Customer Reviews

Nancy Drew: Secret Of the Old Clock

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Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock - E3 2005 preview
by Christina Gmiterko - posted on June 14, 2005

It's about that time of year again - time for a new Nancy Drew game by Her Interactive. This time, however, the developers have a surprise in store, and we were able to get an early peek at the game at E3. With their latest title, they promise to give some of Nancy's younger fans a little taste of what made this character so popular in the first place.

Over the course of hundreds of books, several movies and TV shows, board games, dolls, and twelve computer games, the Nancy Drew stories throughout the years have been updated and modified to suit the modern age. Now, instead of putting pen to paper in a notebook, Nancy has the kind of electronic notebook that you type on; instead of placing calls through the operator, Nancy has a cell phone. This year, Nancy will be celebrating her 75th birthday, yet somehow she is forever a teenager, and in her latest adventure you will turn back the clock and discover the vintage Nancy Drew.

The game is entitled Secret of the Old Clock, named after the first ever Nancy Drew book. However, the game's plot diverges from that of its source material and actually encompasses different elements from the first four books released in the series combined: The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, The Bungalow Mystery, and The Mystery at Lilac Inn. Throughout the game, you will be visiting locations taken from these books, such as the Lilac Inn itself.

In addition to the old familiar settings, the game will also take place during that time period - the 1930s. This marks the first time that the series will not be set in present day. Her Interactive has made a great effort to make everything in the game look and sound authentic, and will even incorporate some background elements that reflect the important events taking place at that time, such as the Great Depression. This is a fitting inclusion, considering that Nancy Drew was originally created to help get young girls' minds off of the hard times of the '30s.

The plot of this mystery begins when Nancy is summoned to the Lilac Inn to meet with a friend of a friend - 17 year-old Emily Crandall. Emily has recently inherited the property from her late mother and has been struggling to keep her head above water with all of the new emotional and financial burdens. Nancy and Emily's mutual friend has asked Nancy to help run things for the time being. Nancy soon becomes curious, however, about why a girl she hardly knows would want her help. She soon finds herself embroiled in a mystery regarding a contested inheritance and an odd old man with several mysterious contraptions to figure out.

As with all Nancy Drew mysteries, there is an assortment of suspicious characters, including a desperate businessman, a shady paranormal expert, and an untrustworthy legal guardian, to name a few of the suspects Nancy will have to consider.

The game promises nothing really new in terms of interface and basic gameplay. However, the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" holds especially true with this series. Yet while the fundamental elements have remained largely unchanged, the graphics and character models have continued to gradually advance, showing small improvements with each new game.

One new feature that has been added is Nancy's roadster, which fans of the original books will be glad to see. With the amount of accidents, vandalism, and speeding tickets that car went through, it felt more like a character in the story than a huge chunk of metal. With the roadster, you will be able to drive around Titusville, exploring the different locations. This is visually represented on the city map that you possess, and you will be able to navigate the car around the streets on the map.

As with the previous installments, there are also several activities to entertain yourself with if you want to take a break from the main mystery. One such diversion that we were able to play in our demonstration was a miniature golf course. This sequence was very easy to control, and I'm sure that many will find this to be a welcome distraction. Some of these kinds of mini-games are necessary to complete the overall adventure, but many are there just to raise the fun factor of the overall gaming experience.

One thing that has always shone throughout the development of this series is the creators' passion for what they are making. They've always been very committed to maintaining the atmosphere and style that the books possessed, and with this latest romp through the 1930s, you can expect the same level of dedication from them. Be sure to check out this title when it is released this summer, and then also be on the look out for the first crossover game between Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys to be released later this fall!

Rel. date: July 2005 Developer: Her Interactive Publisher: Her Interactive

I just finished playing "Secret of the Old Clock", and I loved it! Before I say anything more, I think it important to add that I am 35 years old - so, take it from me, these games are great fun for ANYONE over the age of about 10!

