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Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion - PC

Platform : Windows XP, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 95, Windows 2000 |
Rated: Everyone
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 109 ratings
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Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion - PC

Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion - PC

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Product Description

Amazon.com

In this interactive mystery game, girls play as teenage supersleuth Nancy Drew, called upon to help a friend renovate a beautiful Victorian mansion. But there's trouble afoot ... from collapsing scaffolds to leaking gas, suspect fires to ghostly threats, Nancy is about to stumble onto a secret that someone--living or dead--would rather keep unknown. Follow your hunches as you explore a fully interactive three-dimensional mansion filled with peepholes, trapdoors, and hidden passageways. Interview fellow guests, poke around dusty nooks, and uncover cryptic messages. Clues, dead-ends, and trickery abound. Created especially for girls ages 10 and up, Nancy Drew features two "spy IQ" levels of difficulty, more than 20 hours of gameplay, helpful hints if you need them, 3-D graphics, and much more.

Review

Will Nancy uncover what's behind the series of accidents at the creepy Victorian mansion her friends are restoring into a bed and breakfast? Why is the clock in Nancy's room set at 8:30 a.m. and the alarm set for 9 a.m.? What does the arcane inscription, "When the 10 daughters are reunited in order . . .," on the tapestry mean? Will Abby's séance reveal the secrets of the haunted mansion? And why are the "spirits" in the house interested especially in Nancy? These and other mysteries begin to unfold with the opening scene in the third of these remarkable Nancy Drew interactive role-playing games that put players right in the middle of trying to solve another classic Nancy Drew case. Fans of Nancy Drew books step into their young heroine's shoes as she investigates the mansion's various rooms in search of clues. Especially compelling software for pre-teen and early teenage girls, this 3-D cyber-mystery is totally from the first-person detective perspective-doing everything from unlocking creaky doors, jimmying secret bed-post knobs, questioning suspects and witnesses, calling cohorts on the phone, and collecting evidence to build a case. But not without some help: The short interactive tutorial will get newcomers started right, the magnifying-glass cursor turns red when passing across a clue or a direction worth taking, and the ever-present help icon saves the day if players get stuck. Graphics and animation is dramatic and realistic. The voices, spooky background organ music and special effects are crisp and fun. But the evolving storyline is the star of the software--except for Nancy, that is. A 2000 Parents' Choice® Gold Award.

Reviewed by Don Oldenburg, Parents' Choice® 2000 -- From Parents' Choice®

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Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
109 global ratings

Customers say

Customers like the fun gameplay, rich graphics, and ease of use of the video game. They mention that the puzzles are great mind benders and the mansion is lovely and nicely decorated. They are also satisfied with the scariness level, and sturdiness. However, some customers have reported issues with performance and quality.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

9 customers mention9 positive0 negative

Customers find the game fun, with rich graphics and spooky suspense. They also say the game is literate, great to watch others play, and a good alternative to the normal video game. Customers also mention that the theme is fun and freaks them out.

"...The game is literate: it is not directed towards very young players per se and young people will have to read well to appreciate the many tidbits of..." Read more

"...This game will be great to watch others play, but I don't know that I will get the same joy again...." Read more

"...kinda stupid. but the theme was fun it actually freaked me out a few times with the ghosts wandering around and im a grown woman!" Read more

"Nice game." Read more

5 customers mention5 positive0 negative

Customers find the graphics in the video game rich, nicely decorated, and a feast for the eye.

"...The sets are beautifully rendered in elegant color and the Chinese antiques are a feast for the eye...." Read more

"...The graphics were... interesting - but I wasn't expecting a whole lot considering it's an older game...." Read more

"...all in all i love this game. graphics are great, the puzzles are great mind benders, and the characters are, well, real characters...watch out for..." Read more

"Rich Graphics, Fun Gameplay, and Spooky Suspense..." Read more

4 customers mention4 positive0 negative

Customers find the puzzles in the game not too difficult and straightforward. They also say the graphics are great and the puzzle is a great mind bender.

