Get on your mystery solving hat!
This is actually the first in a long-running series of titles based around the classic junior detective, which also includes The Final Scene and The Haunted Carousel. Most of them are pretty jolly and inoffensive little romps which make for a perfect Sunday afternoon of family gaming, and this one gets the franchise off to a decent start. This one is set in Florida, as Nancy gets caught up in a murder mystery in her aunt's castle and obviously decides to solve it by herself (with your help of course). The game can be thought of as a slightly simpler version of classic point-and-click adventures such as Myst and Amerzone, so you can expect to explore the many rooms of the castle in first-person perspective while searching for clues and solving the many puzzles which stand between you and a successful resolution to the mystery. There are 75 puzzles to uncover here and which will test various skills from investigation to logic and many more. If you find the main mode a little too tricky, there's a junior version on offer which maintains the storyline but makes things a little easier on the brain. For the most part, this is a fun little experience. The storyline is quite compelling, with a few nice twists and turns along the way, while the puzzles are quite varied, enjoyable and fairly challenging to solve. There's a lot of word-based puzzles so this is a particularly interesting game if you're into such things. The visuals are also quite pleasant, adding much to the atmosphere, and overall this makes for a lovely way to spend an afternoon.
