gonzocanuck's Full Review: Nancy Drew: The Secret Of Shadow Ranch for Windows
Even at 30, I enjoy playing "horse games", probably because they weren't around when I was a kid! I was actually expecting this game to be more of a traditional "level up your horse through practice and solve a mystery" game like the Time to Ride series.
Like every popular mystery novel figure, intrigue follows Nancy wherever she goes; this time it's during a trip to Shadow Ranch. There is a barn, chicken coop, pumphouse and two room house to explore, as well as a gift shop and ghost town.
The game takes place over three days - but by the third day, the story gets a little obtuse and the actions required to advance the plot start taking huge leaps of logic. I played at the senior detective level, so perhaps the junior level is a little easier. I had to admit the writing was pretty good, and the voice acting wasn't too cheesy.
My husband was more piqued by my frustration trying to complete certain puzzles and quests than the premise of the game. He spent several hours watching over my shoulder and helping out. Most of the puzzles were fun to solve, but others require much going back and forth, and at once point, you solve a puzzle that reveals another puzzle. Ah!
I soon took to scouring the web for hints, annoyed that a game aimed at pre-teen girls was spanking my butt. However, after reading some of the game forums, I discovered that even the pre-teen girls were having trouble.
There was not a lot of riding. One of the essential items is a lariat that must be earned by getting at least 4 out of 5 lasso tosses and getting a score of under 10 seconds in barrel racing. There's no real way of controlling the horse in barrel racing except to speed him up and click the barrels. It took an incredible amount of tries to get the barrel racing done; the roping was much easier.
There was some unintentional humour in the game as well...you can find yourself tossed off the ranch for provoking a chicken or picking too many unripe vegetables.
The ending came after a long maze which was actually pretty satisfying. Overall it wasn't a bad game, but it could have been better made. I might spring for another Nancy Drew title down the road.
BTW, the point and click interface that is soooo 1998 (this game was published in 2004). The box did promise a "bigger game window" so I guess I should be thankful for that.
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