While participating with her friends Ned, Bess and George in “The Clues
Challenge”, a week-long puzzle competition in Nancy's home town of River
Heights, Nancy finds herself in the vicinity when the town hall
mysteriously goes up in flames. Arrested by the police and detained as
the main suspect, Nancy must now fight to prove her innocence, as her
friends rally round to help uncover the true culprit and reveal the
motive for the crime.
Alibi in Ashes
is the 25th game in the mystery series by developers Her
Interactive.
“So, how's the case coming?”
Well now, this is different.
Right from the whistle, Nancy finds herself in a heavy plume of smoke,
in trouble and in jail, which is where she will be languishing for the
majority of Alibi in Ashes. Accordingly, the player is put in
control of Ned, Bess and George, casting them out individually onto the
streets of River Heights to interview the residents, forage for clues
and do much of the puzzling. In addition to the police station base the
player will find themselves at the local ice cream parlour, the antiques
shop and the ruined town hall, as well as Nancy's house, where we are
allowed (at long last) to have a good poke around. Spacious would be an
understatement. The locations are realistically detailed, the townsfolk
well characterised, and the story unfolds smoothly and gradually. I felt
the pace to be relaxed for the most part -- despite Nancy's obvious
predicament -- with the emphasis upon character intrigue rather than any
heightened dramatic tension.
It is possible to switch back to
Nancy at will, as there are some puzzles and actions which can only be
completed from inside the police station. Nancy will use her mobile
phone a great many times over the course of the game, as the player
switches back and forth to their character of choice/necessity. I found
this switching to be repetitive, feeling that it would have been
preferable instead to have had quick-click character icons to one side
of the screen (one click and Shazam! you're back to Ned, with any
transfer dialogue as necessary), rather than the rigmarole of phoning
through to Nancy, only for her then to have to phone the next character
to initiate a changeover. Having said that, I enjoyed playing each of
her friends, and felt the idea in itself to be an interesting one. If it
is to be a recurring feature in future adventures then it could benefit
from streamlining.
The in-game map is sprawling and
an initial frustration, as the locations are not labelled and do not
become so until the cursor is hovered over them. However, the number of
locations you will be required to visit is relatively few, and
eventually you do remember the important ones. There is no car driving
in this game: just one click on your location of preference, and you are
chauffeured there directly by your character. I was pleased to not have
to wrestle with any madcap vehicles this time around.
Gameplay is in first person and,
as with all previous games in Her Interactive's series, is point and
click, with the by now familiar interface of inventory, cell phone,
journal and (for Junior level only) the invaluable task list. As with
#24, The Captive Curse, there is the new addition of the Hint
Hotline, which provides helpful nudges and solutions.
The voice acting, as always,
remains one of the strong points of this series. All characters are
convincingly and entertainingly portrayed, particularly Alexei, the
mysterious, cantankerous owner of the local antiques shop. His dialogue
was cracking; I found myself returning often to his shop merely for the
pleasure of having him holler at me furiously. (My wants are few and
simple.)
There are no chores; no burgers
to flip, no ice cream sundaes to scoop, no beds or bath towels to smooth
down. Alibi in Ashes is a straight-ahead mystery with its focus
upon the detective work instead of the drudge. There are unlimited save
slots and the Second Chance feature for any “fatal errors”. Gameplay is
somewhat short at around six hours, playing without a walkthrough.
Dial P for Puzzles
Alibi in
Ashes does not carry quite as many puzzles as in
previous Nancy Drew mysteries. We encounter a fun number board which
requires a fast input response. There is a line connector puzzle, a
light combination set-up, a spot of lock-picking, and one logic puzzle
in the form of a timed maze. (It wouldn't be a Nancy Drew without a maze
of some description.) The puzzle difficulty is moderate; there are no
real game-stoppers here, and all are well integrated into the gameplay.
Ice Cream Headache
Alibi in Ashes
installed without any issues and played perfectly throughout, with no
bugs, glitches or dead ends.
Overall, an enjoyably
alternative addition to the Nancy Drew game series.
Grade: B
I played on:
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1
AMD A6-3650 APU @ 2.60GHz
4.00 GB of RAM
Radeon HD 6530D Graphics
GameBoomers Review Guidelines
October 2011
design copyright©
2011
GameBoomers
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