Legend of the Crystal Skull

Legend of the Crystal Skull
Developer(s)	Her Interactive
Publisher(s)	Her Interactive
Engine	Her Interactive
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	NA October 8, 2007
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone

Legend of the Crystal Skull is the seventeenth installment in the Nancy Drew computer games series created by Her Interactive. Nancy goes to New Orleans with Bess and to check on a friend of Ned's, Henry Bolet, Jr and becomes entangled in the legend of Crystal Skull

Plot

While in New Orleans on vacation with her good friend Bess, Nancy goes to check up on Ned's friend, Henry Bolet, Jr in his late uncle's mansion. As soon as she arrives, she encounters a couple of interesting and odd characters, and has to stay at the house because of a bad storm. Once she finds out that Henry Bolet is less than stable after his uncle's death, and there are seemingly sinister things going on in the house, Nancy becomes entangled in a mystery. There are multiple places to explore and visit, including a graveyard on the grounds of the mansion, a bizarre oddities shop, and a gumbo stand. Nancy and Bess work together in order to untangle the mystery of the Crystal Skull.

Gameplay

In this installment of the Nancy Drew PC series you can assume the role of Bess to help Nancy solve the mystery. The game is 3D and mostly point-and-click.

The player can question suspects face-to-face or by the phone, solve puzzles crucial to the game, explore locations such as a curio shop and mansion, and try to distinguish the murder weapon.

Characters

• Bess Marvin – One of Nancy's best friends, fun-loving Bess has always been helping Nancy solve mysteries. However, Bess's intentions for the trip were to relax in the sun. Instead, she winds up working with Nancy.
• Henry Bolet, Jr. – Henry's parents died while he was young and he was sent to live with his great-uncle Bruno. Bruno never spent much time with Henry, but he left him a sizable portion of his estate. Could emotional and cunning Henry have schemed to control his last living relative's assets and secrets?
• Renée Armade – Renee Amande WAS the housekeeper for Bruno Bolet. Since she spent so much time in his presence, she also knows a lot of his secrets - dark secrets he didn't want anyone to know, but others would have killed to discover. Would she have resorted to murder just to possess a mystical skull?
• Lamont Warrick – Lamont Warrick is the proud owner of Zeke's, a colorful curio shop crammed with unusual and eclectic merchandise. He's always looking for treasure amongst another person's junk - it's a great way to make a quick buck. There are a few precious items that are authentic antiques, priceless pieces he likes to procure. A crystal skull would attract a lot of buyers - and a lot of money...
• Dr. Gilbert Buford – Dr. Gilbert Buford found the unconscious body of his friend, Bruno Bolet and declared that no autopsy was necessary. As Bruno's confidant, he knew that Bruno owned a mystical artifact believed gave him immortality. In his old age, Gilbert certainly could use a crystal skull to improve his own chances of cheating death...
• Bruno Bolet - The deceased owner of Bolet Mansion. He seemingly died of heart attack, but is his death natural or was he murdered?
• Professor Beatrice Hotchkiss – Also a suspect from Treasure in the Royal Tower, it seems the "nutty professor" published a lot more than "Lost Diary of Marie Antoinette" since the end of the 4th Nancy Drew game. She mistakes Nancy for a girl who was eating cheese at a cheese factory in Wisconsin. You can only call her in this game. She was an old friend of Bruno's.
• Iggy – Was once Bruno Bolet's pet iguana. He still lives in the mansion and is notorious for knocking books off the shelves while moving and stealing random papers. If you give him something to eat he will give you a paper that may help solve the mystery.
• Bernie – A crocodile that lives in a bayou near the mansion, he is another of Bruno's pets and loves to eat marshmallows.
• Chas Milo the Authenticator - Milo authenticated Bruno Bolet's crystal skull to see if its real or fake.

Cast

• Nancy Drew -- Lani Minella
• Henry Bolet Jr. -- K. Brian Neel
• Bess Marvin -- Jennifer Pratt
• Renée Amande -- Walayn Sharples
• Ned Nickerson -- Scott Carty
• Lamont Warrick -- Jason Sharp
• Gilbert Buford -- Keith Dahlgren
• Professor Beatrice Hotchkiss -- Keri Healey
• Authenticator/Additional Voices -- Scot Kirk
• Additional Voices -- Leslie Wadsworth

Accidents

• Get bitten by the spider when trying to get the key in the fountain.
• Get stung by too many wasps while trying to get a loquat.
• Being eaten by Bernie when you attempt to tip the log for the 2nd time.
• As Bess, going through the emergency exit door that will sound the alarm.
• Letting the culprit get away

Trivia

• The name of the iguana in the game is Iggy. Iggy is one of the names of the dogs in Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake.
• The music at the end of the game is the same music at the end of Danger on Deception Island.
• When Nancy looks in the mirror in Renée's room, Nancy has no reflection.
• When you open the drawer next to Henry's with the white square on it, you can see two memoirs written by two familiar Nancy Drew characters: Bill Kessler from White Wolf of Icicle Creek and Prudence Rutherford from Secret of the Scarlet Hand.
• There is a statue in Zeke's that is the same as the one of Aeolus in Curse of Blackmoor Manor
• The hula doll in Lamont's curio shop is like the same one in the gift shop seen in The Creature of Kapu Cave.
• When you're controlling Bess and you go inside the gumbo stand, the vendor's face isn't seen, but his body is seen. The vendor's body is similar to the body of Shorty Thurmond in The Secret of Shadow Ranch.
• Professor Beatrice Hotchkiss returns in this game. She is from Treasure in the Royal Tower. Like Charleena Purcell from Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon, she does not remember you.
• The Whisperer is the name of the crystal skull. The Whisperer is also the name of the scribe/mummy in Secret of the Scarlet Hand
• The game makes several references to The Haunted Showboat, the 35th book in the original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, such as "Jean Lafitte".
• When going into Renee's room for the second time you'll hear the lightning strike. Turn around and on the chair which was empty before, there is a doll. The doll is from Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon.
• After eating six Koko Kringle bars and Nancy says that's enough back up after the lightning strike look at the bottom right hand corner at the bed and see the shadow of the rocking chair move.
• The archway between Slumber Gardens, Terra Siesta and Growing Crypts in the scale model of the cemetery plays music from the first Nancy Drew game, Secrets Can Kill.

Critical reception

IGN awarded 7.5 out of 10, highlighting the detailed environments, well-modeled characters and good voice acting, with interesting but hard puzzles. However, the movement system (clicking on arrows) and jerky turning animation was criticized, and it was not rated highly for lasting appeal.^[1]

External links

• Legend of the Crystal Skull by Her Interactive.
• Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull by GameHouse

References

1. ^ Emily Balistrieri. "Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull Review". IGN. http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/827/827621p1.html. Retrieved 2009-01-16. 

Preceded by White Wolf of Icicle Creek

Nancy Drew Computer Games

Succeeded by The Phantom of Venice