Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor Review

|Tap-Repeatedly|FFC Archives

           

Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor

Review by TogerNovember 2004

Something’s wrong with Linda Penvellyn.

Not long ago, Linda married a British diplomat, became stepmother to his twelve-year-old daughter and moved to Blackmoor Manor, her husband’s ancestral home in England. During a recent visit to the manor, Linda’s mother noticed that her daughter was very pale and always tired, prone to sudden irrational outbursts, and her eyes had become so overly sensitive to light she’d actually taken to hiding behind a curtain in her bedroom. Visits from numerous doctors had failed to find a cause for her behavior. Immediately upon her return to the States, Linda’s mother convinced her neighbor—Nancy Drew, ace detective—to fly to England and investigate.

No sooner has Nancy arrived at Blackmoor Manor than mysterious things start happening. As she traverses the walk to the manor’s front door, Nancy hears her name whispered, turns and is confronted by a pair of glowing, red eyes! When she tells the woman who opens the door what’s happening, Nancy finds that they’re alone in the courtyard. Let the sleuthing begin!

The Curse of Blackmoor Manor is Her Interactive’s eleventh outing for our intrepid girl detective. Like the previous games, the suggested age range is 10 and up; however, this game is slightly darker than the others—Nancy has a couple of bizarre nightmares that could be disturbing to younger kids. So if your gaming urchin is easily frightened or, like me, has an overactive imagination, you might want to sit close by while she plays; especially during the forays into the dark, hidden passageways—even I was a little freaked out by the noises there.

Blackmoor Manor is presented with the traditional first-person, point-and-click interface. Left-clicking the fat yellow arrow will take you forward or backward, left or right and, in some cases, rotate the static screen 360 degrees. The default interactive cursor—a magnifying glass, a girl detective’s best friend—will glow red when an object is available for closer inspection or will change into a talk balloon when chatting up the suspects.  A minor complaint: that fat cursor was a nuisance while using it with the cell phone. The hot spot for the tip of the arrow is not where you’d expect it to be, causing all sorts of problems when trying to call someone or do a web search.

Gameplay is offered in two flavors of difficulty—Junior or Senior Detective. Playing in Junior mode includes a checklist in your notebook of what to do next, more verbal clues from Nancy and an easier time during the minigames. Normally, you’d also have the option of calling Bess and George or Frank and Joe Hardy for help, but this time they’re all off doing their own thing, so you’re left to ask Loulou, the parrot, for help. (Yes, I said parrot.) Playing in Senior mode, you’re pretty much left to your own devices to figure out what to do next, and you’ll only interact with Loulou for a specific set of puzzles. Since I fired up Junior mode for a quick comparison only, my observations will be from the Senior detective point of view.

Blackmoor Manor’s puzzles are quite varied and devious, so be prepared to take lots of notes. (Nancy doesn’t take notes; she makes observations in her notebook.) The puzzles run the gamut from the typical inventory-based variety—feeding Loulou a parrot cake—to using an alchemist’s formulary to open a door.  You’ll also come across a couple of timed sequences (nothing too daunting), a modified slider, rotating rooms and a vast assortment of fun minigames.

Deciphering the array of puzzles will involve keen observation, diligent attention to detail and actual typing ability. That last is a nod to one of the many minigames employed throughout the game to advance the story. One of the characters you’ll meet will require that you impress him with your “mad typing skillz” before he’ll consent to helping you in your quest.

(Spoiler alert! There be spoilers ahead, so if you’d rather your knowledge of this particular puzzle remain unsullied, I’d suggest skipping the next three paragraphs.)

No matter what game I play, I always seem to find a puzzle that makes me crazy. This time, it’s the word association puzzle necessary to open a door. The door in question is at the bottom of a long, dark and hidden passageway. In order to navigate the passageway, Nancy needs light in the form of a glow-stick, which she receives from Jane after winning a game. As we all know, glow-sticks have a limited lifespan.

Nancy and I negotiated the passageway and come upon a door with a very peculiar lock—it’s a word. We trudge back up the stairs and come upon Loulou in her cage. We nonchalantly ask if she knows anything about this, but she refuses to help unless we say “the magic word.” We scratch our heads and head off to question everyone in the house. Upon learning “the magic word,” we again accost Loulou and she tells us what we need to know.  We rework the mechanism necessary to open the hidden passageway, fire up our trusty glow-stick and head back down that long, dark and winding road … uh, hallway. We spin the dials to spell the word that Loulou’s given us … another word. Drat. We traipse back to the main floor of the house and consult Loulou.  A new associated word! We open the hidden passage; take two steps and Nancy remarks that we’re going to need another glow-stick.  Feh.