"...The puzzles weren't too difficult that they couldn't be solved. My favorite was the floor puzzle, ony because I have always enjoyed tangrams...." Read more

"...Drew games to recognize a clue when I see one and got through the puzzles pretty easily...." Read more

"...all in all i love this game. graphics are great, the puzzles are great mind benders, and the characters are, well, real characters...watch out for..." Read more

"This is a shorter, less complicated Nancy Drew game which is great for my grand daughter who is 9...." Read more

3 customers mention3 positive0 negative

Customers find the game scary, with suspenseful and appropriately creepy music. They also say the plot flows nicely and there is enough progression in the story that they never feel stuck in it.

"...The plot flowed nicely and there was enough progression in the story that I never felt stuck in the same place for too long...." Read more

"...The background music is suspenseful and appropriately creepy. The sound effects will raise goosebumps...." Read more

"Nice and scary..." Read more

3 customers mention3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very solid, and in great condition. They also say it has a solid ending and wrap up in the epilogue.

"...All in all "Message in a Haunted Mansion" is a very solid piece of work for all ages." Read more

"...But it was still a solid ending and the wrap up in the epilogue at the end was nice.FINAL SCORE:Plot: 4Characters: 3.5..." Read more

"Purchased for Grandaughter for Xmas. Book in great condition, delivery fast." Read more

3 customers mention0 positive3 negative

Customers are dissatisfied with the performance of the video game software. They mention that it doesn't work on their operating system and that it won't play on newer operating systems.

"...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...." Read more

"The game I ordered didn't work so I wasn't able t delve into the world of Nancy Drew with this one." Read more

"Wont Play on newer operating systems..." Read more

3 customers mention0 positive3 negative

Customers find the quality of the video game software to be poor. They mention that the graphics are not spectacular, the characters are boring, and the game is not mind-blowing.

"...The characters were not too memorable. Rose and Louis were particularly boring...." Read more

"...This is an older game so the graphics, etc aren't spectacular." Read more

"MY kids are 8, and this game just did not keep their interest. Although as an adult, I thought it looked interesting." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

P. B. Sharp
5.0 out of 5 stars You are never too old to go sleuthing!
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2006
Verified Purchase
"Message" is the first Nancy Drew Pc game that I have tried and I was very favorably impressed.The game is literate: it is not directed towards very young players per se and young people will have to read well to appreciate the many tidbits of literature scattered around the Victorian mansion. I am 76 and could read them quite well. :)

The sets are beautifully rendered in elegant color and the Chinese antiques are a feast for the eye. The characters are well animated with gestures that are completely natural. The voices are good, too.

"Message" is Nirvana for the Point and Click enthusiasts. No expert mouse maneuvers are required such as jumping into a fast moving bucket in "Uru." Nothing is timed. We take our PC games very seriously and it is an affront to the ego when one isn't fast enough to perform an intricate mouse gyration. In fact, I could get stage fright just looking at a high ledge I knew I had to vault upon and therefore couldn't perforn at all.

"Message" is scary. This is by no means a plain dish of vanilla. There are creaks and groans and shadowy forms passing in the night. Atmosphere plus. And you can wander around just as you wish poking into this and that and getting a delicious scary thrill when a curtain suddenly billows into your face with hissing sound.

Captions are provided which are very helpful as the characters speak rapidly. All in all "Message in a Haunted Mansion" is a very solid piece of work for all ages.
4 people found this helpful
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Ruby S.
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful game for kids of all ages
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2004
Verified Purchase
I have played this game mainly because I have been an Nancy Drew fan as a kid. I will admit that this game did have me spooked in some areas. The ominous music was great at giving the whole game a spooky feel to it. The puzzles weren't too difficult that they couldn't be solved. My favorite was the floor puzzle, ony because I have always enjoyed tangrams. The puzzle that gave me a headache was the staircase puzzle. That one took forever to find. But once I found it, I actually enjoyed trying to solve it. One thing I learned throughout the whole game is to TAKE NOTES! You will need to copy down all of the Chinese Art symbols in order to solve the rug puzzle in your room.

