|
Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy
|
| List Price: | $19.99 |
| Price: | $19.82 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com
14 new or used available from $17.00
Average customer review:
Product Description
You, as Nancy Drew, are undercover at a prestigious girls' boarding school to discover the culprit behind threatening notes and dangerous accidents aimed at its valedictorian candidates! Is there a secret someone wants to protect or are the malicious pranks intended to scare away the competition - permanently? Solve the mystery before the threats turn deadly and you're expelled from the case!
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #291 in Video Games
- Brand: Her Interactive
- Model: WAC game
- Released on: 2009-10-13
- ESRB Rating: Everyone
- Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows XP
- Format: CD-ROM
Features
- Features young sleuth Nancy Drew as she goes undercover at a top boarding school
- Help Nancy discover who has been threatening the academy's valedictorian candidates
- Blend in with typical high-school student behavior: text your friends, cram for projects and become familiar with social cliques
- Run the school snack bar and play air hockey in the student lounge to incorporate yourself on campus
- Jr. and Sr. difficulty settings offer different levels of challenge
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Product Description
Threatening notes and dangerous accidents plague the valedictorian candidates at a prestigious boarding school. Suddenly the rumors start flying, and no one can tell the difference between fact and fiction. Does someone want to knock these students out of contention for top honors? What secret could the culprit be trying to protect? No one knows for sure, but thankfully, Nancy Drew's here to figure it out. Join her as she goes undercover to find out who's behind these strange occurrences.
 View larger. |
 View larger. |
  View larger. | Synopsis Key Game Features:
System Requirements:
|
Customer Reviews
A Solid Installment
After being sorely disappointed by the previous installment in HER's usually fun Nancy Drew series, I admit I was a bit apprehensive about this one. Happily, however, I thoroughly enjoyed this solid game.
Set at a girls' boarding school, Warnings at Waverly Academy offers a well-thought out plot centered around a mysterious series of threatening notes. As the story develops, it weaves both the fictitious history of the school as well as the real history of an American literary figure into a much more complex storyline than you might expect from the initial premise. There's a particularly clever twist that comes just when you think you've got it all figured out, and while you've probably pegged the bad guy--or girl, since Ned's the only male voice in this one--by the end, it's not a "well, duh," kind of solution.
Practically all of Nancy's tasks are seamlessly integrated into the storyline, making even the usually somewhat tedious chores such as cooking feel important to the advancement of the game. I found the game immensely less difficult than some other recent ones--I'm looking at you, Ransom of the Seven Ships--and although some of the puzzles were head-scratchers, none were so baffling to drive me to online hints. There's also a nice diversity of tasks: some visual, some logical, some skill-based.
The archetypal characters at the school are distinctive and interesting, with what come across as actual personalities and motivations--which is good, because there are quite a few of them, another welcome change from the last game. The addition of texting made the story feel very contemporary and real. Although the setting was fairly limited with little exploration available, the graphics were nicely rendered and the music quite pleasant.
So what are the downsides? The world of the game isn't as deep as it could have been, with few locale additions as the story progresses; equally, the game isn't perhaps as long as some others, although it's certainly not the shortest, either. Suspense or even a sense of foreboding is distinctly lacking. Nancy's perils involve demerits rather than actual danger most of the time. And the nature of the storyline seems to dictate the audience for this game to a degree: girls and young women will probably appreciate the characters and school life aspects much more than would some older players. For some, too, the puzzles are probably too easy. Those caveats aside, I recommend this games wholeheartedly for the ND player more interested in plot than in puzzles and in secrets than in secret passages.
Suspicious Students, Threatening Notes, & A Thrilling Mystery Await At Waverly Academy!
Nancy Drew 21: Warnings At Waverly Academy
-Before I Begin...
My review will be spilt up into sections and have a in-depth look at that topic. If you hate reading medium/long reviews or just don't have the patience I would not continue reading, but if you want to learn the most about the product before you buy it you'll continue.
