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Product information

Computer Platform

PC

ASIN

B00005LVWM

Release date

November 7, 2001

Customer Reviews

3.7 57 ratings

3.7 out of 5 stars

Package Dimensions

7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches; 3.2 ounces

Type of item

Video Game

Rated

Everyone

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer

No

Item Weight

3.2 ounces

Manufacturer

Her Interactive

Date First Available

September 16, 2001

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Product Description

Amazon.com

Nancy travels to St. Louis to visit her old friend Maya and attend the premiere of a new blockbuster movie at the Royal Palladium Theater. The historic theater is scheduled for demolition in just three days and Maya is covering the controversial story. But when Maya is kidnapped just before her big interview with the movie's leading man, Brady Armstrong, Nancy's night out at the movies turns into a nightmare.

She's convinced that the kidnapper is hiding Maya in the mysterious theater in a desperate attempt to halt the demolition, but no one believes her. Nancy must juggle her efforts between searching for her friend, proving to the police that Maya is really in the theater, and finding a way to stop the demolition. It's not long before Nancy begins to unravel the tangled history of the theater's ownership, a web of secret deals and betrayals surrounding Harry Houdini, the world's greatest escape artist.

Will this information help Nancy save the day? Can Nancy afford to gamble with time when her friend's days are numbered? Play the game and find out. Use your best detective skills to explore this once grand theater in a frantic quest for clues, secret passageways, hidden rooms--anything that will help you find your friend. Her life depends on it. Tick-tock!

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Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5

57 global ratings

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Amy walker

Love

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2019

Love it

A PASSION PLAY THAT DOESN'T VANISH

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2015

This is my 31st review and completed adventure in the Nancy Drew series.

First, I'd like to start by dividing my review into two factions.
1) The game itself
2) My personal detective work.

* PART 1 *

PLOT: Nancy Drew's great vietnamese friend, Maya Nguyen, is kidnapped at the Royal Palladium theatre in St. Louis after trying to initiate an interview for her school newspaper with the main star. Problem is, the theatre is set to be demolished in three days! Nancy is in pure panic mode in this adventure.

INITIAL SCORE: 83

CHARACTERS:
Brady Armstrong: He is the main star of Vanishing Destiny and it was in his dressing room where Maya was abducted. He demeanor was a muted version of Rick Arlen's attitude in Stay Tuned for Danger; slightly arrogant and looking to advance his career. I suspected him right off, because there were so many clues pointing in his direction.

Simone Mueller: Brady's press agent that was a little over the top when it came to promotion and, frankly, hard to swallow plot wise. She would be so open with her uncaring antics? Seems if she was truly sly, Simone would keep her greed tightly vested to avoid exposure.

Joseph Hughes: A crusty, old codger basically spending his whole life involved in the projector room and caring for the theatre. I didn't take to his warm personally, because I always had my guard up for any trickery. Learning about his past life was very interesting.

Nicholas Falcone: An activist looking to block the theatre demolition. He didn't seem too hard-assed as might be insinuated in the police records.
I never suspected him for a second.

Phone-A-Friends: I really believe the police department was negligent to the point of being indirectly involved in Manslaughter charges should Maya truly be killed in the demolition. A missing persons wait of 24 hours and a light search of the theatre is one thing, but if there is a life on the line, you get a police order to halt the destruction, plain & simple. The girls [George & Bess] were not as involved as later stories, but they served their purpose.

CUMUL SCORE: - 1 = 82

SCORE/GRAPHICS/SOUND EFFECTS:
The score seemed nonexistent. The sound effects were good, and the graphics were excellent for their time. The interface really started to take off for the series at this point.

CUMUL SCORE: Even = 82

PUZZLES/MINI-GAMES: I think this game had the least amount of puzzles in the whole series and was mostly plot-driven. I suppose that's okay, but I was really left with nothing more than emotional vestige to carry me through the storyline.

