Gorilla Systems DS version couldn’t live up to the standards as the novel and film did.
Graphics: 6
Sounds: 3
Value: 2
Tilt: 4
Actual score: 3.7
Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase is the third DS title in the Nancy Drew series. Yet, the game is based on the famous novel by the same name which sold to date over one million copies and in 1939 the film staring Bonita Granville. With a wealth of history behind this title, Nancy Drew fans will probably find hard to resist to not play this game but sadly Gorilla Systems version couldn’t live up to the standards as the novel and film did.
Considering the game has been tagged ‘E’ for everyone, changes needs to be made to the original story as the initial version involves a man committed suicide in the magnificent Twin Elms mansion. In accordance to the DS version, the game starts off when Nancy gets an invite from her schoolmate Helen, claiming that the mansion is haunted; that is objects go missing and things that goes bump-in-the-night, forcing her grandmother to contemplate selling the mansion. In contrast to the original story the selling part is the only consistent element. Of course, it’s up to Nancy to investigate what’s actually happening…
Somehow the gameplay is a total bummer as instead of Nancy poking her nose into everything, gathering clues, solving puzzles with plenty of suspects, this time Nancy will be given a list of items that gone missing and needed to locate them within a specific time. Of course I have no objection when it comes to ‘treasure finding’ however we are talking about Nancy Drew: The Detective and not Nancy Drew: The Treasure Hunter.
Using the D-Pad controls Nancy to her desired location however the allocated pathways are poorly constructed usually sending Nancy in a never ending battle of ‘path finding’ that can easily cause frustration to the player. Pressing forward sometimes sends Nancy backwards and pressing left sends her forward and so on. I’m not entirely sure of how all of this movement pans out but on the bright side, the in-game icons makes this game very easy to learn as the ‘walk’ symbol indicates moving to another location (one hopes) and the ‘eye’ symbol indicates a closer lookup. Other icons like the ‘hand’ is to pick up the desired object and the ‘mouth’ designates ‘talking’ – which equates to getting another list of items or the occasional light chit-chat.
Being a DS game, you need to utilise both top and bottom screens to solve the mystery. The top is reserved for ‘static’ information like the list of items, the map (which is very handy due to Nancy’s ‘random’ movements), time left and skipping conversation/s. All this can be obtained by pressing ‘Y’, ‘B’, ‘X’ and ‘A’ respectively. The bottom screen is where all the action is: that is arming with the stylus you can pick up objects, engaging conversation and so forth. So at least the controls are very easy to master.
The opening cut-scene is quite impressive for what the DS can produce. At first moment you can observe the mansion in the distance with the fountain at the middle and hovering overhead the gloomy clouds sounded with the occasional thunderclap sets the ‘horror’ theme. Into the game, Nancy looks impressive as she doesn’t sport that ‘girly’ appearance yet looks quite mature and actually dresses in causal jeans and a jumper. All the other characters Nancy meets are equally pleasant yet the conversations can be improved as all you can see is their mouths moving indicating speech.
In addition the locations are decent to view at as it’s quite detailed hence you’ll not get that ‘pixel’ hunting experience and the odd cut-scenes are well drafted with smooth animations. The only downside to these cut-scenes is that when conversations is involved, you have no control of the speed therefore reading the top screen and viewing the bottom can cause aggravation. To add salt to the wounds, there’s no option to repeat the scene unless you reboot the entire game.
Unfortunately the entire environmental sounds are just strings of continuous loops; for example the same thunderclap sounds when exploring outside or inside the mansion the same squeaking floorboards. Yet there are some excellent attention-to-details like shoes crunching on gravel, kettle boiling or the fluttering of bat wings however these are few and far between. Lastly the entire game is void of any musical scores which places an ‘empty feeling’.
A definite disappointing feature in this game is the length. I have played games that has advertised as a ‘short break’ however this game tops the cake as you can literally knock it off within an hour. Yet at the end the game tries saving Grace by stating there are over one hundred items to find however this option doesn’t really goes well for me after the third run. Another poor feature about this game is the lack of quick saving – well there’s a checkpoint save after every chapter but too bad if you want to save at mid-flight. To add salt to the wounds, you’ll only get one bash at viewing the grand finale as once completed the game abruptly ends.
Her Interactive has done a marvellous job of bring Nancy Drew to life by introducing this franchise to the PC arena and rightfully so won numerous gaming awards however for Gorilla Systems they haven’t had much success into bring Nancy to the DS. It’s a little odd to say the least as considering the innovative approach using the DS you’ll come to think what the true intension is. Regardless of the reasoning, The Hidden Staircase had some good features like the visuals and especially Nancy as she does look mature however everything else just collapsed.