-Interface
The interface is just the same as Ransom Of The Seven Ships and the other newer games. Just point in the direction you want to go in and click basically. There is a new icon though that is special to this game, that is the Phone icon. The Phone icon lets you go onto Nancy's phone to make calls, take pictures, get text messages, change the time in the game, and change the settings (background and message tone). I really liked the cell phone feature of this game because it has been missing from the games for a while (last seen in Legend Of The Crystal Skull and it only let you call people). It's a lot of fun to take pictures and change the background of the phone too.
*****
-Plot
The plot surrounds the "Black Cat", a person who is sending threatening notes to valedictorian candidates and even causing them to leave the school by way of "freakish accidents". The most recent victims were either sent to the hospital because of an allergic reaction or locked up in a closet in the dead of night. I loved this plot because it was somewhat scary and it even tied in with some history of Waverly Academy and a real-life famous poet. I found the plot pretty straightforward yet very intriguing because there is a couple plot twists that add even more oomph. I really liked that there was basically one mission: find out who the "Black Cat" is! I just loved this plot a lot!
*****
-Characters
If you played Ransom Of The Seven Ships, you may have been extremely disappointed with the amount of characters/suspects there was. Well if you were disappointed then, you won't be with this game! There are five characters in this game, each with very different personalities. There is a goth girl, a straight-A outcast/nerd, a shy girl, a sporty determined girl, and the conceited gossip girl. You'll definitely have fun meeting all of them and hearing what they have to say about each other. I loved that there were so many characters! There was also a couple minor characters that you don't "see" that were cool too. Warnings At Waverly Academy basically makes up for all the lack of characters in Ransom Of The Seven Ships. There was a lot of interaction with the characters too, so it wasn't just like having one conversation in the beginning of the game and then not having anything else to say to them at all. I really enjoyed the characters and it has definitely been a step up from the character interaction from previous games like Haunting Of Castle Malloy or Legend Of The Crystal Skull.
*****
-Setting & Graphics
The graphics never seem to be a problem with the Nancy Drew games. And this game is no exception because the graphics are absolutely breathtaking. I loved the fact that the dorm was in an old mansion-like hall. There is a lot of places to go in the game. There is a library, rec room, and a whole bunch of dorm rooms to explore. Also there are some outdoor places like the big oak tree and the cellar. One thing I didn't like is that the setting was confined to just one building and sparse outdoor settings. I understand the game would need more memory to have more buildings but I would have liked to maybe go to a couple more classrooms (there is one in Ramsey Hall). Also the dorm rooms were really cool but there is not very many "angles" per say. I would have liked to do a 360 pan in each of the dorm rooms. Otherwise I really liked the way they designed Ramsey Hall and it is really pretty outside when it snows in the game (yes it does snow in the game!). You won't necessarily feel confined, but I did wish the game had at least one other building.
****
-Puzzles/Activities
Ransom Of The Seven Ships was definitely a game for those who love puzzles, this game is more revolved around the plot. The puzzles in this game were pretty moderate, none were as challenging as Ransom Of The Seven Ships. There was plenty of variety though which I enjoyed. You also got to do some fun stuff too like play air hockey, darts, and run the snack shop for merits. Speaking of merits, you could also get plenty of demerits. You can get caught being up after curfew, pulling the fire alarm, sneaking into people's rooms, climbing trees and etc. It's really fun to get demerits, but if you get 15 or more you get expelled. Another thing I liked was the use of Nancy's cell phone. A couple activities required you to go around and take pictures of things/people for the school website and you also get text messages concerning gossip. I found myself constantly wanting to run the snack shop because while you are working, some of the girls start chattering and their conversations are quite funny. Overall, you will have a lot of fun completing the puzzles and activities in the game even if they are not particularly challenging.
