Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch - PC

This is the 3rd Nancy Drew game I've played (my previous two were #12 and #13) and I can't say its my favorite. I REALLY wanted to like this game too! I'm a horse junkie, and a ND junkie, and I was all excited for the two to come together, but it just didn't work out for me, unfortunately. I'm going to split by review up into sections so I can give the game a more accurate rating.PLOT - 4/5: Nancy is invited to Shadow Ranch, which belongs to Bess and George's aunt and uncle, the Rawleys.. But when she gets there, Bess and George are a no-show, and the Rawleys are in the hospital after Mr. Rawley got bitten by a rattlesnake. Nancy then learns that a mysterious glowing horse has been making nightly appearances at the ranch, and that everytime it shows up, a freak accident happens. She also learns about a outlaw named Dirk Valentine who, in the 1800's, was in love with a girl who lived on Shadow Ranch, and supposedly left her a hidden treasure somewhere. Could Dirk Valentine's treasure have something to do with the horse? Is there really a treasure? Who will stop the horse before something really bad happens? Well, it's up to you, as Nancy Drew!This is practically the same plot as Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon (I guess it would be the other way around, cause this game came out first, but I played Last Train first so it's backwards for me) so it didn't really catch my attention. The plot was executed pretty well, though, but I still prefer Last Train. Everyone says how much fun the horseback riding was, but I didn't think it was that cool. You just point and click, same as always, except theres a horse head in front of you. But I will admit that by the end of the game, my horse Bob and I were pretty tight.CHARACTERS - 4/5: The characters were good in this game. They weren't really THAT much fun to talk to (except Bess and George), but some of them were intersting. Tex is the horse wrangler guy, he's tough, mean, down-right scary looking, and he doesn't have much to say. Mary Yazzie owns the gift store near the ranch, her character was boring and her voice was really annoying. The cook, Shorty, was nice, it was funny how he always wanted to gossip with Nancy, but I thought he was creepy looking, like a big scary teddy bear. The foreman, Dave, was quiet, but it was really sweet how he had a crush on Nancy. And Charleena wasn't that cool cause all you did was talk to her on the phone. Overall, I think they did a good job on the characters, they weren't amazing, but the voice acting was good (except Mary IMO) and the graphics for them were also good.SETTING - 4.5/5: This game is set in Arizona, and I think that the makers of this game did a great job getting that desert feeling. The decorations in the house were just perfect, and the ranch looked so realistic. The ghost town was pretty spooky, and the desert was barren, as it should be. The only problem I had with the setting was the music! The song was good at first but then it just got really annoying and repetitive. I would give the setting a 5 but for the song I'm gonna have to knock off half a point.PUZZLES - 2/5: If you were to ask me what was the ONE thing that bothered me about this game, I wouldn't hesitate a second to say CHORES!!! I hated them! Fixing the wire and collecting the eggs wasn't so bad, but picking those vegetables, AHHH! I got sent home like 20 times for picking unripe vegetables. I mean really, who sends a guest home for picking an unripe tomato? I ended up printing out like a map of the garden from a walkthrough so that I knew which vegetables to pick. But those chores were just a total turn off. I felt like some of the other puzzles in the game were also hard, I spent like an hour trying to do that impossible magnet thing, then another hour hunting for arrowheads on the ground. It was just ridiculous. I don't know, mabye there were some really fun puzzles in this game, but I can't remember them cause all I remember is that awful garden. The puzzles in this game are really not my cup of tea.IS IT CHALLENGING?: YES! Unless if your an expert at collecting vegetables, baking cakes, spending hours searching the ground for arrowheads, and solving invisible puzzles. I'd give it a 5/5 for challenge, but it's not challenging in a fun way.ENDING - 4/5: The ending is good. The maze at the end is confusing, definitely challenging. And if it weren't for a walkthrough I wouldn't have ever guessed how to catch the culprit. I was kind of surprised by who the culprit was and what their motive was. Overall the ending was good.FINAL SCORE:Plot: 4Characters:4Setting: 4.5Puzzles: 2Challenge: 5Ending: 4= 23.5 divided by 6 = 3.91, I'll give it a 4 overall, but a 3 for fun.

