Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Haunted Carousel review


I can now say that I have successfully played each and every one of the twenty-one Nancy Drew games that are currently released. I can't say I've finished them all, because I got fed up with switching the disks on the first one, but I know how it ends. So anyway, here's my review of The Haunted Carousel.

Summary: 7/10
The story behind this one is rather odd. You go to a shut down amusement park to find out why this crazy carousel (that's missing a horse because it was stolen) has been turning on by itself in the middle of the night. It's assumed that it's haunted, but we all know that there's no such thing as ghosts... right? Of course not. ;) The carousel was made by a man named Rolfe Kessler, who called his wife/girlfriend/whatever spatzi, which is the best nickname ever. He's known for very intricate designs when it comes to carousels, and if whoever stole it is trying to sell it, it'd be worth lots of money. AND since it's the lead horse, it'd probably be around $100,000. Geez.

Characters: 8/10
Joy Trent: Joy is the office manager. She's very secretive, but very helpful. She doesn't open up easily. However, the later part of the game pretty much revolves around her. She kind of reminds me of Emma Pillsbury from Glee, except she has short hair and smaller eyes. I really liked her, she was a very interesting character.
Harlan Bishop: Harlan is the security guard at the park, and probably the friendliest person I've ever encountered in all of the Nancy Drew games. He's incredibly helpful, but he loses his temper for a bit. He has a good reason, though. Harlan is my second favorite. :)
Ingrid Corey: Ingrid is a very strange person. She's the chief of engineering and makes sure all of the roller coasters and such are up and running. She believes in auras and holistic medicine, which means she believes the park is cursed beyond all belief. Half of the time you talk to her, she's reminding you to eat more niacin. She's a weirdie.
Elliot Chen: Elliot is one... eccentric guy. He's the artist in the park and is in charge of making a bunch of the rides and attractions. I'm sorry, but I have to comment on his hair. It's like a bowl cut, but shaved on the sides instead of just cut, then it's all spiked up with like three pounds of gel. It's pretty crazy.
Paula Santos: Paula's the owner of the park. You only get to talk to her over the phone for like 20 seconds each time she calls, so I can't really say much about her.
Miles the Magnificent Memory Machine: He is without a doubt my favorite character. Seriously. He's the most awesome robot I've ever encountered and he's like suuuuper amazing. He gives you riddles and says "Joy Trent is a party-pooping stick in the mud." I ♥ Miles :)

Setting: 6.5/10
The entire time, you're in this amusement park. It sounds really fun, but almost all the rides are shut down and nobody's there except for a few of the staff. I didn't like that you used a map to go everywhere, I much prefer finding out how to actually go places. Unless you're in a city or something. Then that's totally fine, I could handle taking a tram or something. Oh well, anyway, there's a cool Ghetto Fish and an octopus and a creepy thing that lights up in the haunted house. It's kind of a creepy place, but it's okay. Not the best setting I've encountered, but it was alright.

Graphics: 9/10
This is a later one in the first ten, and the later ones of their time usually have very good graphics. This was awesome, very fluid, and nice when it came to Nancy's perspective. I liked the fish part, too, even though I died the first time. :)

Snooping: 7/10
While everyone is out of their offices at some point in time, you get to go in and check out whatever it is you need to. You did this a few times, even opening locked things and such. My favorite was snooping around Joy's, even though Miles rats you out. :P

Spookiness: Sorry. 1/10
There was almost nothing spooky about this one, the only thing that gave me the creeps the first time was the spook ten thing in the haunted house. If you're scared very easily and don't like it, I reccomend this one for a starter.

Conclusion: 6.5
It wasn't my favorite, but it was good. It was a little like Secret of the Scarlet hand, because if you missed one or two things, you had to begin again. However, it wasn't as difficult. I do believe that it had a good storyline and a somewhat unpredictable culprit, but it could have been just a little better. The ending was a bit ironic, though. Very good job, HER. :)
♪♫♥

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