Mar 5, 2010, 3:14pm
User review by Shang
My very first encounter with Nancy took place in Venice for an epic hunt-down of a cunning Phantom. A memorable experience, to say the least, which, just after completion, tickled my fancy for a lot more thrills. "Lights, Camera, Curses" gave me just that. A Nancy Drew investigation is not a real HOG although you have to find items. No list, no silhouettes, just clues as to what you must search. You do have to combine objects in order to accomplish goals that are clearly stated. More goals get "unlocked" as you go along. Most of what you need to do is in fact up to you. Nancy's diary provides some help, but you'll have to make do without traditional hints. One feature is the scoring system: you start as a "rookie" with 0 points; actions and item-combinations increase your score and after a while you go up in rank. A second feature is answering questions related to the plot. There are several wrong answers and only one right response each time. Choosing the right one increases your score, but requires your paying attention to all events as they unfold and memorizing them. Each wrong answer decreases the score and this is the only penalty in the game. The storyline is solid, easy to follow, well written and interesting. Actions and scenes are varied. Idem the Minigames/puzzles, which can be classics or innovations, none being too difficult though not skippable as they allow you to earn more points. Picking locks, repairing a scaffolding, decrypting codes, hacking, are just a few of the tasks that await you. The only goal I didn't like was having to match 15 crows with 15 objects in a limited time lapse, but that did not impair the high quality of the game which also transpires through the graphics. With 16 long chapters, short dialogs and plenty to do, boredom never gets in the way. By being the least complex of the Nancy Drews, "Lights, Camera, Curses" is a good (replayable) introduction to her adventures.
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