CUMUL SCORE: - 1 = 81

GENERAL IOTAS: This was the greatest/emotional acting display by Lani Minelli the WHOLE series primarily because 75% of it had her exhibiting the ranges of voiced panic, exhilaration, and verbal combat. Contrasted to the latest game Labyrinth Of Lies [where she was flat, script-read, and phoning it in as she winds her career down], she was brilliant. Yes, over the top, but that is forgivable due to the timed demolition aspect of the plot.
This is also the second shortest game I have played in the series.

CUMUL SCORE: + 1 = 82

ADVENTURE ENDING: I thought it stretched the boundaries of believability, especially since the culprit got off lightly. Never would that happen in reality as kidnapping is a federal offense. Overall, it wrapped well and i wasn't displeased.

CUMUL SCORE: Even = 82

* PART 2 *
I try to solve cases without any hints, walkthroughs, etc, even if it were to
take weeks! Well, it took me two days [6 hours] and I gave myself a
Detective Score Of : 88

My Strong Points: I guessed the culprit based on last minute deduction changes. Every puzzle was handled with complete sharpness. This is probably my Top 3 performance in detective skills in the whole series.

My Weak Points: I was a bit confused over how to trigger the plot along, but not for any lengthy periods. I think my interest waned well after gaining all the knowledge I could about Harry Houdini.

OVERALL GAME SCORE: 82 + 88/2 = 85 [ B ]

BOTTOMLINE: Enclosed in a theatre is not my idea of fun [unless I was part of the cast], but I can't say that it was a bad adventure; just different.

Thus far, on my list of the 31 completed ND games, SCENE ranks.... # 5 !!!!!

1) GHOST DOGS OF MOON LAKE * 92
2) GHOST OF THORNTON HALL * 88
3) WHITE WOLF ICICLE CREEK * 86
4) HAUNTING CASTLE MALLOY * 85.3
5) THE FINAL SCENE * 85
6) WARNINGS AT WAVERLY * 84
7) DANGER BY DESIGN * 83.8
8) SECRET OF OLD CLOCK * 83.4
9) TREASURE ROYAL TOWER * 83.3
10) SHATTERED MEDALLION * 83.1
11) BLUEMOON CANYON * 82.9
12) STAY TUNED FOR DANGER * 81.5
13) HAUNTED CAROUSEL * 81.2
14) LEGEND OF CRYSTAL SKULL * 81
15) DANGER DECEPTION ISLAND * 80.1
16) THE CAPTIVE CURSE * 79
17) MESSAGE HAUNTED MANSION * 78.6
18) SHADOW AT WATER'S EDGE * 78.3
19) SECRET SHADOW RANCH * 76
20) PHANTOM OF VENICE * 74
21) SECRET OF SCARLET HAND * 73.7
22) CURSE BLACKMOOR MANOR * 73.2
23) THE SILENT SPY * 73
24) TRAIL OF THE TWISTER * 72
25) THE DEADLY DEVICE * 71.5
26) TOMB OF THE LOST QUEEN * 71
27) RANSOM SEVEN SHIPS * 70.7
28) CREATURE OF KAPU CAVE * 70
29) ALIBI IN ASHES * 69
30) SECRETS CAN KILL [REMAST] * 67.5
31) LABYRINTH OF LIES * 67.1

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Dor

A classic

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

Gift for granddaughter

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Lois Eberly

Requires older operating system - couldn't use at all

Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2013

Verified Purchase

No complaints about the condition of the disk - however, because it required an older operating system, we were not able to use it at all. It would have been nice to know that before we bought the disk. We were not able to run the game at all.

Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2013

Ok I've played Message in a Haunted Mansion and Scarlet Hand(which I loved both) but this game made no sense, she picks up items with no reason to and I ran into problems figuring out what to do next due to bad character interaction(not to mention Nancy sounds more then panicked, she's angry sounding half the time when she talks to people, talk about weird) I don't recommend this game.

Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2015

This was the only one of the "classic" ND titles that I hadn't played. I had no particular interest in the plot which is why I never played it before - but it was cheap and I liked all of the other older titles so I decided to give it a try. I had heard about this game from other fans but I couldn't quite remember if it was generally well liked or not so I came into it not really sure what to expect. I liked it but was ultimately underwhelmed. I'm going to split my review up into different sections so I can give the game a more accurate rating.

