Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull
Score: 75% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Her Interactive Developer: Her Interactive Media: CD/2 Players: 1 Genre: Adventure/ Family
Graphics & Sound: Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull is another step in taking the entire Nancy Drew mystery collection into the interactive media. This time, Nancy and her friend, Bess Marvin, are going to New Orleans for a vacation. But of course, where Nancy goes, so does mystery. The graphics style or quality of Legend of the Crystal Skull doesn't differ from the line's previous installments. Each location is a fairly well detailed 3D environment and tends to give the desired stereotypical New Orleans feel. I do have to say, there are parts of the game where you are navigating the dark hallways of the mansion at night with only a candle to light your way, and the game does a pretty good job handling the shadows and lighting - especially since this game's focus isn't really anything of that nature. The game's audio feel doesn't seem to have changed between versions either. The music and voiceovers are about the same as the previous game; it's there, but nothing really spectacular to make you take notice.
Gameplay: Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull starts off with our little heroine and her best friend cashing in some frequent flyer miles to go to New Orleans and stay with a friend. And, in true Nancy Drew fashion, the pair of girls stumbles upon a new mystery. Bruno Bolet is a wealthy man and owner of a crystal skull called "Whisperer." Legend has it that this particular skull's magical abilities keep the owner from dying, well unless he or she is murdered. When Bruno dies and his wealth (and supposedly the skull) is passed down to his nephew, Henry, the crystal skull seems to be missing. So now, Nancy and Bess decide to start trying to solve this new mystery. Along the way, you will meet characters like Renee, the housekeeper, Lamont, an antique shop owner and Gilbert, Bruno's best friend. It seems like everyone the duo meets in this game has motive to take the missing skull, and possible even kill Bruno. This game is very much a standard point-and-click adventure title. You will find yourself talking with many people and collecting various random items in order to piece together the mystery. One of the good things about these Nancy Drew games is that the plot and mystery are fairly well laid out; after all, if they weren't, then the books wouldn't be anywhere near the classics that they are. Where these games tend to differ from other adventure titles is the inclusion of some mini-games that you need to complete in order to advance the storyline. These mini-games involve bowling, getting out of the way of chomping teeth (don't ask) and getting rid of wasps. These games come fairly regularly and break up the monotony a bit.
Difficulty: Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull has got a few rough spots in it. I do like the fact that almost every time I had developed a theory as to who had stolen the Crystal Skull, I was wrong. The twists in the game's story really helped to both make the game harder and more fun in general. As far as ease-of-playing, the game isn't all that complicated. The GUI is simple and just like previous Her Interactive Nancy Drew games, and I found there to only be a few pixel-hunting episodes in the game, which is always a plus.
Game Mechanics: Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull's mechanics are simple and easy to pick up for pretty much any gamer, especially those familiar with the adventure genre. The controls have you clicking your way through various locations as you hover over items in each room, seeing if you can interact with them. If you hover over a person, then you will be able to start up a dialogue with them; if it is an object, then you can pick it up, use it or use some item that's already in your inventory with it. Like I said, it's really standard stuff here and shouldn't throw anyone for any loops. Like the past releases, Legend of the Crystal Skull is for the young adventure gamer market, and most likely the girl-gamers more than the boys, but that distinction is purely based on the "Nancy Drew" name. There isn't really anything overtly gender-specific about the game itself. Either way, the game is geared towards younger players or the only way I can really see anyone in their teens or higher really getting into this title is if they are helping their younger sibling or child out with it.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Minimum System Requirements: Windows XP/Vista, 1 GHz or greater Pentium 3 or equivalent class SPU, 128 MB of RAM, 1 GB or more hard drive space, 32 MB DirectX 9.0 compatible video card, 16-bit DirectX compatible sound card, 24x CD-ROM drive   Test System: Alienware Aurora m9700 Laptop, Windows XP Professional, AMD Turion 64 Mobile 2.41 GHz, 2 GB Ram, Duel NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS 256MB Video Cards, DirectX 9.0c
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