Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch - PC

oh i loved this game...brought so many memories back from reading the book in high school..i recall.. i enjoyed this game..actually a fun game...puzzles hard enough to make you use your brain...talking to the characters was great...i thought i knew who done it, but i was wrong...never expect that person....great story line..interesting people...i learned alot about things used on the ranch...you get to use the phone to use the web...looking for information about the place and knowledge about the southwest was wonderful...i learned alot..learning about the cultures was interesting....learn about horses and much more... i highly recommend this game...well worth the money...i will play it again... i am not telling all that you do..it would ruin it...got to get and play to find out....like i said...fantastic game... i had not trouble down loading it on my pc...it practically loaded it self.... always remember to save your game every so often...if you dont, you start over...something goes wrong..do a second chance..and you get to complete what your doing without penalty...i just saved it alot...so i would not make the mistake...like my cat jumped on the keyboard and turned the pc off....i had to start over...but luckily i had bacially started and had not got to far.... you must buy to enjoy...nice.... the product came on time...actually a day sooner...package was tightly secured in a box...no damage what so ever...i recommend buying from this person again....... all i can say...is ....happy trails.....

Of all the Nancy Drew games, this one was my favorite. It's not like the actual book, but it was a really great game. The characters are great, the plot wonderfully planned and I enjoyed the whole 'out west' theme more than any other Nancy Drew game. It was clean and fun, and easy enough for anyone to understand. I really have no complaints, other than maybe the amount of traveling back and forth between places tries your patience after a while. I think I finished this game, when playing for the first time, in 2 days. And the game is interesting enough that you can play it over and over and it doesn't get boring.

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: 4 Characters:4 Setting: 4.5 Puzzles: 2 Challenge: 5 Ending: 4 = 23.5 divided by 6 = 3.91, I'll give it a 4 overall, but a 3 for fun.

I am a definite horse person. Though the game didn't focus on the horses, the whole ranch-y theme was very fun. I played the game all the way through twice. The only problem with the game is the whole barrel-racing thing. It's very hard and it took me a long time to get my horse to go fast enough. Some things (like the puzzle under the rock) are nearly impossible, but there are little cheats to get you through. I've found that all Nancy Drew games are much more easily played when using the help of a hints website. Overall a great game and a GREAT buy!

Another gift for the niece. Review on behalf of. Fun adventure with a storyline that is a favorite of the series. Good puzzles and minigames. Love the western setting. Will play it over and over. Then will reread the book. Love the series.