I just finished playing "The Secret of Shadow Ranch", and I found it to be a bit more challenging than the others I've played to date. The reason I've given it 4 stars instead of 5 (the first time I've done that with this series) is because there are several places where what you have to do to move on is illogical, and for these same areas, there isn't any hints to let you know what to do. As a result, I wound up having to consult "UHS Hints" (a really good website where you can find hints to all the Nancy Drew games) a lot more than I would have liked..."Shadow Ranch" is situated in the Arizona Desert - and the graphics of this area are great! The mystery surrounds strange happenings that are occuring on the ranch - such as a phantom horse riding through at night, always accompanied by a major mishap at the ranch (a snake bite, power lines become downed, pump house floods).Nancy finds out early in the game that there are rumors about an old bank robber who had hidden a treasure for his sweetheart - who used to live at the ranch. So your job, as Nancy Drew, teen detective, is to 1. find out who or what is behind all of the strange mishaps - are they linked to the phantom horse, or does it just appear that way? And 2. find the treasure - if there is one...In order to get around the desert, you get to ride a horse - be sure to look around at everything you can find about riding horses before you begin, or you just might find yourself falling off a lot!!!Overall, I found this game to be fun to play, although it did become quite frustrating at times... If you find yourself having difficulty as I did, I'd recommend going to the "UHS hints" website - they allow you to choose how many hints to take, and you can always get a few before you're given the full answer - this way, if you just need a push in the right direction, you don't have to see the full answer and ruin the fun of figuring out for yourself.

I'm an old lady avidly playing one Nancy Drew game after another! The reason I did not give "Secret" 5 stars is because a few of the puzzles, such as having to collect vegetables and eggs twice are just plain boring. However, you get a real feel for the old west as the graphics are excellent. The Indian relics and ruins and the ghost town are very well done and the indoor scenes are great, such as Shadow Ranch Lodge, Mary's Gift shop and Cappy's, the remnant of an old saloon.The horse lore that you will learn such as the proper term for each horse color is downright interesting. And as a ranch hand you'll be obliged to put a dismembered bridle together, feed the three horses and the chickens their various rations, bake a cake, run a barrel race and ride your faithful horse Bob to interesting places, sleuthing all the way.The puzzles cover a pretty wide gamut of difficulty from the very easy (the vegetables and eggs and the chicken wire fence repair) to the reasonably hard-the Indian ruins maze. The number and variety of puzzles should please just about everybody except, perhaps, accomplished and sophisticated gamers. The latter would find "The Curse of Blackmoor Manor" a much bigger challenge for their abilities.The voice acting is first rate and the lip synch and gestures are fine. Tex, the onery cowboy with an incredibly deep voice, is very funny. Dave, another ranch hand, is very cute, as Nancy noticed and points out. All and all "Secrets of Shadow Ranch" is a very pleasant experience, and even though it took me about ten tries to trick the culprit at the end (I get in such a flap when a puzzle is timed) I finally succeeded. So all is well.

I have just finished playing this game and wanted to write a review of it as soon as possible! It's a REALLY good game - hard enough to keep you interested right to the end, but not so hard that you're tearing your hair out. With some of the other Nancy Drew games I have played (which I have bought and downloaded) I have had to end up buying the relevant Strategy Guide as well, but this one I managed on my own!!The story is good, the details make it fun and the little mini-games are very good - not so hard that you want to give up!I'd recommend this to anyone thinking of trying a Nancy Drew game for the first time - it will break you in nicely for the more challenging games in the series.Happy puzzling!

I love this game, and I've used this four times now and they have not disappointed me yet. The games come in great condition at great prices and have all arrived well before expected.

I really liked this game. Very eventful and stimulating for finding clues. Great story and adventure finding the person who was trying to scare Nancy's friend out of the ranch.

A bit repetitive lots of horseriding! Classic Nancy drew format with interesting puzzles to solve + all the conversations. Good value for money - glad I bought it.

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