This particular game is set in the 1930's (the depression era), and is about a young girl whose mother recently passed away - leaving her a bed & breakfast/bakery to run. She did, however, write her friend before passing, asking her to come & help her 17 year old daughter if something should happen to her - and her friend rushed right over, trying to help out, but knowing nothing of the business.

Strange things started happening at the inn at about this time, and both the young girl & her guardian are convinced that she is having a nervous breakdown - that it's all in her head. Especially since not only is she grieving the loss of her mother, but they are running out of money. An elderly neighbor (who was quite rich) had promised to leave them plenty of money in his will - but when he died, it looked as though he left all of his money & estate to a man who supposedly taught mind reading & esp.

In comes Nancy Drew... Is the will originally found the ONLY one? Could it be a forgery? And what of all the strange noises & happenings at the inn? Who's behind them, or are they really all in the teenager's mind? These are the questions you'll have to answer while playing "teen detective".

I found several differences between this game & the other Nancy Drew games I've played to date. First, the graphics are better - in fact they are just as good as some of the more high-tech games I've played. Second, you actually get to drive a car (but be sure to watch out for potholes)! Last, there was much more ground to cover - which I really liked - so you get to see a lot of the town, and speak with several people (rather than just being confined to a house, and only talking to 1 or 2 others). Oh, there's one more difference... You actually have to earn money in this game - to pay for gas, car repairs, games & other necessary items.

Overall, I think this game is a "must have" for anyone who enjoys (or had enjoyed) the Nancy Drew series. One of the great assets of these games is that they allow you to choose a difficulty level - but, I must warn all you other adults out there, if you haven't played many ND games (or even if you have!), you may want to choose the "junior" level. This will allow you to get more hints if you need them - and if you don't, you just don't ask for them - as it's the number of hints that will change based on the level you choose to play at.

Another 2 thumbs up for the creators of Nancy Drew!!!

I'm 14 years old and I've been playing Nancy Drew games since #3 The Haunted Mansion, and they have always been exhilarating. The puzzles would be tough, but not annoying, and during the game you would always feel frightened at one point or another. Also, when they promised 20+ hours of play, they would mean it. I was disappointed when I finished the game after only 5 hours of play. When I told my mother this, she suggested I was just getting really good at playing the game and solving the puzzles. After reading these other reviews, I realize I am not alone in this time shortage matter. I just hope that the next game will have the actual amount of time, meaning more than 20 hours of play. If that means that it takes a little longer to come out, I will gladly wait.

The twelfth of the Nancy Drew Mystery Series. Things are graded A-F, just like school.

The Crime: C

It's 1930, and Nancy stops by the home of Emily Crandall to check on her. The girl has recently lost her mother, and now has said she is seeing things. She asks Nancy to put her mother's jewels in a safe, but before Nancy can do so, an explosion occurrs! The jewelry is stolen and Nancy Drew begins her first case.

Also on the docket is finding out what happened to Josiah Crowley, a local eccentric who had promised to leave money to Emily. The Depression is starting and the young girl can use all the help she can get!

Suspects include Emily's guardian Jane W., kind banker Mr. Archer, and "psychic" Richard Topham (who also happens to be Josiah's sole heir).

My thought on this was that the crime was trying too hard. It left me feeling indifferent.

Puzzles: B

The look and feel of the puzzles was great. My favorite one was the number/symbol game in the carriage house. I agonized over it, but I loved it. Ultimately, though, there didn't seem to be a lot of puzzles in this game at all. Not as many as previous games.

Gameplay: B

This game is more a fetch-and-carry than a mystery. The mystery tends to get lost while Nancy spends most of her time running errands for people around town. Everybody has a line like, "Oh, I would love to do that for you, Nancy, but first I have to..." and of course Nancy volunteers. This happens over and over. Even Nancy comments to Bess, "You wouldn't believe what I had to go through..."

You drive Nancy's roadster, which I liked, deliver telegrams for extra money (which I liked, but got tedious after a while), explore hidden passages, fish the local waterhole, and play mini-golf.

One thing I didn't like was that the mini-golf was disconnected from the game. In CUR, Jane's games had to be won at some point in order to get something. In CLK, the mini-golf is obviously there only an extra.

