Customer Reviews

Nancy Drew: The Legend of the Crystal Skull

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"Legend" is, simply, fun. HER Interactive manages to interest an enormous age range of players from 10 years old and up. And I mean UP: I am 77. I was gratified that there were no tedious chores to do in this game, however.

The story takes place in New Orleans in a spooky mansion to which is attached a huge cemetery. You have to find the Crystal Skull and determine whether the owner of the mansion, Bruno Bolet, was murdered. As usual, there are four suspects. Plenty of atmosphere to titillate young and old player hearts. You collect, of all things, glass eyeballs. One of your tasks is to find the graves of various people via outrageous puns such as Myra Maines (my remains) and Constance Norring (constant snoring). OK, OK, that may seem a bit juvenile but I laughed my head off, and of course 10 year olds will be right in their element.

The puzzles are well-integrated into the plot and they are not all that easy.Several require good mouse technique and a good eye, and at least in my case, many tries before success. However, if an old lady can succeed, so can you!

The graphics are excellent as is the voice acting.The four human suspects are well done and their mouth movements match their speech. The huge cemetery is suitably creepy. It never stops raining and I really felt quite sodden sitting here.

You encounter a potpourri of stuff including hoodoo, a lesson in dentistry, a live iguana which you dress up in costumes after enticing him with a loquat, New Orleans gumbo, a Rube Goldberg device, skeletons...what more could you ask for?

5 stars.

On Nancy's seventeenth mystery, she's plunged deep into a world of illusions, secret societies, family secrets, and dark magic in New Orleans. Nancy had only planned to visit a friend of a friend while sightseeing the French Quarter, but as fans know, nothing ever goes as planned. Orphan Henry Bolet, a self-styled Goth with dyed black hair, eyeliner, and tattoos, is the sole heir of his only relative, great-uncle Bruno. Bruno was unconventional to say the least: an unmarried dentist, he had a large collection of glass eyes (which Nancy must find throughout the game), domesticated "pets" (some more tame than others) that he trained to perform tricks, and he was caretaker of the nearby cemetery, which explains the model cemetery and list of "residents." When Nancy goes to check up on Henry, she's knocked out by a skeleton, and her sleuthing skills kick into high gear as the late Bruno's secrets come to light. He was the last known owner of The Whisperer, a crystal skull from antiquity that is said to give its owner immortality.

Bruno's mansion is filled with odd collections of games and books, and the slanting, twisted halls are bathed only in candlelight as the fierce storm has knocked out the electricity. Nancy must solve the mystery of Bruno's death and the location of the Whisperer while battling wasps, poisonous spiders, cranky alligators and other hazards. On this trip, her friend Bess Marvin provides moral (and sleuthing) support in the French Quarter. Reluctant Bess plays an important role and is the key to solving several puzzles; she must dig up clues and interview suspects in order to help the investigation progress. Players switch between Nancy and Bess by calling each other via cell phone.

There are several potential suspects in Dr. Bolet's death: his nephew Henry, his housekeeper Renee, (who dabbles in voodoo), Dr. Gilbert Buford (Bruno's best friend and physician), and Lamont, owner of Zeke's curio shop. This may be one of the most complete Nancy Drew titles; there is ample backstory and character development, including appearances from characters in earlier ND games. The plot twists had me thinking I knew who the villain was until the very end, when it turned out I'd been wrong. Also, this ending was a vast improvement over the last three ND games, which featured lackluster endings and villains. Puzzles are varied, including several arcade-style games, musical puzzles (these are closed captioned), riddles, and matching games. I can't think of a single puzzle that qualified as filler. There is plenty to explore outside the mansion, including a mazelike cemetery and garden. My only gripes would be with the underdeveloped mansion (you can only explore five rooms, including Renee's bedroom, an empty spare room (where exactly does Henry sleep??), and the study) and limited exploration of the French Quarter (more variety would have been nice).

