Nancy Drew Mystery Adventure Series

by Dale Farris, President, Golden Triangle PC Club
February 2001

Her Interactive's Nancy Drew mystery adventure games are daring interactive games that challenge players to crack the case as they assume the role of legendary teen sleuth Nancy Drew. Focused on the special interests of girls, the games interact with players presenting a cast of characters, all of whom have secrets of their own.

These Nancy Drew games are ideal for girls ages 10 and up, as well as their adult parents, and combine expressively animated 2-d characters with a detailed 3-d environment. The games have multiple levels of difficulty, making them suitable for a broad range of ages and skill levels. Players use both problem-solving and interactive computer skills to crack the case, which is solved by putting together the pieces of information from conversations, interactive puzzles, cryptic notes and hidden messages. If players get stuck along the way, they can call upon Nancy's best friends for helpful hints and additional clues, or they can chat with other players on Her Interactive's online hints board.

The three mystery adventure games reviewed here include the following.

Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill

This is Her Interactive's first Nancy Drew mystery, and in this case, Nancy visits her aunt in the fictitious town of Paseo Del Mar, Florida. While there, a crime is committed at the local high school, and the school principal asks Nancy to investigate the crime. The chase is afoot, and Nancy finds herself once again caught in a web of secrets and lies.

Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned For Danger

In this second case, Daytime TV's hottest soap star is receiving frightening death threats, and it's up to Nancy to get to the bottom of the problem. She goes undercover as an extra on the show to unmask the sinister scribe.

Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion

In this newest release (October 2000), there's trouble in the beautiful Victorian inn that super-sleuth Nancy has been called to help a friend renovate. From collapsing scaffolds to leaking gas, suspect fires to ghostly threats, Nancy stumbles onto a secret that someone, living or dead, would rather keep unknown.

In all these super mystery games, the main character Nancy Drew has been designed and her personality fully developed around the long time success of the multi-volume series of Nancy Drew mystery books that are well known to many girls in America. The overall theme and approach of these many books has been carefully preserved in these computer games that carry on this now legendary reputation connected to the name, Nancy Drew.

Stuff You Can Always Use About Nancy Drew

Across the US, public libraries stock their shelves with all the Nancy Drew titles, and frequently have to re-bind many of the works, because they are circulated so often by so many readers. The Nancy Drew story began in 1930 with the first mystery, "The Secret of the Old Clock," published by writer Edward Stratemeyer, writing under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Over the many years since, many other writers have contributed to this series, always using this same Carolyn Keene pen name.

By the way, the Stratemeyer Syndicate also published other popular series of books for young readers, including the equally famous Hardy Boys and Bobbsey Twins mystery series of titles.

Since her 1930 debut, Nancy Drew has solved over 350 mysteries in books, movies, television, and now on CD ROM. Over 200 million Nancy Drew books have been sold in 60 countries and in 14 languages.

In 1938, Nancy made her silver screen debut in the film, "Nancy Drew, Detective," starring Bonita Granville as the teen sleuth. Granville went on to play Nancy in three more movies in 1939, and she was succeeded by Louise Currie and Shirley Patterson, each playing the detective during the 1940's.

In 1977, Pamela Sue Martin played Nancy in the television series "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries," and in 1995, Tracy Ryan resurrected the role but left the boys behind in a solo series titled "Nancy Drew."

The character Nancy Drew lives in the town of River Heights with her father, attorney Carson Drew, and although Nancy's mother died when she was only three years old, the family's housekeeper, Hannah Gruen, keeps a close watch on Nancy and often helps with her investigations.

Nancy first arrived on the scene at the age of 16, and after nearly 70 years in print, her timelessness is now quite famous. For the most part, she hasn't aged a day.

Nancy isn't only a detective. She's also a skilled auto mechanic, athlete, cook, and has a talent for horseback riding, dancing, and sewing. She's even known to occasionally fly a plane, but she prefers to drive her blue roadster or Mustang convertible.

With all this rich history, you would expect a CD ROM version of a Nancy Drew mystery to be something special, carrying on this rich tradition. Facing this enormous challenge to not only produce exciting computer mystery adventure games for girls, Her Interactive decided to add to this challenge by focusing on producing an interactive game that continues the rich tradition of Nancy Drew.

They succeed marvelously in this very difficult goal, and any reader of the Nancy Drew mystery series of books will be very pleased to see their heroine investigate these three new mysteries, while interacting with the characters along the way. Kudos to Her Interactive for their success in enlivening in these CD ROM games the genuinely unique and immensely valuable experience that comes from reading a Nancy Drew mystery.