This is the second Nancy Drew game that I have played and one thing that I like is that if you die or get thrown out (as I have done on more than one occasion -- tongue lashings are fun), you can pick up where you left off, provided you saved your game.
3 people found this helpful
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Markita Daulton
3.0 out of 5 stars I like the game but...........
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2013
Verified Purchase
See I was hoping for the box, as the picture shows, but I got a totally different thing, see the pic shows a nice box, but I got a small little CD case with a small pic of the mansion, and also a different came, so yeah maybe I got a second game that doesn't work, but I was wanting the box. So it was disappointing, BUT AL LEAST THE GAME WAS NICE! Thanks for reading.
P.S. Don't let this get in the way of you buying the game, just read the reviews first!
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Lois Eberly
1.0 out of 5 stars 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.
One person found this helpful
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Llama Mama
4.0 out of 5 stars The Message is Worth Reading
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2013
Verified Purchase
This is an old Nancy Drew game. But I've learned not to pre-judge the older games; it's the plot and puzzles that drive these games, not the graphics. That said, this game was not mind-blowing. If you want to go for a classic Nancy Drew title, I would suggest the game that came after this, Treasure in the Royal Tower (#4). I'm going to split my review up into different sections so I can give the game a more accurate rating.

PLOT - 4/5: Nancy is off to San Francisco to help a friend of Hannah's renovate a Victorian mansion. This friend, Rose Green, spent her life savings on the historic home and plans to turn it into a Bed & Breakfast. But strange accidents have been setting back the renovations and if things keep going badly Rose will have to sell the house and lose her investment.

I thought this was an alright plot, it was very short though. On the back of the CD case it said "20+ hours of gameplay", but I finished mine in about 4 hours. Other than that, there were lots of snooping opportunities - in fact, Nancy gets to snoop through all four of the suspects' things. The plot flowed nicely and there was enough progression in the story that I never felt stuck in the same place for too long. But it wasn't as educational as other games have been. I love San Francisco and it would have been great if they had included more information about its Victorian houses, its role in the Gold Rush, how it recovered from the earthquake of 1906, or how its Chinese history influences its style and culture - really, any of those things would have been great because it gave you little tid-bits about each of them but not nearly enough information to be considered "educational". Which is a shame really because the plot and setting gave the game the perfect set up; it could have seamlessly put in so much information without having the player feel like "Oh great, here comes another history lesson."

CHARACTERS - 3.5/5: The suspect list in this game is pretty straightforward. There are two male suspects and two female suspects (a formula which I believe is pretty common to the earlier ND titles). The suspects include Rose Green, the owner of the mansion, a quiet woman who didn't have too much to say throughout the game. Abby Sideris, a friend of Rose's and is also co-owner of the mansion, who believes the mansion is haunted. Charlie Murphy, a college student and inexperienced handyman helping with renovating the mansion (Charlie was voiced by Scott Carty, who does Ned's voice in the later games). Louis Chandler is an antique dealer specializing in Victorian era furniture and decorations.

The graphics were... interesting - but I wasn't expecting a whole lot considering it's an older game. Louis was probably the strangest to talk to because it would seem that sometimes his eyes would be closed for an entire conversation, which may or may not have been a glitch in my game. The characters were not too memorable. Rose and Louis were particularly boring. I don't know if the voice acting on these characters was just bland or if their characters were meant to be more reserved.

Phone friends included Bess and George, a woman named Emily who is apparently a friend of Nancy's in San Francisco, and Hannah. In the books Hannah is the Drew's live-in house keeper who is practically a surrogate mother to Nancy, and the games also allude to the fact that Hannah is an important part of the Drew family. This was the first time I've been able to talk to Hannah in a Nancy Drew game. But Hannah's voice was really odd, like a young person that was obviously trying to sound like an old woman, so I didn't call her very much.

SETTING - 4.5/5: The mansion was very lovely and nicely decorated. It was pretty big too; Nancy can explore her room, the dining room, the basement saloon, the foyer, the parlor, and the library as well as a handful of secret rooms. I sort of wished you could go outside, or look out a window or something, but I guess the weather was supposed to be bad and that was the reason for staying indoors.

