Other activities will probe your powers of observation as well. Interactive dialogues once again provide little quizzes that reward correct answers, and in a very nice touch, even the map for travelling between rooms is a test, requiring you to accurately identify the next location by the clues just provided. Of course, the bomber leaves some tests of his or her own. Periodically Nancy is called to “fold towels” (resort code for “stop a bomb!”), in which she must first solve a tile-based alphabet minigame that increases in difficulty each time you play. Successfully completing that yields an anagram to solve, before leading Nancy to a bomb defusing puzzle spent connecting circuits through an obstacle-laden grid as a timer ticks down. When the clock hits “0”, the bomb goes “boom”, but fortunately you simply restart at the beginning. These circuit puzzles aren’t overly demanding, but expect some explosive failures, as the timeframe is too short to allow for any unsuccessful detours, and a certain amount of trial and error is inevitable.

As with any Nancy Drew game, the culprit is one (or more) of the colourful characters you’ll encounter in your travels. Among the guests are a flighty Hollywood actress and the snooty Mrs. Montague with Mr. Mingles, her even more obnoxious little Pomeranian. The suspect list extends to the oddball resort crew, from the glib male receptionist to an eccentric Norwegian scientist with a lab full of experiments and an apparent axe to grind. I particularly liked the barely-female janitor that hangs out in the boiler room with her pet rats. Any notion that this spa-based game would be full of only pretty people is quickly put to rest at the first sign of Joanna’s bowl cut and near-unibrow. All characters are portrayed using nicely expressive, semi-animated portraits during dialogue. Unusual for casual games, each is even fully voiced, and apart from the bio-chemist’s weak accent, each actor delivers a solid performance. The enduring Lani Minella continues to not sound much like a teenager, but the many people who now consider her the one and only Nancy Drew will be pleased to know she reprises the role once again.

Naturally, everyone at the Redondo has something to hide and a possible motivation for causing the bomb scares, so it’s up to players to identify the right person. The story is fairly thin, but what’s really impressive about Resorting to Danger is that your investigation actually matters. Without spoiling anything, I’ll say that you aren’t merely following a single trail of bread crumbs here, and your suspicions contribute to which of the six possible endings you’ll get. I played the game twice, and making a different choice at a key moment led to a unique puzzle scenario each time, later punctuated by a legitimately new finale. Unfortunately, little else about the game is randomized, so you’ll be going through the bulk of the same game all over again for differences that are still largely… umm… cosmetic (walked right into that one), but kudos to the developers for putting real effort into the variances available.

You’ll probably want to replay the game at least once, anyway, if only to get a high enough score for the “Ultimate Private Eye” rating. As with the first game, each successful puzzle solution results in a point reward that rises incrementally as you string successes together. Three correct pairings in a row is worth much more than three pairings interrupted by incorrect guesses. This encourages thinking your way through the problems instead of merely guessing haphazardly, but the system still feels a bit uneven at times. You’ll revel in one mini-victory after another, yet groan (or worse) when tripped up over something small that could have gone another way. And since the game allows no manual saving, you’re stuck with your mistakes.

Then again, there’s really no way to accurately monitor your status anyway. At the end of each level you’re shown a progress bar, but the gauges are all but meaningless; sometimes your rating will lurch forward and other times barely move, even for beating roughly the same challenges. A little consistency would have helped, along with an ability to replay a level if so desired. It’s less important here than in the first game, as the only bonus for attaining the highest rank is some extras that play during the end credits, like concept art and forgettable blooper-type stuff. For many, though, it’ll be the principle of the thing. Who wants to finish a game only to be told you weren’t as successful as you could have been?

The other downside to replaying is the fact that even on a first playthrough, the location simply isn’t as interesting this time. I know, I’m obviously not the main demographic for Nancy Drew, let alone a Nancy Drew game based in a spa, but it’s not that (come on, I praised the facials!). There are some nice areas, such as the mud bath “Jungle Room” and the… uhh… (See? I’m already labouring.) Oh yeah, a meditative “Zen Room” with its distinct oriental trappings. But the rest of the rooms just feel too generic: a bedroom suite, a basement, a reception area, etc. They’re entirely suitable to the locale, just not a whole lot of fun to explore in their own right. You’ll visit each several times, too, so you’ll undoubtedly find yourself wishing for more selection or simply something with more pizzazz. The slightly comic-styled art is certainly adequate, if not particularly crisp, but it’s mainly the limitations of the environment that leave the game with little visual flair. Music ranges in style and tone according to the location, and while much of it is suitably silly and light and fun, some arrangements are better than others. I’ll take the soothing Asian strings ahead of the over-orchestrated lobby music any day.

A single time through the game should take you between 5-6 hours, with subsequent trips taking far less and yielding diminishing entertainment returns. The endgame is a bit underwhelming, simply offering more of the same as you’ve been doing to get there, but like most of my issues with the game, this won’t seriously detract from your enjoyment. Certainly anyone who liked the first Dossier will appreciate Resorting to Danger, perhaps even more due to an improved selection of minigames. The one significant step back is its middling location, but if the Redondo itself isn’t an appealing destination, the breezy, light fun offered up within its walls certainly will be. Traditional adventure fans should go in expecting a highly streamlined game style, and hidden object fans should brace themselves for a whole new kind of casual adventure. But regardless of where you’re coming from, chances are you’ll end up having a blast. Sometimes even literally.