So it's been a little while since I wrote a Nancy Drew game review and I have to remember to bring up the fact that a spoiler alert is needed here. and oh btw the game was actually released in early 2004 not August of 2003 (or March 2003 however that was dated)


Gameplay and Story: So for once, Her Interactive is making a game based on one of the books in the classic series, the best selling ND book of all time to be exact. Once again you are playing as Nancy Drew and this time you are at a ranch in Arizona that is owned by Bess and George's Aunt and Uncle (actually fun fact, the book version of Shadow Ranch actually marked the debut of Nancy's friends Bess Turani Marvin and George Fahn Fayne...sorry about that, CW Nancy Drew had returned in between reviews so I have to keep reminding myself to watch it with the references. And they are now the main companions of Nancy in this series because.....Nancy's friend Helen Corning got married and after that she only shows up one in awhile in the classic series after that, I don't remember if she showed up in the CW series I haven't revisited the first season because I'm still screaming at that big reveal) anyway back to the review. Nancy arrives at the ranch only to discover the Rawley's are not there, it turns out Mr.Rawley is in the hospital after a rattlesnake bit him, Bess and George haven't shown up because the developers weren't ready to show Bess and George in the games their flight had to land in Omaha due to mechanical problems, so Nancy is on her own here, she encounters the ranch hands, the cook tells her a story about the phantom horse that's been galloping around there parts and it's the ghost of a horse that belongs to an outlaw that was smitten with the daughter of a previous owner of the ranch (and since father was a Sheriff this won't have a happy ending, well at least the daughter didn't turn her grief into violence like Kissing Kate did in Holes) and it appears just as something bad is about to happen (have you ever noticed that the people telling these ghost stories are usually the people behind these haunted crimes? yeah spoiler alert, as it had been in most other Nancy Drew games, the culprit is the same person as the book (though other characters from the book didn't make it into the game) we eventually deduce that whoever caused all the trouble is actually after Dirk Valentine's (that's the dead outlaws name) treasure, and he meant for it to be found by his girlfriend (but when we do find the treasure man is it pretty, and I got the sense of "Wow these are pretty, no wonder he wanted her to have these").

Graphics: This game marks the debut of a new game border that would make the gaming screen alot bigger (this lasts until Creature of Kapu Cave), the bottom of the screen will have Nancy's toolbox, her phone and her notebook which means she no longer carries her laptop everywhere and we can check stuff off after we finish a task, and oh by the way he phone is upgraded with internet and e-mail. Nothing really new in the graphics department though.

Sound: I really do love the soundtrack it really fits the theming, like when you are at the ranch the music makes it sound like you are at a farm, and when you are on the trail the soundtrack will then kind of remind you of the Magnificent seven, and considering the love story we see inbetween we get some kind of romantic guitar music, there's also some electric guitar stuff in there that really gives you a good sense of where you are but all I see is a music video.

Addictive: Again once I got the hang of it, I kept on coming back.

Depth: Nancy spends a week at the ranch but the case takes place over three days, we get to travel by horse, visit this ghost town, collect arrowheads, because this is still the era of the game where Nancy is doing favor exchanges. Also Nancy is in contact with this author that shows up in a future game (well that's nice, we eventually got to see Charleena, it's just a shame that we haven't seen most other recurring characters like Poppy Dada, or Prudence Rutherford....we eventually got to see Sonny Joon).

Difficulty: Oh where do I begin, I had difficulties with this game at first, I sucked at identifying ripe vegetables, thank god for the days when I checked Her Interactive's message board for hints, problem is I first played the game in 2006, and it was during a time when I was briefly banned from the message board, and then I had to feed the horses, though by the time I got there I had to return the game to the library.

Post review follow-up: This was sadly the last Nancy Drew game I finished playing, as the library did not acquire any further titles and I don't know why, I don't know if it's because they just plain stopped or anything because they acquired more just as the big library on my end of the planet was getting a huge makeover, I do miss the old centennial place though. This is actually a very good game though since it's a good atmosphere perfect for those cold days when you just need a way to warm up.



This concludes my review, join me tomorrow when I do a review of......The Milton Bradley Classic Board Games collection, well if it's the one put out by Hasbro Interactive then I will for sure review it because I do have it. And this will give me the opportunity to take some screen shots so I'll be ready, maybe I'll submit a video as well.