HI did a good time integrating the time period and the Great Depression into the game without hitting us over the head with it. I really liked how you could experience the town and the townspeople, even though you could only actually enter a few locations (they used black-and-white period pictures to show you the rest).

There are no spooky moments, no suspense, and no thrills and chills here at all. The closest you come is when Nancy scares herself in the hidden passage.

This is the shortest Nancy Drew game ever made, with the exception of SCK. I finished in 7 hours, and that is unlike me. I was disappointed; I expect more bang for my $20.

Time Changes: None. This all takes place in a single day.

Voice Acting: B

The voices all kind of rolled off me. They were wonderfully done, but they were missing some "oomph." Emily seems sad and delicate, Jane is blowsy, Richard is a slick public speaker-type, and Mr. Archer is a nice guy.

Carson Drew was excellent and is the reason for the "B". He's perfect: wise, patient, kind, loving. Nancy's relationship with him is spelled out in the first phone call - they love each other, and he thinks she's a smart cookie. Perfect.

The people who stood out to me were the bit players - Mrs. Jakowski, good-time-girl and local phone operator, and Mrs. O'Shea, patroness of the orphanage.

Music: B

Period, and very nice, but again, I was sort of indifferent. I did find myself nodding my head to the jazzy ragtime that plays in The Lilac Inn's entrance hall.

Graphics/Video: A

The best yet, of course. One gripe I do have is why are all the slim girls so frightening? Jane in CUR and Emily in this game are scarily thin. If you look at Emily's feet as she sits in the window seat, you can tell that the size of her legs and feet is so small as to be almost impossible. Why can't HI do a skinny girl without her being out of proportion?

Technical: A

Perfectly perfect.

Overall, I think this one is neat and entertaining, a great way to pass a few hours, but it was lacking The Wow Factor for me. I just wasn't dazzled by what I saw like I have been in the past.

If you love Nancy Drew, this one's for you. Play it and have a good time. Don't be surprised if it falls a little short, though.

This game only lasted about 6-7 hours for me, and is by far the shortest Nancy Drew game. The games usually take me about a week to finish, and this one took me not even two days of playing. The story isn't very interesting, and there is really only one location to explore. This is probobly why the game was so short! The puzzles are very easy, (senior detective level), and there isn't much dialogue either! I did like the ending though, it was a suprise! If you haven't played "Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake" or "The Haunted Mansion" yet, play those instead!

Secret Of the Old Clock in the Nancy Drew series is fun for all ages. I'm 62 and this is my fifth Nancy Drew game. Some of the Nancy Drew games are so difficult as to be frustrating. Not so with Secret Of the Old Clock, the puzzles are challenging but not so much so that one becomes so frustrated they need to look for a walkthrough.

I could actually solve most of the puzzles without a walkthrough, but I did go to a hint site for one puzzle... not bad for me!

I don't think it necessary to go into the story and characters because the reviews before mine have covered that extremely well. But I do want to encourage people to play this game because it is a excellent one. I read a poor review for this product on another site and almost didn't purchase it. So let me assure you, this is an excellent game. The graphics are fantastic and none of my character faces were blurry.

What I liked best was being able to drive a car around the town. It was so much fun. Often when I play these Nancy Drew games I get stuck in spots and can't figure out what to do next. In this game there is constantly something to do and lots of puzzles to solve and because they are not terribly complicated like the puzzles in The Curse of Blackmoor Castle, you feel great when you are able to solve them yourself without help. I never did finish The Curse of Blackmoor, I felt it was too complicated with all the chemicals, gods, and formulas.

I loved the Secret Of the Old Clock characters, I love the sense of humor that is always present in these games. I don't mind at all that some of the puzzles don't fit into the story exactly... they're fun and that is all I care about. I loved the miniature golf game and I think that after a few tries things sort of go your way and I'm convinced that might have been worked into the program that after so many tries it gets easier. I know I'll return often to replay the miniature golf and try to better my score. I played it four times before playing under par for my prize.

Whether or not you are a grandmother like me, a young person or middle aged, you will enjoy this game.

