For
about a decade, if you can believe it, Nancy Drew has been solving
mysteries on the PC, thanks to Her Interactive. Now, on the heels
of her nineteenth (!) full-length adventure, part of the #1 selling
original adventure series, she is back in a new casual series, Nancy
Drew Dossier: Fast Fun for Busy Detectives”. Rather than targeting
the teenage girl audience, though, this new series is primarily aimed
for adult women who are looking for a game that is short and easy
to learn, though there’s no doubt that both males and females
of all ages will enjoy it. Don’t worry, you still play as your
favorite crime-solving heroine, you still get to meet interesting
suspects and snoop for clues, but there are several twists to this
new format that make it an addicting and highly enjoyable mystery
experience.

In this first adventure,
Nancy is on the set of a controversial remake of the infamous 1930’s
film “Pharaoh,” which achieved its notoriety when its
star, Lois Manson, died mysteriously when she was bitten by a poisonous
snake on the set. Now, however, the film is the victim of a series
of mysterious accidents, which many people have attributed to a curse
and a black cat that has been seen around the set. She goes undercover
as a production assistant to figure out who’s behind these “accidents”
and get the film back on schedule.

The
game is broken up into twenty-six chapters. Each chapter’s goal
is featured in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Gameplay
is straightforward: your magnifying glass cursor will sparkle when
it comes across something of interest. When you click on it, you will
see that item in a close-up lens. Sometimes the Action Bar, or Nancy’s
Sleuth Kit, will light up at the bottom of the screen. It has icons
for looking, grabbing, picking locks, and using the flashlight. Once
you’re in a close-up of an item, you can back out of it, at
which point the lens is still visible on the screen so you can see
what you’ve already found. Let’s say, for example, you
find a broken wire. Then, in another corner of the room, you find
duct tape. You click on the duct tape, then the wire (or vice versa),
and voila, you’ve earned yourself some points, which affect
your detective status. Basically, every puzzle in the game is solved
by combining one or more items. The number of items you have left
to find in the room is in the bottom right corner, so you can keep
track of how you’re doing. At the end of the game, if you’ve
earned enough points from detecting and playing bonus rounds, there
is a special alternate ending. If nothing else, it provides replay
incentive in case you don’t catch all the clues the first time.
I think the game does a great job of keeping you guessing at the culprit’s
identity until the very end.

The
beauty of it all is that, unlike the traditional search-and-find casual
mystery games that have been coming out by the numbers lately, the
concept of the game doesn’t wear thin after a few levels. Firstly,
the game is plot-driven, so there are still characters to interact
with, clues to find, detective work to do, etc. Secondly, Her Interactive
found organic and innovative ways to use the item combination tactic,
adapting it for different environments and different puzzles. Thirdly,
there are mini-games within the game itself — lock picking, decoding,
bartending — which can even be played in arcade mode. And finally,
there is another type of puzzle to mix things up: interviewing.

In interview mode, Nancy
must ask the right questions so as to earn points and, well, not sound
stupid in front of the suspect. The suspect, from the shoulders up,
appears in a box in the upper left corner — sometimes s/he is animated,
and other times s/he merely has an expression on his/her face to react
to what Nancy has just said. At various points in the conversation,
Nancy will begin a sentence — for example, “I’m really
excited to be working on the same movie of that actress, …”
— and you would choose “Lois Manson” in order to earn
points.

The
character animations, by the way, are very well-done and detailed,
just as in the games, and the script and voice acting are, as always,
superb. The graphics themselves are not as high quality, but are certainly
very well done and fit the casual style of the game. Also, in between
the chapters, and at various other points in the game, there are comic
strip-style interludes, which are just neat to watch, and which provide
some variety to the game.

Overall, this game was
a blast. To be honest, it was actually more enjoyable in some respects
than some of the PC adventures. It’s the kind of game that’s
great to savor in chapters, to play little by little whenever you
have time, and replay again and again to try to earn as many points
as possible. Anybody can pick it up and start playing in no time,
and I guarantee you’ll be hooked instantly with such a creative
and clever concept. I highly recommend this game to everyone, and
am already looking forward to the next installment!

System Requirements:

• Windows® XP/Vista
• 1 GHz or greater Pentium®
  or equivalent class processor
• 256 MB RAM
• Video Card: 32 MB DirectX
  9.0-compatible graphics
• Sound Card: 16-bit DirectX
  sound
• 1 GB+ Hard Drive Space
• Windows-compatible mouse
  and speakers