PUZZLES - 4.5/5: The puzzles were not too challenging in this game. I suppose that if you struggled with them then you might spend 20+ hours playing the game like the CD case promised. But I have played enough Nancy Drew games to recognize a clue when I see one and got through the puzzles pretty easily. My only complaint would be that at times the instructions were kind of vague, for instance at one point a character asked Nancy to take a look at a puzzle "in the corner". I spent over a half an hour looking for that corner before eventually looking it up online and discovering that the puzzle was directly behind the character.

IS IT CHALLENGING? No. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm getting better at these games or if I just happen to be playing the easiest titles in the series. Either way, I didn't have to use a walkthrough. I did call Bess and George a lot, though. And they were very explicit with their hints. It wasn't like "Maybe you should take a look at the library again!" it was more "Go into the library, turn left, and read the red book on the middle shelf." Which was sort of a bummer; I just wanted a push in the right direction, I didn't want to know exactly how to solve the next puzzle and what would happen when I did. I would give the game a 2.5/5 for challenge.

ENDING - 3.5/5: The ending was okay. The culprit was not surprising to me. Catching them took me a few tries even though I knew exactly what to do. But it was still a solid ending and the wrap up in the epilogue at the end was nice.

FINAL SCORE:
Plot: 4
Characters: 3.5
Setting: 4.5
Puzzles: 4.5
Challenge: 2.5
Ending: 3.5
= 22.5 divided by 6 = 3.75 rounded to 4 stars
2 people found this helpful
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kayla
2.0 out of 5 stars Nope
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2013
Verified Purchase
The game I ordered didn't work so I wasn't able t delve into the world of Nancy Drew with this one.
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S(orina)tephanie
5.0 out of 5 stars this game
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2012
Verified Purchase
i love nancy drew. i love the puzzles and twists and turns of this game. the only thing i dont like is the creepy music, but thats just me not liking creepy music. all in all i love this game. graphics are great, the puzzles are great mind benders, and the characters are, well, real characters...watch out for them.
ALSO NOTE
if you do not follow the puzzles and little jobs in order, you will get really lost. for tips and tricks see the game web site. it does contain spoilers, but it is well worth it if you have no idea whats going on or what to do next. the second chance feature on this game is great too, in case something happens UN-expectantly that gets you kicked out of the game. this is great for all ages.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Jessica Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Super Spiel
Reviewed in Germany on June 10, 2013
Verified Purchase
Das spiel ist für Leute perfekt die Englisch können und Düster Spiele mögen. Daher zum weiter empfehlen. Immer wieder gerne
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Wendy Yates
5.0 out of 5 stars thrilling!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2003
Verified Purchase
It's nice to see that not all adventure games require the keyboard to move the hero around.It's also refreshing to find a genuine puzzle solving adventure game were you don't have to mame and kill things along the way. Message in a Haunted Mansion is everything an adventure game should be - escape from reality,brain taxing puzzles and an extremely useful second chance option for when things don't go as planned!The whole family thoroughly enjoyed this game and can't wait until the next one we ordered arrives!
32 people found this helpful
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heva hay
5.0 out of 5 stars ND haunted mansion.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2013
Verified Purchase
Excellent pc game and graphics. Enjoyed playing this and would recommend this to Nancy Drew fans. Give this game 10/10.
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M. Vaughan
3.0 out of 5 stars HAS TROUBLE RUNNING ON XP
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2008
Verified Purchase
Just a warning to anyone thinking of buying the game. The product details say that the game runs on XP, but the game was released in 2000 and the case itself does NOT mention XP, only win 95/98/ME and 2000.
The game freezes on XP and requires messing about with version 4 of direct X and chaging your graphics colours from 32bit to 16. (Even then it will still freeze on you!)
7 people found this helpful
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Mr J L Stenton
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 29, 2014
Verified Purchase
Very nice game, prompt delivery, thank you very much.
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