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As a longtime fan of Nancy Drew games, having currently played (and sometimes replayed) eleven different titles, this first one in the series is not all bad, everything considered. According to the publisher it’s not Vista compatible (probably due to its’ age); so you will likely need an older computer to run it. This can be a plus or a minus, depending on the PC system you have. Like many of the Nancy Drew games made for the PC (particularly the earlier ones in the series), they are relatively easy on computer system resources like hard disk space for installation, memory and graphics card requirements.

One of the most annoying features (and difficult if not impossible to overcome) is the two installation CDs and having to switch between them to access different parts of the game. HerInteractive would have done better (and saved a lot of users’ tempers) to design it so that the disks were needed for installation only.

There is also an annoying in-game navigation (discontinued in later releases) where the player has to pan vertically as well as horizontally to view the entire field in certain scenes. Most of the time the areas along these top and bottom edges are not interactive and contained no visual clues; but it was time-consuming and tedious to have to keep checking them *just in case*.

Other than this, it was an interesting and intriguing game to play. Unlike later Nancy Drew games, it offers a third “Master” detective mode along with Junior and Senior. The often-derided cartoonish-looking 2D character graphics did not bother me in the slightest, as it was the storyline, interactive areas and puzzles which kept the game moving along. While they admittedly were not “glitzy,” unlike some other 2D and 3D games of this class created during roughly that same time period they were at least well-drawn and clearly rendered. There are a lot of areas to interact with; and although some of the “evidence” and in-game hints (including cryptic encoded messages posted on walls and bulletin boards) were obviously a bit contrived and illogical, they serve to entertain and keep the interest of younger players during times of lesser overt activity.

Speaking of the pre-teen crowd, this game came under fire from some more family-oriented advocates when first introduced, as it was the first (perhaps only) Nancy Drew title to directly involve the death of a potential murder victim as part of the main plot. The background music served to heighten the suspense relating to this theme at certain points during the game. Although neither graphic or gratuitous, later releases in the ND series (or at least games #1 through #10) noticeably tend towards a considerably lighter atmosphere, if more limited and predictable plot.

In the end analysis, I would conclude that “Secrets Can Kill” is a worthwhile addition, just perhaps not a good *introduction* (especially for the novice adventure gamer) to the Nancy Drew series. Except for experienced die-hard gaming fans and/or those with considerable patience towards investigating mystery puzzles, it’d be better rather to go back and pick this one up only after becoming acquainted with the more user-friendly interfaces and mechanics utilized in ND #’s 2 through 5 or later.
Rating: 3 / 5

To summarize the above reviews, this game has the following down-sides:

* It does not take long to play.

* The characters are animated cartoons rather than CG.

* It has a large number of what I call “intrusive clues”, where the makers of the game speak directly to the player in various codes that would never have been left there by any character in the game, saying things like (hypothetical example): “Look beneath the trash-can/to find a vital clue/It will show you/what you need to do”. These continued into the second game, but seem to have been discontinued in the third. They will be familiar to anyone who has read Grahame Base’s “The Eleventh Hour” picture book.

* The player needs to pan upwards as well as left and right to include the full scope of the image, although there is never anything of interest on the ceiling.

* Most irritating, the player needs to switch continually from one disc to another as locations change.

* The ending is particularly unsatisfying and anti-climactic.

In short, I would not recommend this game to first-time players, but it is worth a look for hard-core Nancy Drew fans who want to know “how it all began”.
Rating: 2 / 5

I bought this secrets can kill game and I started to like it but the garphics were very poor.That was the only game that i have played witth bad graphics.My sister said they had bad graphics too.I was in the middle of the game(i think?)when i was going to talk to people and the y didn`t wabt to talk to me.I went to Maxines diner and Darl Grey would nit talk to me.I don`t know what too do.It is a very hard game in master and senior.I don`t like it.
Rating: 3 / 5