As a new Nancy Drew title arrived for review, created by Her Interactive who have been pushing out the highly successful Nancy Drew Adventure Game Series for years now, the last thing I expected was a hidden object puzzle mystery. Her Interactive have developed a new series for their favourite teen detective called Nancy Drew dossier and the first title we’ll be looking at is Lights, Camera, Curses !
You, as Nancy Drew, are on the set of a controversial remake of the famous 1930′s film “Pharaoh!” The studio original movie released with an alternate ending due to the untimely death of Lois Manson, the film’s star, and became a box office smash. The movie was mediocre, but the bizarre accident made the deceased star a Hollywood legend. Now a saboteur stalks the movie remake and you, as Nancy Drew are undercover on the set to get to the bottom of suspicious press leaks and uncanny accidents that have the production schedule in jeopardy. Is someone trying to sabotage the movie or is it a curse of the fallen film star?
Effectively the game is broken up into 26 chapters with each chapter’s goal highlighted in the bottom right hand corner, which is great as you know what your immediate target is and keeps the game forward moving.
There is absolutely no “what next” moments. Also along the bottom of the screen is an action bar that contains icons for looking, grabbing, picking locks and a torch. Should your cursor hover over an action hotspot that requires interaction then select the suitable icon e.g.to have a closer look choose the eye icon.
The cursor itself is a magnifying glass that sparkles when there’s something of interest and once found the item will remain with a “glass circle” surrounding it until fully utilised. Significantly during each scene or chapter every item found contributes toward your goal – there’s no searching of scenes for random objects. For instance if you’ve to construct a ramp to get out of a film set you need to find planks of wood, the machine to cut wood, any other tools maybe hammer and nails and then the means to move the ramp to the desired location. Also displayed in the bottom right corner is the number of objects still to be found in a scene – this will change as you maybe combine some objects and find you’ve progressed towards that immediate goal. Completing tasks earns points as does asking the “right” questions to the other characters. Close attention is advised during conversations (no skipping of dialogue) as it is all relevant as to how you perform in the game and like a lot of these types of games you progress through the ranks of detective.
The game also contains mini games to break things up and they do need to be completed to allow progression. These include deciphering hieroglyphics,making smoothies etc. and can be found in arcade mode once played in story mode.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation of the first of these Nancy Drew dossier titles and think they are definitely the way forward for Her Interactive. They are no longer directly marketing for the teen girl and these titles will appeal to everybody. The graphics are top notch and as a franchise could compete with the likes of MCF and Hidden Expedition very soon. Even the dialogues are excellently executed. The conversation is presented in the middle of the screen with the character(s) you’re conversing with appearing in a box along the top. The character(s)are then shown from the shoulders up and are animated as they speak and the voice acting is superb. Away from the gloss of the hidden object and mini game scenes a comic book style is employed for the cut scenes which adds a nice variety of art work.
Marks out of 10
Gameplay: 8 excellently laid out with a tutorial at the beginning
Presentation : 9 finished to a very high standard
Storyline : 8 good strong base for the game
Longevity: 9 plenty of arcade game to keep you occupied once game is completed