This is my 14th review and completed adventure in the Nancy Drew series. First, I'd like to start by dividing my review into two factions. 1) The game itself 2) My personal detective work. * PART 1 * PLOT: Off to the southwest and a shot at living life on an Arizona ranch! Nancy Drew must discover why a phantom horse is seen every night whilst trouble follows immediately afterward via property destruction. INITIAL SCORE: 83 CHARACTERS: Dave Gregory : One of the most handsome men involved with ND games thus far, this ranch foreman is shy and seems to want to be more than friends with Nancy. It never got weird or anything. He lied to me, but I don't think I was invested enough in him to take it personally. Tex Britten : The ranch head wrangler that has no likeable personality. Grunting out how I might fail goes only so far with me. Shorty Thurmond: He looks a lot like my brother-in-law [balding & pronounced lips], so I had my guard up against him immediately. He was an odd-looking dude. I don't know why picking the wrong vegetables were grounds for expulsion from the ranch. Don't you think the ranch owners should take personal responsibility for placing a novice with the obviously crucial task of picking out their food properly? Utterly ridiculous. They should be ashamed. Mary Yazzie : A lot of reviewers didn't like her, but I thought she was fine. The love affair with Tex is understandable since both didn't get out too much. Bess & George : The "stuck in the airport business" might seem overplayed, but judging from the realities of air travel life now, I would not doubt it could happen. Between these two & the Hardy Boys, this game featured more hint systems than any other ND game out on the market. I can't say I liked it because I wanted to discover sleuthing for myself, yet it was probably for the best since half the puzzles would have taken an extra four hours just by mental confusion. So in the end, I accepted it. Ed & Bet Rawley: Owners of the Shadow Ranch I had mentioned early. Ed was annoying when he downplayed every single comment Bet made regarding Nancy & the adventure. He constantly acted as if Bet was irritating him. I see this a lot with couples and I refuse to accept this as functional behavior. I give HER credit for the realism though! CUMUL SCORE: - 2 = 81 SCORE/GRAPHICS/SOUND EFFECTS: The Magnificent Seven score was pretty enticing; made you feel triumphant! ha, ha. The Arizona desert had a beautiful appeal. The ghost town wasn't as great as other reviewers made it out to be. I didn't find it spooky nor engaging. Lonely? yes CUMUL SCORE: + 2 = 83 PUZZLES/MINI-GAMES: I liked the trivia challenge in the corral. Nice touch! The chicken coop wire puzzle was interesting. The slot machine at Cappy's seemed unnecessary but was fun to play. CUMUL SCORE: Even = 83 ADVENTURE ENDING: I guessed the culprit!! The endgame [switching colored stones] seemed a rather hard concept for anyone to pick up without a walkthrough. Again, I felt as if I invested all that energy into the story and there was no character payoff explanations on what happened in the weeks following [other than a 30 second update]. The actual treasure was a wonderful climax!! I haven't seen that is a ND adventure before. CUMUL SCORE: + 1 = 84 * PART 2 * I try to solve cases without any hints, walkthroughs, etc, even if it were to take weeks! Well, it took me four days [14 hours] and I gave myself a Detective Score Of : 68 My Strong Points: I did reasonably well on the ranch chores, guessed the culprit [which I have done in 7 of the 14 games thus far], and stayed steady with the games' pacing. I navigated the cliff dwellings maze real well. My Weak Points: Walkthroughs were important to me in the second half, I got to admit. I stumbled on the bead pattern puzzle for some reason [forgot there was an email solution from my best friends], and I was stuck on one errant ingredient with the cake for nearly an hour! OVERALL GAME SCORE: 84 + 68/ 2 = 76 [ B ] BOTTOMLINE: This ranked # 2 in Best Game by the fans, but I thought it was just simply average as ND games go. I tend to get bored more easily when the adventure is not scary, but that is just my personal taste. I'd recommend it and it has an outside shot of cracking my Top Ten Overall ND games! Thus far, on my list of the 21 completed ND games, SHADOW RANCH ranks..... # 13 1) GHOST DOGS OF MOON LAKE * 88.5 2) THE SHATTERED MEDALLION * 87 3) GHOST OF THORNTON HALL * 86.5 4) HAUNTING CASTLE MALLOY * 85.5 5) TREASURE ROYAL TOWER * 84 6) HAUNTED CAROUSEL * 83 7) WHITE WOLF ICICLE CREEK * 82.5 8) DANGER DECEPTION ISLAND * 81 9) MESSAGE HAUNTED MANSION * 80 10) WARNINGS AT WAVERLY * 78 11) SHADOW AT WATER'S EDGE * 77.5 12) THE CAPTIVE CURSE * 77 13) SECRET SHADOW RANCH * 76 14) TRAIL OF THE TWISTER * 72 15) PHANTOM OF VENICE * 71.5 16) TOMB OF THE LOST QUEEN * 71 17) THE SILENT SPY * 70.5 18) CURSE BLACKMOOR MANOR * 70 19) ALIBI IN ASHES * 69.5 20) THE DEADLY DEVICE * 69 21) SECRETS CAN KILL [REMAST] * 68

Let me start by stating that this is only the 3rd Nancy Drew Mystery I've played , however it is definitely the worst one of the three. I found this game to be completely tedious, frustrating and ultimately boring. I can't tell you how many times I just wanted to quit. When I played the other 2 I had so much fun and couldn't wait to get back to them whenever I had to stop playing, this one I just dreaded. I had a hard time figuring out what I was supposed to do next, when I wasn't stuck doing chores. The story was all over the place - I used a walkthrough to get thru it because I want to play all of titles. I hope the next one I play is back to being fun. At least I bought this one as part of a 4 pack so it only cost $14 for 4 ND titles.

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.

received early, my mrs will be well happy now she can play one of her old favourite games, thank you very much

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.

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.

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.

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!