by Ryan Hanley

Created on: July 07, 2008   Last Updated: September 17, 2011

With the plethora of online games out on the web, it can be difficult to find something original and different. "Mousechief" attempts to prove the Internet wrong with the game "Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble", a game where players must expose, taunt, bluff, and even flirt their way through a series of perilous mysteries. After being presented with this 1920's-style game, only one question remains: flapper or slap her?

"Dangerous" is set up like a board game where players must choose one of many characters for the "queen" of their gang. Each character has different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the main abilities of Popularity, Savvy, Rebellion, and Glamour. Players must use what they have in order to recruit more characters into their gang, as well as fend off a number of non-playable characters, in order to collect clues and solve one of many dangerous mysteries.

The game uses a simply point-and-click interface to navigate through everything, making controls a breeze. Although fashioned like a board game, players are able to move around freely and interact with whomever and whatever they would like, all the while being guided by an objective list at the top of the screen. Interactions with characters launch players into one of many mini-games, many times one of the players' choosing, where victory means ability points, special attributes, and gang members. While the games are structured in a way where they don't feel repetitive, they come across as too easy at times. The wrong answers in the multiple choice-style games are so outrageous they can't be right. Even when a game is lost, the consequences are easily remedied and players are able to try as often as they want, lessening the challenge.

While the game is focused on puzzles and mini-games, "Dangerous" is nicely complemented with polished, hand-drawn characters as well as appropriate designs for all of the "game board" elements, all of which give a feeling of the "roaring 20's". The visual aspects sincerely add to the whole feeling of playing a board game. To complement the 1920's-inspired visuals is a jazzy soundtrack along with spot-on ambient sounds, including the "crackling" of the record music and the token piano music that one could hear in a silent film soundtrack.

One of the strengths of "Dangerous" is also one of its weaknesses. The game is very reminiscent of today's Nintendo DS games that rely a lot on the touch screen for navigation. While this is great to see in an online game, the fact that there are so many games like it out there doesn't help. It's original visuals and sound hold it up, but there are elements missing that keep it from the top.

Overall, "Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble" offers a good deal and could keep players entertained for a while. While it may not be a "dangerous" threat to games like it, one thing it does kill is some time.

Overall Rating - 3.5/5

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