PLOT - 4/5: This time around Nancy finds herself at the historical Royal Palladium Theater in St. Louis for a movie premiere. The theater is schedule to be demolished in a few days and so this movie will be the last movie shown at the Royal Palladium. She is joined by a friend of hers, Maya Nguyen. Maya is a journalist for a newspaper at her university and has an interview scheduled with Brady Armstrong, the heartthrob actor who is starring in the movie. Maya heads into his dressing room while Nancy sets off for the snack bar. Nancy's snack dreams are dashed by a bloodcurdling scream from the dressing room. Maya has been kidnapped! There's no time for snacks now - Nancy has a mystery to solve!

I thought the main plot was good, although not long enough. I haven't had a kidnapping plot in a Nancy Drew game before so it was very interesting. The fact that the victim was Nancy’s close friend really affected Nancy throughout the game, which I thought was a realistic touch. Instead of the friendly, calm and collected Nancy we usually get, this time Nancy was distraught, frustrated, and accusatory toward everyone. It was understandable that Nancy was upset, though, because none of the other characters (with the exception of Bess, George, and Ned) really seemed to care that Maya was missing. Even the police officer that Nancy speaks to over the phone had an unbelievable attitude like he just couldn’t be bothered to help Nancy.

I thought that the sub plot was also interesting. It delved into the theater’s history. Before being converted into a movie theater the Royal Palladium was known for stage productions and was also notorious for the famous magicians who performed there – in particular, Harry Houdini. The sub plot focuses on Houdini’s impact on the theater. I liked the sub plot but I thought that we could have learned more about Houdini and magic.

CHARACTERS - 2/5: I didn’t like the characters very much. Suspects include actor Brady Armstrong, Brady’s agent Simone Mueller, theater caretaker Joseph Hughes, and Nicholas Falcone who is leading a group to protest the theater’s demolition. None of the characters were interesting or fun to talk to. Plus, it was painfully obvious who the culprit was from the moment you meet them - I had to knock off a couple of points at least for that alone.

SETTING - 3/5: I didn’t really care for the setting. I usually have no complaints when it comes to the settings in these games, but for the most part I just didn’t like the theater. Well, I did like the lobby to the theater and the actual theater itself. The rest of the areas – the hallways, the backstage/basement area, the dressing rooms – were ugly and dark. They were probably meant to look in disrepair (since the theater is old) but really they just looked cheesy and gross. There were a few areas unlocked throughout the game but they were all small and kind of boring. There wasn’t a whole lot to look at, either. A huge pet peeve of mine which was common in this game was that there was a lot that you could zoom in on but not click on or pick up. This always bugs me because it makes me think that there is something hidden there that I’m missing but in reality the things are just there for decoration. This was extra annoying as the navigation system in this game was clunky so zooming back out was often an issue.

PUZZLES – 3.5/5: There weren’t a whole lot of puzzles in this game. The puzzles that were there weren’t hard to figure out. I like it this way as I am easily frustrated with puzzles. I actually wish there had been more puzzles, and a ND game has never left me feeling like that before. The plot was mainly driven through talking to the characters and not through puzzles, but since the characters were lame I would have preferred more puzzles.

IS IT CHALLENGING? As far as puzzles go, no. The only thing really challenging about this game is that it was hard to know what to do next. In other ND titles Nancy has a notebook or a laptop or something so that players on Junior Detective mode can look at a checklist if they get stuck. This game had nothing like that so a lot of the time I didn’t know what to do next. I often had to call Ned and ask what to do. I’d give it a 3 for challenge.

ENDING – 3.5/5: The ending was alright. The ending puzzle was timed but it wasn’t very stressful. I liked the culprit’s motives, but like I said before, there was no doubt who the culprit would be. What was really creepy was the culprit’s state of mind during the confrontation. That was sort of disturbing. But I liked how they wrapped everything up in the epilogue and left no loose ends.

FINAL SCORE:
Plot: 4
Characters: 2
Setting: 3
Puzzles: 3.5
Challenge: 3
Ending: 3.5
= 19, divided by 6 = 3.16 rounded to 3 stars

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