Features

The approach in these games is built on a traditional adventure game engine, in which the player points and clicks on numerous "hot spots" all throughout the game to find objects or find out necessary information that helps solve the mystery. The story line is mostly linear, and the different locations involved in the layout of the plot are not accessible until the player has clicked on the requisite objects in their present location.

Also included is the traditional approach to interviewing the many other characters in the game, and the player takes the 3rd party perspective as the main character, Nancy Drew, throughout. In the character interviews, the game takes a typical adventure game approach, requiring you to click on all the available possible responses in order to advance the game plot. You also have to go back and re-click on these characters more than once, to be sure you have activated all the possible responses that will open up the objects some of the characters will sometimes give you, if you prod them enough.

The game response is pretty typical, but this is more a function of the processor speed and the speed of the CD ROM drive, since not all the program files are loaded onto the hard drive in the install process. While this saves on hard drive space, it does mean the player will be opening many files from the disk, which can be slowed by slower hardware.

You can die in these games, at certain points, but if so, the game puts you right back into the game, and thankfully, you don't have to start all over again. In addition, you can also save a game at any time you want, a nice feature that prevents having to replay segments. The three playing difficulties are also a nice touch, making these games actually relevant for use by children less than the stated age level of 10 years or up. I suspect with parental guidance, children even as young as 8 years of age could likely play the game and not experience much frustration.

A special note to all the hard core gamers who might be reading this. These Nancy Drew Mystery Adventures are NOT what you might be used to enjoying as challenging computer games. These are adventure games, and not role playing (RPG) or first person shooter (FPS) games, and there is no thumb twitching required here.

Instead, Her Interactive has developed a nice mystery adventure approach that will involve the player in keeping up with all the many developing clues that open up as they play the game. The included notebook, for writing down key stuff you find out, is a clue this is not a "twitch" game for those more used to killing other characters, or endlessly trying over and over to precisely time moves and jumps in order to advance to the next screen.

While there may indeed be solid evidence that girls are more inclined to these interactive adventure games than boys, I think that these Nancy Drew games will likely appeal to anyone who is not interested in the RPG of FPS type of action-oriented computer games now on the market.

Classic Features That Continue

All the well known characteristics of the famous Nancy Drew personality are warmly conveyed in these games, and Nancy Drew comes to life in the games as she proceeds to carry out her usual investigative techniques. The approach is always low key, downplaying violence, and instead focusing on the traditions of how Nancy Drew goes about investigating and solving mysteries. You play as Nancy, moving the mouse pointer around, and the other characters speak to you and interact with you as Nancy. For girls ages 10 or so, I think they will get a lot of enjoyment out of playing these games, allowing them a fanciful imaginary trip as if they were Nancy Drew, and totally involved in investigating and solving the mystery.

The puzzles are not impossible to solve, and although some players might need parental support, I think most players should have little problem getting through the deciphering required at key plot points. The backgrounds are well done, adding to the mood of the story and the impression one gets when reading the Nancy Drew books. While our imaginations cannot ever be equaled by any computer game, in the case of these games however, the overall design of the game and the ability to move around these inviting settings greatly enhance the overall impact of the games.

Common Features

Common throughout all the games are the richly detailed sets and backgrounds, and the neat ability to seamlessly move around a scene by holding down the screen cursor as you move across a set. The colors are rich and the attention to the detailed surroundings really enhance the overall feel for the game. The image mapping of the "hot spots" is mostly adequate, although on occasion I found myself moving across some of these active areas that at first seemed to not be active.

Players used to adventure games will find all the typical techniques used here, including having to click on everything that is active, to be sure you don't miss anything, and opening up all the conversation choices. In keeping with the long established tradition in the Nancy Drew mysteries, all these necessary activities are exactly what she does in the books, so this does nicely fit into the theme of these games.

Targeted Customers

While the packaging indicates the target customers are girls ages 10 and up, I think these games will also likely appeal to others. Some adults interested in interactive mystery games, but with little patience for all the fast thumb twitching required in RPG or FPS games, may be attracted to the laid back, easy going nature of these games. With the different difficulty levels, the games can also likely be played by gamers younger than 10, but with parental assistance. I also think even some young boys might like the games.

However, with the primary character in the games being a girl, and a very well known girl at that, the games will most likely do best with the identified target group that already has a reading relationship with the famous Nancy Drew character.

Her Interactive, Inc.