The graphics are at an all-time high. Lightning flashes and dynamic rain really create an atmosphere of dread. Candles flicker in the gloom. The game starts with a warning to play with the lights off...this isn't because of the scare factor, but rather because the game takes place at night, in the rain, by candlelight. If you try playing with the lights on, you literally won't be able to see. Character animations are fluid and natural. Cutscenes are cinematic. All of these create a feeling of realism unmatched in earlier games. The sound effects are equally impressive, from the different rain sounds (rain on windows, foliage, and rooftops) to the haunting snippets of jazz and foreboding music that fade in and out at random.

There is also a great deal of humor present, including nods to earlier games (there are three Easter eggs to discover). One of the puzzles involves finding graveyard denizens via a series of clues which lead to name puns. I was laughing out loud as I finally put two and two together.
Some parents may be hesitant to purchase this game because of its focus on death (cemeteries, skeletons) and dark magic (voodoo, spells, magic herbs, curses), but these elements are handled tastefully. There are some genuinely creepy moments (such as a meeting that Bess must infiltrate), but no worse than one would find in a PG halloween movie.
This was by far the most entertaining, well-put-together Nancy Drew game that I've had the pleasure to play (and I've played all seventeen numerous times). Let's hope that Her Interactive's return to its former greatness continues on the next title "The Phantom of Venice."

My daughters and I await each ND with anticipation. Fun scares, good thinking games and entertaining stories keep us coming back for more. Sadly, we finished it in about ten hours so now it's just a waiting game until the next one.
I love the family-friendly story line mixed with little "scares" and snares. A+++++

I have played all of the Nancy Drew Games, and I wish that HER Interactive would find one formula of game play and STICK TO IT. In one game there may be many characters, several opportunities to die, challenging puzzles and many different locales to explore. In others, they stick to one basic location, very few characters and easy puzzles. This particular game falls into this category. Not many characters, one main location for about 80% of game play, and the puzzles are either really easy, or the solution is way out in left field. This definitely was not one of my favorites.

This adventure has everything I look for in this type of game; a haunted house, a rainstorm (that you walk in and never get wet!), New Orleans and hints of voodoo. The characters are interesting, not annoying, and there are less phone calls than in other Nancy Drew games. The problem is that many of the puzzles are not solvable. They involve tedious trial and error for a solution that cannot be deduced by logical reasoning, or simply make no sense at all. I found myself on the cheat boards often, and felt disheartened when I realized there was no way to have "figured it out" myself. Play this one for the gothic ambiance, but don't waste time if you can't 'get' the puzzle.

Like many reviewers have stated, the creators of the Nancy Drew games seem to have been listening to us, and the more recent games have become more challenging.

I do have a few complaints with this game that my girls have stated: There were many activities, but many were very tedious and did need the cheats on the message board.

The ending was predictable. None of us had any doubt "who done it" from the very beginning.

The ending was far too easy and like my daughter stated, just didn't make any sense why they did the activity they did to escape the situation they were in.

I'm not sure I liked the idea of toying with the world of voodoo, even if they called it hoodoo.

My girls did like the idea of playing as Bess. They really enjoyed Bess' character.

Other than that, it was a fun game. Yes, I played it-I always do! It was not my favorite though. I still really like "Treasure in the Royal Tower" and "Curse of Blackmoor Manor".

