Sixthsense's Full Review: Nancy Drew: The Secret Of Shadow Ranch for Windows
I became a fan of the Nancy Drew game series when I found Mystery in a Haunted Mansion. That game got me hooked because is was fun and not real hard to play. I know these games are targeted at a younger audience, but what the heck. If you enjoy something, you enjoy something. But that doesn't go for Michael Jackson's ways. That's a WHOLE different story.
Well, anyway, I got this game from Amazon for about $20.00 plus shipping and was very excited to get it. I had loved all the games before this one and thought I would love this one, too. WRONG!
This game is about as fun as watching the ground dry out. It makes chess playing look like relay racing. Nancy finds herself on a ranch owned by an elderly couple. She soon meets some of the people who work there like the cook and the guy that takes care of the horses. She also meets one of the ranch hands that she has to get a key from to get into a roll top desk to find boring clues. She can't ride the horse to deliver a message to a neighbor lady until she gets all the chores done. She can't get the chores done until she gets past the vegetable harvest. Sound easy? I wish. You have to read this book on how to tell if vegetables are ripe, so you can pick the right ones. That's all well and good and me being raised by two parents that practically farmed rather than gardened every year I think I know more than this game what a ripe vegetable looks like. But no. The penalty for not picking the right things is getting kicked off of the ranch. It is extremely hard to tell which ones are ripe and which ones aren't even with the comparisons in the guide. Don't try a walkthru either because that doesn't help. You have to do this many times and sometimes there is a snake in there that gets you kicked out of the game if you don't wait until he leaves.
This game is full of puzzles like that. If you sneeze you get kicked out of the game. That "second chance" button really got a work out from me. The next impossible task is the saddling of the horse. If you don't get this right you get kicked out of the game. The guy who wrangles the horses isn't much help and neither are the hints. Before long you really do feel like you are in the middle of the desert and trying to work for your keep. Not even the ghostly horse that appears once in awhile or the mystery of the story makes this game worth the effort. I was beginning to wish there was a Nancy-buys-a-ticket-and-flies-home button.
Getting to the end of this game is like hiking up a 90 degree hill. I have played some clunky games in my time and put up with a lot. I've played Inherent Evil and you had to start the level all over again if you messed up. You had to complete a chapter without any errors or you couldn't "graduate" to the next chapter. I have had games crash over and over before I reached the end, but I still persevered. I was throwing this game over my shoulder before I could get out of the first round. I sure am glad that this was not the first Nancy Drew game I have ever played because it would have been the last.
If you want a good adventure game try Syberia or The Longest Journey. Or maybe try one of the other Nancy Drew mysteries. This one will make you angry. It might even make you give up playing PC games.
The requirements for the game are Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
400 MHz or greater Pentium II or equivalent class CPU
300 MB or more hard drive space
16 MB DirectX compatible video card
16 bit DirectX compatible sound card
12X CD-ROM drive
And a whole lot of patience.
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