Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel

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Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel
Nancy Drew - The Haunted Carousel Cover Art.jpeg
Developer(s) Her Interactive
Publisher(s) DreamCatcher
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
ReleaseAugust 19, 2003 [1]
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

The Haunted Carousel is the eighth installment in the Nancy Drew point-and-click adventure game series by Her Interactive. The game is available for play on Microsoft Windows platforms. It has an ESRB rating of E for moments of mild violence and peril. Players take on the first-person view of fictional amateur sleuth Nancy Drew and must solve the mystery through interrogation of suspects, solving puzzles, and discovering clues.

Contents

The game was released in August 2003. Upon its release, the game elicited favorable reviews from gaming critics, who commended its graphics and plot. [2] During 2003, the game sold more than 48,000 copies in the United States. [3]

Plot

Paula Santos, the owner of Captain's Cove Amusement Park in New Jersey, has asked Nancy for help because there have been mysterious things happening at the park. First, the lead horse disappeared off the carousel. After that the carousel began mysteriously starting up in the middle of the night. Then the roller coaster suddenly lost power, resulting in a serious accident. The park is shut down until the city knows what caused it. There is a rumor going around that the park is cursed. Drew must determine whether the painted ponies are searching for their missing lead horse, or whether there is another explanation for the "midnight rides". [4] [5]

Wrong decisions can cause the game to end. In previous volumes of the series, these endings typically involved Drew's death; however, in The Haunted Carousel, a more frequent conclusion is Drew being fired for a mishap. [4]

Gameplay

There are two levels of gameplay: a "Junior" mode, and a "Senior" detective mode. Each mode offers a different difficulty level of puzzles and hints, but neither of these changes affect the actual plot of the game.

Development

The game is loosely based on a book of the same name, The Haunted Carousel (1983). [6] [7]

Characters

Adapted from the game's official site. [8]

Cast

Reception

Critical

Upon its release, The Haunted Carousel received favorable reviews from critics. [2] On Review aggregation website Metacritic, the game holds a score of 85 out of 100, denoting "generally favorable reviews". [2] The Haunted Carousel remains the Her Interactive game with the most favorable critical reception, according to MetaCritic. [10] In a review for Just Adventure , critic Ray Ivey awarded the album a letter grade of "A." He commended the graphics as "crisp, clean, colorful and appealing", deemed it the "tightest game so far in the series", and praised the game's shortness, observing that its brevity is in keeping with that of the book series. [5] Writing for GameZone, critic Anise Hollingshead commended the album for providing a game for teenagers that's free of "graphic violence and sexual content", and opined that it was particularly fitting for players between the ages of 12 and 16. She awarded the gameplay a score of 9 out of 10, while graphics and sound each garnered 8 out of 10, and concept 7 out of 10. [4]

Charles Herold of The New York Times wrote that The Haunted Carousel "returns to form with intelligent puzzles and an intriguing story." [11]

Commercial

According to PC Data, The Haunted Carousel sold 48,500 retail copies in North America during 2003. [3]

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References

  1. ↑ "Nancy Drew®: The Haunted Carousel". Her Interactive . Archived from the original on October 3, 2003. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel (pc: 2003): Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on July 26, 2007.
  3. 1 2 Sluganski, Randy (March 2004). "Sales December 2003 - The State of Adventure Gaming". Just Adventure . Archived from the original on April 11, 2004. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 "Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel". GameZone. Archived from the original on September 10, 2006.
  5. 1 2 "Review: Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel". Just Adventure . Archived from the original on May 12, 2007.
  6. ↑ , Teaser Trailer
  7. ↑ "Nancy Drew The Haunted Carousel | Girl Games Online". Her Interactive. Archived from the original on July 8, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel". Her Interactive . Archived from the original on 2005-02-07. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
  9. ↑ "Nancy Drew The Haunted Carousel IMDb". IMDb .
  10. ↑ "HER Interactive at MetaCritic". MetaCritic. CBS. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  11. ↑ Herold, Charles (December 4, 2003). "Game Theory; A Teenage Sleuth in Fine Formula". The New York Times . Archived from the original on November 25, 2010.
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