make you want to travel there to see it for yourself?

Game Details

  • Platform: Windows
  • Available online?: Not available online
  • Publisher: Her Interactive
  • Release date: July 7, 2008
  • Genre: Girl
  • ESRB rating: E for Mild Violence
  • Last updated: November 4, 2015

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