*****
-Ending
One disappointment of this game was the ending! I really didn't want the game to end because I was having so much fun! The problem with the ending is that it came kind of unexpectedly. The ending puzzles were pretty suspenseful though which was a great. Also the wrap-up/motive was really interesting and made sense. Although I didn't like that the ending came unexpectedly/abruptly, I did enjoy it and found the resolution to tie the game up nicely.
****
-Overall
I know that many people were disappointed with Ransom Of The Seven Ships, but this game kind of balances out Ransom. Warnings At Waverly Academy is solely surrounded by the plot and its characters while Ransom is more centered on its puzzles and setting. So if you had to pick only one to buy, I would base it on whether you are a puzzle junkie or like interacting with characters more. I really enjoyed this game just as much as I enjoyed Ransom. I just liked that they are totally different from each other so playing both of them makes me happy. Warnings has been a step up in a lot of areas like character interaction, plot and scariness. This game wasn't extremely scary, but it did have me curious and engaged. If you played this game on Halloween night you wouldn't be too scared at all (I would recommend Curse Of Blackmoor Manor, Legend Of The Crystal Skull or Ghost Dogs Of Moon Lake if you want scary). This game was definitely one of my top favorites, maybe even my number one because I just loved the setting and characters. I fully recommend this game to all mystery fans (although it may appeal more to girls because it takes place at an all girls boarding school) because it is a great mystery adventure game. It is definitely worth the $20! The next case will come out summer of 2010, Nancy Drew 22: Trail Of The Twister!
Add all these up and divide by 6...
5 *'s (Interface)
5 *'s (Plot)
5 *'s (Characters)
4 *'s (Setting & Graphics)
5 *'s (Puzzles/Activites)
4 *'s (Ending)
= 28 Stars Divide By 6 (Categories) = 4.6 = Rounded to 5 Stars
-Recommended Games
Ransom Of The Seven Ships (See my review of this game)
The Phantom Of Venice (See my review of this game)
Danger On Deception Island
Last Train To Blue Moon Canyon (See my review of this game)
Thanks for reading my review!
A Take off of "Gossip Girl" -- sort of.
As an older player, I was quite bored with the first half of the game as there simply wasn't much suspsense or intrigue. You get dragged into petty gossip and must play headache inducing games to advance. Granted, if your coordination is not that good, you will skip through the arcade version of the game by default.
This game seems to be attempting to tap into the market created by "Gossip Girl" by drawing on simillar themes. You essentially investigate the intimidation tactics of someone by the name of "Black Cat," who seems to be attempting to drive her competititon to distraction so that she will become valeldictorian. (At the end, you will discover her real reason for sending the Black Cat notes.) Like Gossip Girl, the students gossip, cheat, steal each other's boyfriends, and engage in sabotage. The students are also subjected to a school hierachy with a "mean girl" on top.
Even though the girls pointed fingers at each other, I was able to guess the culprit from the beginning.
If you are of grade school age, you might be able to relate best to this game. Like "Gossip Girl," these privileged girls, who attend a private school, engage in power plays against each other through subterfuge, blackmail, cliques, threats, intimidation, and deception.
Like "Blackmoor Manor," this game also incorporates illuminati rituals. You get to witness one of the girls, who happens to be a "goth" (ie, celebrates the death culture) participate in an Illuminati ritual in a dark robe. (Think Bohemian Grove.)
The game is enjoyable and guides the player through many interesting twists. I really feel as though I got to know the girls. The graphics are exquisite. It is also on par with the classical games. However, there are limited places to explore. Since Nancy obtained a card which allowed her to enter every room, it would have been nice if she could have explored those rooms when the student was absent. There were also doors to rooms which could not be opened, and Bess was on speed dial, even though we couldn't call her.
It is also fun to get demerits. You can vandalize school property; pull the fire alarm, sneak out of windows in the middle of the night, talk in the hallway past curfew, break into rooms, and do any number of things to get demerits and eventually expelled.
Good game. I would recommend playing it
