This review of The Deadly Device won't kill you!

[mayaw1010]

Here's my review of The Deadly Device:


Plot: You've been hired by Victor Losset to investigate the murder of his co-owner of the lab Niko Jovic. Niko was killed by the Tesla coil in the lab which appears to be malfunctioning. The police are at a dead-end so it's up to you (as Nancy Drew) to figure out who-dun-it.

Plot Review: I liked the plot a lot. We haven't had a murder mystery in a while and this one felt a lot different from SCK. Personally, to me this one felt a lot like Haunted Carousel because of the roles the characters play in the lab. The plot was filled with a lot of twists and turns and moments of high tension. Overall, I liked it a lot except for the fact that you end up following a puzzle left by Niko at one point. 7/10


Characters:

Ryan Kilpatrick: Extrinsically fun creative person who is in charge of the technical aspects of the lab. Having built the Tesala coil, she is a prime suspect. I went into this game thinking I would like her and I was totally right. She is fun and quirky! Love her and her character design. 9/10

Mason Quinto: Mason is a total perfectionist who is very protective of his work. He claims that Niko was stealing his work. A motive for murder perhaps? I didn't think I would like Mason at first but he's just so anal he made me smile. I found it really fun to annoy him. I liked him but he's not always the most...positive person to be around. 7/10

Gray Cortright: The head of security in the building and defiantly the most unfriendly person in the game. There's a possibility the security footage was tampered with and he has the knowledge to do so. He was another person I was wary of meeting. His gruffness got on my nerves a lot but in the end he turned out to be an okay person. He was okay.7/10

Ellie York: A very upbeat, positive person, she tries to find the best in people but can't do so with Mason. She despises him. She appears ready to split from the lab, was she simply fed up with Niko? Ellie I ended up not liking at all. I found her bland and uninteresting. She just didn't seem as full of quirks as others. 5/10

Phone Friends: Victor (co-owner who hired you, communication is mainly business), Deidre (your outside contact who is helping you because she needs a better grade in criminology), and Frank and Joe (just for fun, don't really help (see hint system below)). Victor and Frank and Joe you mainly called to give updates to. But Deidre actually helped you. I was really excited to see her back because I love the animosity between her and Nancy. She was a fun phone friend. 8/10

Overall Character score: 7/10, despite not liking some people I found the characters to be overall interesting.


Graphics: Fabulous graphics! I think we can all agree that HER keeps getting better in that area. There were a lot of interesting things to look at (and the lightening from the Tesala coils was so cool!) and the lighting in night scenes didn't make it too hard to see. 9/10


Sound: I loved the soundtrack for this game. The moment the menu screen came up and it started playing I loved it. It really sets the mood for the game and it's too distracting or repetitive. All other sounds were good to. There was only one sound I thought seemed really strange. 8/10


Snooping: Yay for snooping! There were a lot of snooping aspects in this game. You could snoop in everyone's things and the lab is initially off limits so you have to snoop around to figure out how to get in. 9/10


Setting: The lab was relatively small and once I had figured out how to get into everywhere I was disappointed there was no more. However, it takes a little while to get around the lab so I guess that's a good thing. I found the look and arrangement of the lab interesting. I was sad though the pigeon in Niko's office didn't give hints though. 7/10


Hints: Speaking of hints, I didn't always like the hint system. If playing on junior level, you can click on a question mark by the item on your check list to get a hint. You have to wait a certain amount of time before getting the next hint. For some things you can get the solution even. I liked this at times but other times I'd already figured out the first couple of hints and so it made me feel really dumb to need to get so many hints. This system is also kinda impersonal but fast at getting you hints. I'm not totally sure how I feel about it. 6/10


So I think I've covered everything...that was kind of long.
Overall, this game wasn't one of my favorites (I like ones like ASH and WAV) but I really loved this game. All the elements came together well even though I didn't like some parts. I think that this game would be a 8/10, just edging on one of my favorites (which I would give a 9/10). Great game! Get it if you haven't already!

[JandFPB]

That's something not often seen in the reviews, and much appreciated!