Appletell reviews Nancy Drew: Trail of the Twister for Mac OS X

Genre: Puzzle/Adventure
Format: CD-ROM or download
Developer: Her Interactive, Inc.
Mac Publisher: Her Interactive, Inc.
System Requirements: Intel processor, 512MB RAM, 1.1GB hard disk space, and an Intel GMA, ATI X1600 or Nvidia 7300 graphics card
Review Computer: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo aluminum MacBook, 2GB DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Network Feature: No
Processor Compatibility: Intel only
Price: $19.99
ESRB Rating: E (comic mischief, mild violence)
Availability: Out now
Demo: Online mini-game
Official Website: www.trailofthetwister.com

There are 22-1/2 (one’s a remake) Nancy Drew games available on the PC. There are two on the Mac (one’s a remake, but since we didn’t get the original, we’ll call it a full game). Perhaps Nancy should investigate why it took so long for adventures to make it our way. Regardless, they’re here, and we’re start our coverage by taking a look at Trail of the Twister.

Certainly, you all know Nancy Drew. I’m old enough to remember the TV show, which I used to look forward to more than The Hardy Boys because, well, Pamela Sue Martin was cuter than Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy. It’s likely, though, that none of you reading this have any idea what I’m talking about. That’s fine. All you need to know is that Nancy is a young detective. She’s smart. She’s cool under pressure. She likes to solve crimes, and the local authorities are usually okay with a minor doing their work for them.

In this mystery, Nancy is seeking a possible saboteur of a competition to discover a formula to predict tornado touchdowns. The winning team will get a $100,000,000 research grant, and a string of equipment failures and injuries has one team of storm chasers believing someone doesn’t want them to win. When an intern needs replaced, the group sees this as the perfect chance to bring Nancy in to replace him so she can get close to the crime.

It’s a good setup, really, as the backdrop of potentially deadly storms (and the metaphor that brings) makes for an interesting setting for mystery and intrigue. Throughout her investigations, Nancy will meet some quirky and suspicious characters, piece together many clues, and play quite a few mini-games.

She’ll also have a lot to learn, as this game works really hard to teach you about meteorology. You’ll also learn tornado safety, but hopefully you’ve got that down (I grew up in rural Ohio, where tornado drills were as natural as recess). The wealth of tasks and mini-games helps to keep things fresh through throughout the game, and that’s good, because the story itself is a bit slow and never really gets all that involving. It’s hard to immerse yourself into a mystery when you don’t really care about what’s going on.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that a lot of the puzzles and mini-games don’t really have anything to do with the mystery itself. They work within the story, but don’t drive the story. As such, mystery solving often gets pushed aside so you can take quizzes, shop, do some filing, etc. The puzzles themselves are usually pretty good, but without incentive.

Two other problems I had with the game stemmed from unnecessary complexity. The first is with an odd driving system that probably shouldn’t have even been there. Nancy has to drive a vehicle around, and I don’t see why. It becomes an arcade game, as crashing too much will end the game. Sketchy controls make this a chore, but even if driving was easier, it would still just slow down the investigation. I often quit my gaming sessions early just because I didn’t want to have to drive somewhere else.

Also, a lot of what Nancy does is centered around her cell phone. That makes perfect sense these days, but the phone was cumbersome and confusing to use. Perhaps this is accurate, though—I use an iPhone, and maybe this is just what everyone else deals with on a daily basis.

There is a lot to like about this game, too. The point and click interface is intuitive and quick, the graphics are quite good, and you can tell that plenty of attention was paid to the voice acting. I had no problem taking on the role of Nancy throughout the review period, and most of the gameplay is logically paced to play with others; in my case, my 6-year-old daughter. You can play as a junior or senior detective to adjust the game’s difficulty, making it accessible to just about everyone.

Nancy Drew: Trail of the Twister works more as a puzzle game than as a mystery adventure, but fans of the character will be happy with the familiarity. It’s also a good game to play with others, and it’s attractively priced at only $19.99. Serious gamers and mystery fans will find better options out there, but Trail of the Twister offers enough to make me glad to finally see Nancy Drew make her Macintosh debut.

Appletell Rating:

Buy Nancy Drew: Trail of the Twister