For example, we can only get back to Nancy's room by walking a bit past it and turning around, - we can't turn to the door when we're standing directly in front of it but not facing it. The castle's structure is a bit odd, and matters aren't helped by the pre-rendered point-and-click navigation approach - there's a lot of awkward movement required to get ourselves pointed at something we want to see or interact with. It seems a good idea to map out the castle before we get too deeply into the plot. The closet door can't be opened, and the radiator near the window is actually broken - I thought the constant hissing I was hearing was just poorly-compressed audio on the background music, but once we step out of the room, everything clears up nicely. But nobody is answering the phone at this point, not even the operator, and the only voice mail left for Nancy is a hang-up. The night table has an alarm we can set to move time forward, and a phone Nancy can use to call out to boyfriend Nick Nickerson and friends George and Bess, likely to be useful for recapping and seeking hints. There's also a room service menu in Nancy's dresser - the resort seems to have no actual dining room - and a few detective magazines on a table, with instructions about dusting for fingerprints to extract an access code from a keypad, which we will probably need to do at some point. Wickford also imported a library of antique books formerly belonging to a French revolutionary officer named Le Boeuf. Lane is Ezra Wickford's great-niece, who inherited the castle and opened it to the public, except for the mysterious Royal Tower, which Wickford moved here from France and then sealed off. There's a Wickford Castle brochure in Nancy's luggage, worth reading for some background - the castle reportedly features a lot of dead ends and secret passages, in keeping with its original owner's mental state. Nancy's card key is for her room, #205, so we should take that along. The desk contains a locker assignment - locker #310, with combination 5-1-7, probably worth noting. Nancy needs to find a mailbox to send her letter out, which gives us a reason to go exploring, but before leaving the room, we should point at and click on everything of interest. Owner Christi Lane is a friend of Nancy's dad, though she never appears in this game we also learn about caretaker Dexter Egan, the eccentric chocolate milk millionaire Ezra Wickford who built the "castle," and Jacques Brunais the ski instructor (and failed Olympian.) ![]() The game begins with Nancy writing a letter to her (female) friend George - Nancy is on vacation at a Wisconsin ski resort called Wickford Castle, but a bad storm means the hill is closed and few guests are present (both factors convenient for game design purposes!) It's an effective intro, as photos of people and landmarks are displayed as Nancy discusses the situation. The game offers two levels of difficulty, Junior and Senior Detective we'll be playing on the Senior Detective level, which reportedly only affects the difficulty of the puzzles, not the plot. But that's also part of being an adventure gamer - just be aware that there will be comprehensive. I wouldn't advise using my notes as a guide to the game, as there are several more concise walkthroughs available online and I spent a lot of time beating my head against apparent dead ends until something shook loose. Of course, interested readers are encouraged to seek the Treasure in the Royal Tower firsthand before reading through my comments below. ![]() The game's illustrations are credible enough, in 640x480 resolution, though they tend toward the overly-clean, plastic look of early CG, and character animation is often stiff. All the spoken dialogue is also presented as onscreen text, along with dialogue response choices. ![]() The visuals are presented in first-person perspective, and we never see Nancy herself in this game. ![]() The technology hasn't changed much over the years - the games use pre-rendered graphics with clickable hot spots for navigation and interaction, and limited animation for fully-voiced dialogue scenes and important moments. The Nancy Drew games are marketed as casual adventures, but in my experience they're usually fairly challenging and thematically adult without being unsuitable for a family audience.
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