We toddle off to Jane’s room and play another round of an obscure Mayan game. Jane rewards our victory with a glow-stick. We rework the passage machinery, hurry back down into the bowels of the manor, spin the dials … another word! Ack! Up the stairs, confer with Loulou … now she wants a parrot cake before she’ll help us further. Nancy and I wonder if there’s a cat nearby.  Luckily for us, we’d already made the cake on a previous foray into Jane’s room. We feed Loulou, she bestows “the word” upon us … passage mechanism, slog through the passage, twirl the dials … heaven save us, another word! By now, Nancy and I are muttering that there’d better be gold behind that stinkin’ door. “Once more, with feeling …” up the passage, Loulou, passage machinery, down the passage, spin …  the door opens and the villagers rejoiced. Yay. Okay, so there really weren’t any villagers, but Nancy and I celebrated with a full-blown fete.

(End spoiler alert.)

In retrospect, I can laugh about it—after all, isn’t that what most adventure games are all about, traveling to and fro, here and there?—but at the time, there was some serious grumbling going on.

As with any Nancy Drew mystery, the only way to solve it is to identify and chat up your suspects, and Blackmoor Manor has its own rogue’s gallery: Mrs. Drake, Hugh Penvellyn’s aunt and “housekeeper” now that Linda’s indisposed; Jane Penvellyn, Linda’s precocious stepdaughter; Edith Bosinny, Jane’s stuffy tutor; and Nigel Mookerjee, an author who’s writing a book about the history of the Penvellyns (or is it a scandalous tell-all book?).

Voice work was done very well, although, to my ear, the British accents didn’t quite sound authentic, but what would I know? My only point of reference would be all those Masterpiece Theatre or Mystery! period pieces. My favorite was the phone call with the Cockney owner of the local pub. Both Nancy and I had that “deer in the headlights” look while listening to him describe the meal options available for delivery.

Blackmoor Manor’s ambient sounds are excellent. In the majority of the game, you won’t hear Nancy’s footsteps as she wanders from room to room, but you will hear them when she walks across the cast-iron balcony in the conservatory. You’ll also hear unseen water dripping in the hidden hallways, panels sliding open and shut, the tapping of the keyboard when you type and the sound of cards played or pages turned.

There is some music during the game, but it’s very unobtrusive and low-key.

Graphically, Blackmoor Manor is an eye-candy junkie’s dream. That’s not to say that the game breaks new ground, but there’s a tremendous amount of detail and color that’s just plain yummy—I wanted to reach out and touch everything. With the exception of the hidden passageways, all of the rooms are awash with brilliant colors. The wood in the library gleams, the plants in the conservatory are a vibrant green and the tapestry and illuminated book in Jane’s room are luxuriously rich in detail. (Pay attention to the little gargoyles on either side of Jane’s door when leaving her room. The eyes move!)

As with Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, I still had the issue of not always being able to identify what Nancy has picked up and dropped into her inventory. It would be lovely if, in future games, the inventory items had a written description or Nancy verbally tells you what it is as you roll the mouse over the object.

Character animation is quite good. The combination of lip-synching with the character’s arms and hands movement made it appear as if I were talking to a real, live person. At one point, as Nancy and I were admonished by the tutor, I noticed that she was actually pointing at us to make her point clear. As terrific as the animation is, including blinking, characters are limited to only one facial expression, which can detract from the game’s immersion factor.

Oversized cursor, unidentifiable inventory objects and an annoying puzzle aside, I enjoyed my trip to Blackmoor Manor enough to reward it with the FFC thumb up. The puzzles were challenging, the various ways to end my visit were hilarious, and the minigames added an extra bit of diversion and fun to the game. While the game may be a little difficult and scary for those at the low end of the age requirement, I think the 12+ group will have fun with it. I know that I did. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Her Interactive Publisher: Her Interactive Release Date: October 2004

Available for: Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

Click to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge

System Requirements

Windows 98/Me/2000/XP 400 MHz Pentium 64 MB RAM 300 MB free hard drive space 16-bit color graphics video card with at least 16 MB of VRAM 16-bit Window-compatible stereo sound card 12X CD-ROM drive Mouse and Speakers

Where to Find It

Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

Pages

Top

Category Archives

Top

Blog Posts

Top

14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.