Legend of the Crystal Skull is one of the best Nancy Drew PC games yet!! The mystery is so enticing and the story is very creative. First of all, if you haven't played any ND games yet, let me just say that HER Interactive has mastered the art of realistic graphics and realistic characters. The graphics in ND games are some of the very best in adventure games and if Henry (one of the main characters in the game) got any more emo...I mean everything just seems so real! The puzzles in this game were by far some of the most entertaining and original in the ND series. The main thing you do (and this may seem boring but it ties in with other puzzles so it's fun) is collect glass eyeballs, which is reminiscent of ND 13: Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon, in which you collect dolls. Collecting the eyeballs really keeps you going as you collect more and get closer to solving the puzzle.
In this ND there is something really new and entertaining; you get to play as Bess, pretty much Nancy's best friend. What's fun about this is that Bess does some things Nancy can't. She is in a different location all together and stays there the whole time, just as Nancy remains in her one location, the house. Although the Hardy Boys have been playable, I preferred playing as Bess...she was more fun because she's so not into the whole detective thing, which is funny.
The greatest thing about this ND are probably the puzzles. At first it may seem like you'll never get it because it starts out ambiguously, but trust me, do NOT go to a cheat site immediately. Once you figure out what to do(and trust me, it is doable, though some things require help as in all ND games)you will be so happy you did because the puzzles are so original and well-though out that you'll be saying to yourself 'Man that's awesome!! I'm so glad i figured that out..woah..cool stuff!' Or at least that's what I thought...
One good thing about this is that it brought back some of the classic ND moves from earlier games. If you have played some of the newer games, you may have noticed that the endings (the part where you catch the bad guy)in ND 14 and 15 (and possibly 16, I haven't played it) were stupid puzzles that were way too easy to beat. In Crystal Skull the ending is just like in games 1-13; you use an inventory item/do something to activate whether or not you catch the bad guy and if you fail, you get second chance. That's all I'm gonna say about the end, I don't want to spoil it.
The final achievement in this game (and Her Interactive is good at this) is that I really had no clue who "did it," so to speak. I mean it wasn't obvious at all. So have fun guessing because you probably won't figure it out either, until the end of course, which is so cool!
This is definitely, hands-down, in the top five for best ND games. The puzzles are some of, if not the very best Her Interactive has come up with and the story is absolutely engaging. If you haven't played a ND game yet, yeah maybe this isn't the easiest to start with, but it is definitely fun!! ND to me is one of the best adventure game series around, and "Crystal Skull" is not to be missed. Don't be turned off by the difficulty of "White Wolf"- number 17 is doable! I played as Senior detective, and trust me, it's doable! So if you don't own this yet, heck, buy it now! This is really fun for everyone, especially if you play with friends, or by yourself. So enjoy this ND game as much as I did...it is a five star-er HANDS-DOWN!!

When ND games first came out, my daughter and I fell in love with them. We could play them together and the puzzles were challenging and the situations were sometimes scary (the kind of scary as in anticipation of who or what is around the corner.) The locations were often historical and we learned a lot while having fun playing the game. But the last few games have been just plain dumb, no real suspense or challenge, just silly, repetitive tasks or puzzles that were so hard they became very frustrating. We had about given up on ND games, especially with the most recent ones having so many bugs and the theme music being gone. But HI redeemed themselves with CRY. The puzzles are very challenging but solvable, there is a definite element of suspense and anticipation, and best of all no repetitive busywork. I do wish we got to do a bit more exploring, and really would like the endings to be more challenging. That used to be one of the scariest parts, trying to get away from or to catch the culprit! Now it seems like the story just kind of ends and you have to sit through a long explanation. CRY is definitely back on the right track but there are still improvements to be made, and HI, please bring back that opening theme music- that really set the mood for a good mystery!

Okay, I want to start out by saying that I am a HUGE fan of ND games, and I've loved every one so far. However, this one, was simply not my favorite.

Issues I had with it are: Lack of scenery. You can only go to a couple places, and they very quickly got old. Lack of good music. The music in this game uses the same theme over and over again. At one point I was forced to mute it, it got so unbearable. The ending was very anti-climatic, and did NOT resolve anything, really. The characters were minimally interesting as well.

I hate to be harsh with any ND game, but this was my honest opinion of this game. I believe HerInteractive could have done a lot better, based on how much better their older games were compared to this one. If you're looking for a great ND game I would try Curse of Blackmoor Manor or Secret of the Scarlet Hand.

Laura

We've played all of the HER interactive Nancy Drew Games and this was my absolute favorite. We play as a family -- this was a little scary for my youngest, but not terribly bad (they didn't like the wasps) All the puzzles are solvable within the game and none are too hard or need outside knowledge beyond the scope of a 10 year old -- except for the last which I could only solve by trial and error, but it only took a minute or two of trying to solve it. This is the first one that we haven't gotten hideously stuck with no idea of what to do next -- though it really helps to have played previous to know what sorts of puzzles are encountered.

Try it out, and for the puzzles, think a little outside the box!