Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge Review
Shadow At The Water's Edge is well worth picking up if you're interested in Japan or number puzzles.
The motives of all of the suspects revolve around the management of a traditional Japanese hotel (ryokan). Each character has his or her own reasons to want to drive off business. Lessons by the eldest member of the family provide a look at traditional arts: writing, origami, and the tea ceremony. The younger generations display facets of present Japanese culture: robot pets, individual fashion design, and an obsession with cuteness.
Aside from that, this game has numerous optional puzzles in the form of nonograms, sudoku, renograms, and the bento box challenges. To move the plot along, you'll have to solve a couple of these types of puzzles, but the game has many more available, which seems like a great way to please fans who love puzzles without irritating fans who want the plot to move along.
And this is a great pre-Halloween release, as it really does have some scary moments with an appropriately scary soundtrack.
Despite the fact that the plot was good, it was also flawed in that a lot of it was triggered. I didn't need a walkthrough for the puzzles, I needed a walkthrough to tell me that things I couldn't do before were now available to me, or to go badger someone I thought I was done talking to because all of my questions had been answered and there was no reason to think there would be new information on the exact same subjects.
I was also a bit flummoxed near the end when Nancy went to speak to one of the suspects I had absolutely ruled out as being behind the haunting, and point blank accused that suspect during a dialog I did not control. (And no this wasn't a final confrontation, nor was it the actual culprit, it just appeared to be Nancy acting in a weirdly inappropriate way that I wouldn't have wanted her to if I had had any choice in the matter.) I would really like some way of eliminating suspects through gameplay and evidence gathering, as that hasn't happened in the most recent two games.
Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge Feature
- Take risks without starting over-the game as action will automatically return the player to the point before a fatal mistake
- Play as Nancy Drew in a point-and-click mystery as you prepare to encounter her scariest case to date
- Immerse yourself in Japanese culture by learning about origami, tea ceremonies, and calligraphy, and play fun Japanese mini-games such as pachinko and Sudoku
- Create custom anime-style avatars for your in-game phone, and use it to take in-game pictures
- Choose from two difficulty settings (Jr. or Sr. Detective) to allow players of all skill levels to solve the mystery
Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge Overview
Traditional Japanese family ryokans (inns) are charming places, but a vengeful ghost is terrifying you and other unsuspecting guests. Is there a shadowy specter haunting the placid inn or is something far more sinister driving away business?
Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge Specifications
Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge is the 23rd release in "Her Interactive's" popular single player Nancy Drew mystery game series. Compatible with both PC and Macintosh computer platforms, Shadow at the Water's Edge finds Nancy and pals Bess and George investigating the haunting of a traditional inn in Kyoto, Japan. Along the way she and players of the game find that things are not quite what they seem. Additional features include immersion via the game into elements of Japanese culture, the ability to use in-game cell phone technology in sleuthing, two difficulty levels and more.
Story and Gameplay
Traditional Japanese family ryokans (inns) are usually charming places, but one such place in the ancient and one-time Imperial capital city of Kyoto is proving to be far from that. Run by the Shimizu family, this ryokan is said to be haunted by a vengeful ghost that is terrifying the unsuspecting guests.
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Visiting Japan with her best friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne, as a reward for previous sleuthing duties, Nancy Drew hears of these strange happenings and takes it on herself to dig into this paranormal mystery. Along with the rumor of a ghost she also finds a family torn by a recent death, two sisters with very different attitudes toward the family business, a grandmother firmly rooted in traditional Japanese culture, and more. Is there a shadowy specter haunting the placid inn or is something far more sinister driving away business? Nancy and you are on the case. Gameplay features include point and click movement throughout the game, puzzle-solving, interrogation of characters, Junior or Senior Detective difficulty levels, immersion into aspects of Japanese culture including origami, tea ceremonies and calligraphy, and in-game cell phone functionality that includes photography and the ability to create anime style avatars representing characters.
Key Game Features
- Play as Nancy Drew in a point-and-click mystery as you prepare to encounter her scariest case to date
- Immerse yourself in Japanese culture by learning about origami, tea ceremonies, and calligraphy
- Create custom anime-style avatars for your in-game phone
- Choose from two difficulty settings (Jr. or Sr. Detective) to allow players of all skill levels to solve the mystery
- Take pictures of possible evidence and play games on your cell phone
- Take risks without starting over-the game as action will automatically return the player to the point before a fatal mistake
System Requirements
| PC: | Mac: | |
| OS: | Windows XP/Vista | OS X 10.5.8 Leopard/10.6.3 Snow Leopard |
| Processor: | 1 GHz or greater Pentium or equivalent CPU | Intel processor |
| RAM: | 256 MB | 512 MB or more |
| Hard Drive: | 1 GB | 1.1 GB or more |
| Video Card: | 32 MB DirectX 9.0 compatible video card | Intel GMA 950, ATI X1600, NVIDIA 7300 graphics card or better |
| Other: | Mouse, keyboard, CD-ROM drive | |
Additional Screenshots
 Interrogate characters. View larger. |  Diverse sleuthing environments. View larger. |  Special cell functionality. View larger. |  2 difficulty levels. View larger. |
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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Nov 01, 2010 23:25:17
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