Customer Reviews

Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion

5 star:		(96)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you thought the books were good, the games are way cooler! Full of intrigue, mystery and fun. You play a girl detective named Nancy Drew, who is helping her friend Rose turn an old mansion into a cozy inn. When things go awry and questions are asked, Nancy rolls up her sleeves and plunges into her next suspenseful mystery! While being the typical 'Who-done-it' type game, Her Interactive adds another element, making this a sure candidate for Game of The Year! Although boys might think this is a "sissy" game for little girls, don't be surprised if suddenly you find them at the computer unable to tear themselves away! Excellent graphics, unique gameplay, and absolute non-stop fun! I highly recommend this game, a must buy!!!!!

Let me preface this review: I am 22 years old. I am not a "gamer". I love to play computer games now and then, but it seems that 99% of those games are impossible to solve (or at least they aren't solved before I become frustrated enough to quit). I thought I would try this game out, as I love the Victorian age, and I grew up on Nancy Drew. Fantastic!

The player wanders around a richly done up Victorian mansion. Oil paintings and fine tapestries adorn the walls. There are plenty of secret passages and other neat "finds" along the way. Stuck? Just go down to the parlor, pick up the Victorian reproduction phone and dial Bess and George, your trusty friends. You can also dial home to talk to Hannah, your housekeeper, or call in a favor with a local journalist. I am certainly not in the age range of this game's target audience, and I still needed to refer to the parlor phone to get through a few binds.

The background music is suspenseful and appropriately creepy. The sound effects will raise goosebumps. This game was a 6 hour immersion for me, and I was thrilled with it.

The only problem? It was 6 hours. Now? The game is over and I know all the puzzles, I know where to find what I need to get through the game again. This game will be great to watch others play, but I don't know that I will get the same joy again. I just wish that there was some other "after you win" features. Maybe a chance to explore the mansion further? How about getting to decorate my own Bed and Breakfast? I guess its too much to ask. Regardless of its short gameplay, this software is phenomenal! I only wish this sort of treat was available ten years ago, when software for girls was almost unheard of!

Thought "Message in a Haunted Mansion" would be a wonderful gift for my 8 year old grand-daughter. However, when she wasn't around I started playing the senior level and became addicted in the first 10 minutes. The graphics are a delight, the plot intriging and the hints and clues picked up much harder to put together then I anticipated. I haven't enjoyed any role playing game this much since the earlier Kings Quest (when you could still get through them without having to buy a hint book). Oh, and the last visit by my grand-daughter meant hours of fun as we played the game together. So, here I've evolved from reading Nancy Drew books as a youngster to playing Nancy Drew games as a grandmother. Who would have seen that one coming? Now, I'm off to purchase the first two Nancy Drew computer games! What a kick!

I just got this game for Christmas and even though I am only ten, and wasn't sure if I could do this game, it turned out to be my favorite computer game. This game is full of realistic looking people, puzzles, clues, tools,and much more It's hours of fun. My friend Lindsay and I enjoy the challenge and endlessly try to solve the mystery. After I solve this mystery I hope to get the whole collection of Nancy Drew games. I recommend this game for anyone over the age of ten. It is a fun game, but also a bit of a challenge. I think that you will be very satisfied if you order this game. It is a very fun game to play.

I am a huge Nancy Drew junkee! I collect the books and the computer games and I have been reading Nancy Drew since I was little. My friend recommended this software game to me because she knew I loved Nancy Drew and I went out and purchased it. Let me tell you... if you love Nancy Drew you'll love this game! In this game you portray world famous teen detective Nancy Drew. You have been summoned to San Francisco to solve a difficult mystery, a friend of your family who bought a Victorian mansion has been having some.. problems. It looks like sabotage... but who is doing it and why? That's your job to find out. This game will give you hours of fun and you'll feel great when you finally solve the mystery (Not that I have, even on "Junior Detective" it's pretty hard.) And before I stop typing I have one more thing to say. I know Nancy Drew has a reputation of being for girls... but even though this box says "For Girls 10 and up", it shouldn't. If you like mysteries and have some time on your hands, it does not matter what sex you are. You will still love this game. So buy it already! I promise you wll not regret your purchase.

My dad got this game for me at best buy. I thought, I love Nancy Drew, and I also thought that this game was going to be easy. I was wrong. The puzzles are a little trickey, but once you solve them you have the mystery solved. You get to go around the house, talk to several different people, and talk to Bess and George. They are very helpful in hard times. You can find secert attics, two other secret rooms, false floors, and safes. If you get stuck, take a break and try it again later. It worked for me. One time I set my alarm and got up at 6:00 just to play it. Here are some tips.
- the maze isn't really solveable, but you need to play it.
- scroll your mangfiying glass over everything. Sometimes in despreat times you'll be glad that you did.
- times matter! you can only solve the case at a certain time. to get some clues it needs to be a certain time.
- the game does not end if you let the bad guy or girl get away. There is a way to stop her or him.

Ok, I'm 32, have a small child of my own, and bought this for me. I've always liked Nancy Drew, and always had fantasies of being this sort of detective (like Charlie's Angels, which, uh, I still have dreams at night about)....anyway, this is a totally fun game...I find myself hooked on this and have a hard time putting it away....which my poor daughter can attest to! The reviews stated it took a long time to install, but I seem to remember it taking no longer than any other I have, only a few minutes...I have started with being a Jr. Detective, and I find it quite challenging, and I am a college degreed woman! I've already used the "second chance" feature as I continue to learn how to "be a better sleuth"...I highly recommend it, and am going to purchase the other two games, although from what I understand they do not have some of the latest features in them that this one does. Looking forward to (hopefully) the next one!

I'm 53 and my daughter is 27. We absolutely loved playing this game together. We couldn't wait to visit each other to continue playing the game. We played the other two Nancy Drew games also and enjoyed them too. But this one was by far the best. We played the senior level in all three games. This last game had better puzzles than the last. More intrigue. The graphics are wonderful. We hated to finish it. We're looking forward to the next mystery. Hope it comes out soon!!

My sister started to get into the Nancy Drew series, so for Christmas, my Mom bought my sister Nancy Drew: Message In A Haunted Mansion. My sister started it, but she really has no enthusium for computer games. So it sat by our computer for a couple of months until curiousness got me. I didn't expect much and figured I'd be bored because I'm 15 and this looked a little juvenile to me. I was completley wrong. Right from the beginning, I was hooked. I would be on my computer for hours trying to solve case. I was completley intrigued. I was playing the game so much that my family had to tear me away from the computer just so they could check their mail. I loved the story line, the fun chinese history that tied in with it, I loved all the mystery, problem and puzzle solving, and spending hours working on the mystery. I would definetly recommend this game to everyone (even my 9 year old brother played it and loved it)who wants to spend countless hours on the computer trying to solve a fun, mystery filled, and exciting case. It's a great game, you'll love it!

Also recommend: Nancy Drew: Treasure In A Royal Tower. It's even better then Message In A Haunted Mansion!

Our eight-year-old daughter is positively entranced with this software, coming back again and again to try to figure out the next steps. It's intellectually quite challenging, and the "story" evolves in a way that even has us parents eager to learn what comes next. Our daughter loves puzzles and mysteries, and this hits the target perfectly. The graphics and sound are superb, and installation was a snap.