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Computer Times
Editors' Choice Game Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes Review by Angie Kibiloski
Since 1998, Her Interactive has produced a great series of PC mystery adventure games, all featuring the famous girl detective, Nancy Drew. This month marks the release of the latest, and 25th game in the series, Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes (Retail $19.99). This impressively prolific series has entertainment more than 9 million gamers over the years, targeting teens, tweens, and women of all ages. With the title heroine having been around since the first book was published in 1930, this franchise has appealed to multiple generations, and no doubt, generations to come. The PC games have all been top quality, and have featured adjustable levels of difficulty, interesting plots, multi-layered characters, and a wholesome attitude and approach to crime solving. Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes delivers all of the much-loved elements of the previous 24 titles, and includes even more fun with some new and exciting features.
Unlike many of the previous games in the series, Nancy is not off visiting some exotic locale, but is finding trouble right in her hometown of River Heights. She is in the middle of a local clue finding contest when someone decides to burn down City Hall and frame Nancy for the crime. With Nancy stuck in the town jail, her 3 best friends must help her investigate the crime and clear her name. Who would want to burn down a local landmark? Why would they want to frame Nancy for it? Most importantly, can you free Nancy before she’s charged for the crime? Fortunately, for Nancy, the Sheriff has a soft spot for her, so instead of being locked in a cell, she has free reign of the police station, and can do some minor sleuthing from there. Still, thank goodness she has some good friends in town, as well as a lawyer Dad who can help her out of this mess.
One of the coolest new features in Alibi in Ashes is the chance to play as 4 different characters: Nancy, and her 3 friends, Bess, George, and Ned. Her friends will have to roam around River Heights in her stead, visiting various suspects and locations, gathering clues and evidence, and conversing with anyone who might have information. Each friend has a unique personality and a different relationship with certain townspeople, so the townspeoples’ reactions will vary depending on whom they’re speaking with. This means that you will get different answers to questions depending on who asks them. After some trial and error, you’ll get to know who in town prefers which of the 3 friends, and you’ll be able to more efficiently question the various characters. However, sometimes it’s fun to use the wrong friend with a suspect, just to see the negative reactions to them. When any of the friends find clues, they can drop them off at the police station for Nancy to analyze. She’ll have access to some helpful equipment there, like a fingerprint comparison program and a sample analyzer. The nice Sheriff will also let her use the evidence board to organize her case, and is on hand to take a look and tell her if she has enough to clear her name. By switching back and forth between Nancy and her friends, you’ll begin to put the pieces together and solve this latest mystery.
As in all of the games, you can choose whether to be a Senior or Junior Detective. This will determine if you have access to in-game clues and adjust the difficulty of the puzzles you’ll encounter. All of the puzzles have a purpose and progress the game in some way. You might find yourself picking a lock, hunting for a password, cracking a code, or figuring out a way to collect fingerprints. If you make a fatal error, one that gets you caught snooping, or even arrested and in jail right along with Nancy, you can jump right back into the game right before you made that mistake. This eliminates the need to obsessively save the game every few minutes or risk having to replay a large section, like in some games. The controls are super easy, with a simple point and click interface, and all of the menu icons are easily recognizable for what they are. A pointless, yet fun, feature is the ability to customize the cell phones of each of the 4 playable characters. You can change the wallpaper and ring tones when you are controlling Nancy and each of her friends, so that you really feel like you’re playing 4 unique individuals. This has nothing to do with the progress of the game, its just cool.
I remember playing the first title in this series of games, Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill, back in 1998. I can hardly believe that it’s been 13 years, or that Her Interactive has released a whopping total of 25 titles since then! After you’ve thoroughly enjoyed Alibi in Ashes, you’ll have plenty more great titles to choose from for seemingly endless mystery solving fun. One of the reasons why this series has been so popular for so many years has got to be the lack of any real violence. Sure, Nancy solves crimes, and sometimes they are of a violent nature, but you don’t really see that violence on screen, and Nancy doesn’t resort to it herself. She is a nice, normal girl, who any player can relate to, who uses her wits to solve crime and help her neighbors. She is plucky, resourceful, self-confident, and a truly positive role model for girls of any age and era. Take a peak into Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes, and step into the well-loved shoes of this classic young heroine once again. The game is available on DVD-ROM or download. For more info, go to www.herinteractive.com. System Requirements: OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
MAC OS: X 10.5.8
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