Retro Review: Nancy Drew Secret at Shadow Ranch

<p><strong>This Review of <em>Secret at Shadow Ranch<&sol;em> contains a few spoilers&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Everyone loves a good mystery&period; It seems to be embedded in our human nature to seek out answers&period; This need probably explains why gamers adore titles with a mystery-ridden story&period; Mystery point and click games allow us to collect clues and confront the culprit while playing from a safe distance&period; One of the few names that came to mind while thinking of clues and footprints is Nancy Drew&period; Her Interactive has been developing games based on this super sleuth since 1998&period; Just how well do these games hold up over the years&quest; <em>Secret at Shadow Ranch<&sol;em> is one of the rare games based on an original <em>Nancy Drew<&sol;em> book&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s perfect for this time of year due to the feeling of summer and vacation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;140933" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-140933" style&equals;"width&colon; 620px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-140933" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;07&sol;16225816&sol;10&lowbar;SHA&lowbar;screenshot&lowbar;03&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"620" height&equals;"375" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-140933" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Secret at Shadow Ranch &sol; Her Interactive<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3>Story<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Nancy is visiting her friends&&num;8217&semi; relative&&num;8217&semi;s ranch for an enjoyable vacation&period; Anyone who has read a<em> Nancy Drew<&sol;em> novel knows exactly where this leads&period; Shadow Ranch once housed the love of the notorious outlaw Dirk Valentine&period; His devoted steed&&num;8217&semi;s spirit has appeared on the ranch recently as a glowing apparition&period; And with the luminous horse&&num;8217&semi;s appearance comes dangerous accidents&period; You play as the infamous Nancy while investigating the truth behind these incidents before the whole ranch is destroyed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The plot begins well with an engaging story yet it deflates halfway through&period; The mystery and wonder of the ghosts and the old tale becomes more about a modern day robber&period; The old story is barely addressed later on and the legend is forgotten<em>&period;<&sol;em> Nancy Drew games are well known for having memorable and absent characters&period; Some of the best one-liners come from characters who only speak to Nancy by using a phone&period; This time in <em>Secret at Shadow Ranch<&sol;em>&colon; Bess&comma; George and their relatives&comma; are never seen in the game&period; It is a missed opportunity that would have added some extra substance to the otherwise failing plot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;140931" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-140931" style&equals;"width&colon; 620px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-140931" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;07&sol;16225712&sol;10&lowbar;SHA&lowbar;Char03&lowbar;Mary&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"620" height&equals;"375" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-140931" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Secret at Shadow Ranch &sol; Her Interactive<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3>Missed Opportunities<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Since the entire game takes place in a farming&sol;ranch community&comma; there is little else to explore outside from the dry dusty plains of a middle American state&period; The lack of scenery while riding out to the few locations available in the story makes it all the more disappointing&period; Many of the puzzles are merely farm chores&period; These include feeding the horses by using correct measurements of various grains and collecting ripened fruit at just the right time&period; The worst of the puzzles is the slot-machine game that is unfortunately vital to moving forward&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;140932" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-140932" style&equals;"width&colon; 620px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-140932" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;07&sol;16225756&sol;10&lowbar;SHA&lowbar;screenshot&lowbar;08&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"620" height&equals;"375" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-140932" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Secret at Shadow Ranch &sol; Her Interactive<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>These games are all about solving the mystery by beating the presented puzzles&period; Since so many of the puzzles are reminiscent of real-life chores&comma; the entertainment value decreases&period; Especially since there are better ND games to enjoy&period; The grainy graphics have not held up well over the years&comma; either&period; However&comma; for a seasoned <em>Nancy Drew<&sol;em> fan&comma; the graphics hold the power of nostalgia&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Conclusion<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><em>Secret of Shadow Ranch <&sol;em>is heavily flawed and hasn&&num;8217&semi;t held up over the years since it first released in 2004&period; It would be interesting if Her Interactive rewrote the story&comma; filled in the plot holes&comma; added a few new characters and reworked all of the puzzles for a new version of the game&period; Then&comma; this story could be placed as one of the great <em>ND<&sol;em> games&period; If you are completely new to the <em>Nancy Drew<&sol;em> games I highly recommend checking out one of the latest ones instead as they better represent the franchise&&num;8217&semi;s spirit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you want to check out <em>Secret at Shadow Ranch<&sol;em> for yourself&comma; you may visit the official <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;herinteractive&period;com&sol;shop-games&sol;nancy-drew-the-secret-of-shadow-ranch&sol;"><strong>website<&sol;strong><&sol;a>&period; Decide for yourself how the game has held up over the years&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;