Founded in 1995, Her Interactive, Inc. designs, develops and markets award-winning interactive games for girls age 10 and up. Their first title, "McKenzie & Co.," was one of the first computer games to offer an alternative to the male-themed, violent games that dominate the market. The next successful title, "The Vampire Diaries," a dark and romantic role-playing adventure, was based on the popular teen romantic thrillers written by Lisa J. Smith.

In 1997, the company reached an agreement with Simon & Schuster to develop a series of CD ROM games based on the legendary adventures of teen detective Nancy Drew. In 1998, the first title released in this genre was "Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill", followed by the 1999 release of "Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger," and the newest October 2000 release of "Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion."

With an unwavering commitment to the computer game interests of girls, Her Interactive, Inc. has established a leadership role in providing intelligent interactive entertainment aimed at girls, but that will also entertain and intrigue everyone, especially "twitch impaired" adults.

Price

$29.95 Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill
$29.95 Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger
$29.95 Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion

Note: These are list prices, so shop around, as the shelf price may vary from one reseller to another. Also note that this is a super price for these computer games that will more than likely work on most all systems, if configured as required, and allow for much fun as users will not likely experience all the potential problems inherent in today's 3dfx game programs. In addition, you will experience a sense of satisfaction, as you complete the game, thereby enjoying a rare feeling of getting your money's worth with a computer game.

System Configuration Requirements

A. Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill (2 CD ROM Set)

Windows 95, 98
166 MHz Pentium processor
16MB RAM
8x CD ROM drive
42MB free hard drive space
16-bit color video card
16-bit Windows compliant stereo sound card
Mouse
Speakers

B. Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned For Danger

Windows 95, 98
166 MHz Pentium processor
16MB RAM
8x CD ROM drive
130MB free hard drive space
16-bit color video card
16-bit Windows compliant stereo sound card
Mouse
Speakers

C. Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion

Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000
166 MHz Pentium processor
16MB RAM
8x CD ROM drive
135MB free hard drive space
16-bit color video card
16-bit Windows compliant stereo sound card
DirectX 7.0 compatible sound and video card driver
Mouse
Speakers

These are the company listed minimum requirements, and as most folks know, you just never ever want to depend on software in any minimally configured machine. I recommend users seriously consider 64 MB as the minimum RAM (if not 128MB RAM), and of course, the faster the processor, the more responsive the system.

Note also that the newest game, "Message in a Haunted Mansion," will require the Microsoft DirectX 7.0 API, which for some older machines, may pose a difficulty. Since Microsoft has just recently released their newest
v 8.0 of DirectX (as of this writing), it is likely that most readers will probably have DirectX 7.0 or 7.0a on their machines. You will not need to install the DirectX 7.0 that comes with this game, if you already have it on your machines. If you have upgraded to DirectX 8.0, the game will still work, and you will not have to go back to DirectX 7.0.

Installation and Setup

Installation should go smoothly on machines configured as required, but just be sure you have enough free space on your hard drive. Also note that these games do play from the CD ROM disk, so the faster your CD ROM drive, the faster files will load. Also, with these as with any computer game, the faster the processor and the speedier the video and sound boards, the faster these games will play. Be sure you have at least the minimum RAM required.

The important thing about these and any computer game, is that the game software is designed to dominate a computer system and take control over all the computer resources. So, be sure you close all open files, before you begin to play these games, and if you have the additional RAM suggested, you should be able to start and end your game sessions without a hitch.

In the case of these super Her Interactive, Inc. games, users will not experience the severe stress on computer hardware that results from running most newer first person shooter (FPS) or role playing games (RPG). These state-of-the-art 3dfx games will significantly challenge legacy machines, presenting technical problems with video and sound board driver conflicts.

Thankfully, in these marvelous mystery games, you will avoid all these very frustrating and annoying problems. Instead of worrisome problems, you can focus on enjoying the gaming experience.

Recommendation

These games are a solid bet for families with young girls who are using a family computer. I also think many adults will enjoy playing these games, as the inherent value in investigating and solving a mystery in a computer game is as much fun as reading good mystery novels.

I also think public libraries can consider these games very relevant in their collection development plans, especially concerning the need to always enliven their juvenile collections. In the always extra busy Summer reading time, these games could provide a nice new attraction for all the many young readers so accustomed to spending a lot of time in their library during the Summer.

With the tie-in of these wonderful games to the already well known books, I think public librarians could feel confident they were providing valuable and enriching game playing by offering these Nancy Drew mystery games for children to play on library machines.

Contact Information

DreamCatcher
The Adventure Company
5000 Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario
M3H 5T5
info@dreamcatchergames.com

You can also order from other retailers or online vendors.