I own and have played all the Nancy Drew games. My wife and I have immensely enjoyed them all. Here's the kicker - we have no kids and I'm over 50 years old and my wife is even older (I'm not including her actual age and it doesn't take a Nancy Drew to figure out why!). We live in a resort area and save all the games for the winter because while it doesn't snow here then, it does get a bit nippy and we do get a fair amount of rain. We always look forward to huddling around the monitor screen and popping in a recently released ND game or two during off-season. This year, we had Old Clock and Blue Moon Canyon in house and ready to install. In any case, I wanted you to know that we are very familiar with the games before giving you our impressions.

This is the first ND game where we haven't gotten stuck for a while or had to resort to the Her Interactive message board for a hint or even worse, consult a walkthrough! That said, it was extremely satisfying to finally play and finish one all on our own, despite the fact it does play a bit shorter than some previous Nancy Drew games. We both loved the original time setting and the News Reel type dialogue. Driving the car was easily the best and most fun way of getting around of all the Nancy Drew games and while the telegram schtick to earn money can get a little tedious (as well as the Zippy Gas slogan), we felt it taught the younger fans a true life lesson, one they will need when they get older. Work often is tedious and not very fun, but you do what you must to pay the bills. There are very few free rides in life. This game may have taught that lesson to many younger players while they weren't even aware of it. It was also a great way to get a layout of the town. The puzzles were not one on top of each other, but spaced nicely apart. They were challenging enough, but not impossible to do without help. For those who claim they were too easy, did you get through the mini-golf course on the first or second try? And were you able to sew the dress before you pulled out almost all of your hair? I thought not! Granted, the game does run shorter than previous ones, but there are very few dead spots and this game had more of a feel of doing actual detective work than being just a problem and puzzle solving game. Last, but not least, the graphics are outstanding and we were constantly blown away by how good they really were and how far Her Interactive has come since Secrets Can Kill was released. Her Interactive seems to be listening and reacting to the consumer. The very first Nancy Drew Game was a disaster of bad graphics and having to constantly interchange disks while playing it. Each Nancy Drew game since then seems to have a bit more quality and innovation to it than the previous game before it. It's now to the point where Her Interactive can match product with the best of the computer game industry.

So, should you buy the game? Absolutely! It's a fun journey to the past with a good story line, some fun and challenging puzzles and has graphics that will knock your socks off! My wife and I rate Old Clock as Her Interactive's best ND game yet. Other Nancy Drew games have some great features, but for smoothness of play, Secret of the Old Clock wins hands down! As for the complaints about the short time-play, do you measure value and enjoyability by time spent working a game or by the amount of fun you had playing the game? If you don't have a lot of fun playing this game, you probably shouldn't be playing this or any other Nancy Drews games in the first place. For those of us who like to have fun and marvel over incredible graphics, Secret of the Old Clock is a real treat and a must play.

Well done, Her Interactive!

This Nancy Drew game was one of the best games that HerInteractive has made so far. This game does have very challenging puzzles and it has a fun 1930's setting. I am ten years old and I own five Nancy Drew games. This one is defenitly my favorite.

I love the Nancy Drew games. This game was no exception. As usual, there was an interesting plot, great characters, and a suprising culprit. Unfortunately, I found this game way too easy. I finished this game in one afternoon. The final challenge was completely unsuspensful. Other than a lack of challenge, it was a fun game.

My sister and I love the nancy drew mysteries that come out on CD-ROM and we are constantly checking to see when the new one is out. We've done all the mysteries, and we usually do the junior sleuth because its easier. But The Secret of the Old Clock was TOO easy! We sloved the case in a couple of hours and were bored wanting to know if they had developed the next one yet. I agree with the last reviewer that is a little boring with driving the car, and my sister and I kept doing the deliveries because it never said that you could just stop! So we made like 20$ and finally got sick of it and went back to the lilac inn and they didnt say anything else about it! Well if you decide to get it you should definitel play the senior sleuth if you want a challenge, because on the junior one my sister and i definitely didnt get one at all.