Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse - PC/Mac

I loved this game- I thought it was one of the better Nancy Drew games. In this game Nancy finds herself in Germany investigating monster sightings at a remote castle. The castle has a long history of legends surrounding the monster, and the monster has an appetite for young women, just like Nancy. This game has the elements that make a Nancy Drew game fun. There's a large, beautiful castle to explore. There are people to talk to, and you have to talk to them repeatedly. The mini-games are complex, but not difficult, and they fit with the context of the story. There's no irritating mini-game that's nearly impossible to pass. I got many hours of gameplay from this game. I'd compare it to Blackmoor Manor and Crystal Skull. I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game. The mini-games were so much better than previous ND games, and the artwork was absolutely amazing.

Well... I am a fan of the ND game series, what I liked about them was that the game was simple, the puzzles looked easy at first but then realized that they were f&^$# hard! I love the very first game since Nancy wouldn't normally tell you when she found something significant in a document, so you had to read it to find it. Also Nancy really was of a little bit different taste. Then all games through 2 to 18 were fantastic (obviously some were better than others) but personally I didn't like the kapu cave as much as the other, but was very original and hard though. But after the Phantom of Venice evry game was became dull, every game surpassing the last one (except shadow at water's edge and the twister one was not dull but in my opinion predictable.) Until they decided to do the Remastered version of my favorite ND game, it was even shorter and was EXTREMELY predictable... they took the depth of the ND Secrets Can Kill original game and replaced it with 3D characters. But this game was the last straw... I couldn't remember how to get to some places, the characters were dull and were not interestin... BUT the story itself was very nice! I hope to see a better game (i loved the next game name "Alibi in ashes")

I really enjoyed this ND game, and was glad to see the high quality continue from Shadow at Water's Edge. The castle setting is absolutely stunning, comparable to Treasure in the Royal Tower, and while at first it's a little frustrating to navigate, you get the hang of it after a while. The premise of the monster is pretty spooky and there were definitely a few times when I jumped in my seat! My only complaint is that the educational value, which was so well set up in the Bavarian setting, wasn't expounded on enough. There were only a few puzzles that dealt with the German culture and language, and not enough to really teach you anything which is a key factor of the ND series. I mean let's be honest, half of us wouldn't know how to use a HAM radio if it weren't for Nancy Drew!

In Nancy Drew's latest mystery, she's swooping off to the German countryside, where a mysterious, Frankenstein-like monster has been terroizing the residents of a medieval castle. As Nancy Drew, it's up to you to solve the mystery and perhaps even a legend, if you dare. This game is one of the best to come out in a long time. It has a lot of character interaction, unlike some previous games. Also, while this game has puzzles, by no means are you bombarded by them. There are absolutely NO chores that are just time-fillers. In short, this is a really fun game. The only new aspect of gameplay in this newest Nancy Drew installment is the addition of a hint mechanism that Ned (bless his little heart) installed on your phone. So now, instead of calling people to ask for a hint, you just open it up on your phone. In this game, talking on your cellphone wasn't very easy because of service (which is really realistic), so it would have been annoying walking back and forth from Nancy's room to ask for a hint. Also, there was quite a bit of snooping. You get to explore everyone's area at some point, and each suspect has some damaging information about them. However, there were very few cutscene events in the game, and to be honest, the culprit wasn't that much of a shocker. (I kind of guessed it who was midway through.)Also, I'm one for neat, tied-up endings where everything's said and done and there are no lingering questions. That's not the case in this game. Instead, there's this really big question hanging over the backdrop of the game that is never answered. Though it's probably so that we're supposed to take what we get and understand the answer in our own way, I just prefer those sewn-up endings. If you're thinking of getting this game, get it! You won't be disappointed!

This is the best ND in a long time. It ranks up there with the biggies: Royal Tower, Haunted Mansion, Blackmoor Manor, and Deception Island. It's plenty long, though never long enough when you're enjoying it. Lots of room to explore and stretch Nancy's legs, as it were. All the puzzles and tasks were perfectly integrated into the excellent unfolding story, and thanks to heaven, NO CHORES! The setting is creepy, and there are plenty of secret passages. The characters are excellent, each quirky with their own personality. Some have complained that it's too much like other ND castle settings. I disagree. Totally unique storyline, and this castle is unique and very nicely detailed. Had a hard time putting this one down, even long after midnight.

This game was OK....honestly I feel that herinteractive is going downhill. I have all the nancy drew games and lately, they seem to be getting less challenging. In this game, most of what you had to do involved talking to the characters. Unless you talked to them, you couldn't progress in the game. There really weren't that many puzzles either.....kind of disappointing. I havent tried the latest 2 yet, but herinteractive, you need to step it up...the early games were great!

After Shadows Edge, I was really keyed up for the next entry to the series. But even if I lower my expectations, I was really disappointed with this game. Where to start? The scenery was lovely. The character animations keep getting better. It LOOKS good. The atmosphere isn't as scary as I think they intended. My biggest worry was that there would be some kind of chase scene through the castle and I would get lost because the place is confusing and difficult to navigate. It might have worked out on a 2-D map, but on a 3-D map it was frustrating. At one point, I got stuck and consulted a walkthrough that indicated I needed to get out of the castle. Except I couldn't figure out how to leave the castle gates (apparently walking across the bridge is too difficult and you need to veer left even though there's no indication on screen that there's even any land to walk on over that way). I never thought I'd say this, as I prefer more plot to more puzzles, but there weren't enough puzzles in this game. If you like Nancy Drew for the puzzles, steer clear of this one. I think there were 4 in the whole game. Perhaps poor navigation was meant to replace puzzles? The ending gets points for requiring you to call the "monster" by name to trigger the final confrontation. I really like that you are required to solve the mystery. There are 4/6 suspects, but it is made pretty obvious that several of them didn't do it. The ending does leave something to be desired in solving the curse of the monster, which is based on history. At one point, it's suggested that there was only ever one incident in the past and that all following incidents are just fairy tales based on it. There's a problem with the explanation, however, in that Renate's tale of her own family's encounter with the monster is real, which means there is or was something. And solving this monster problem doesn't close Renate's tale of monsters past. And where did the necklace come from that plays such an important role? And the entrance in the well? If all past tales are no more than tales, then these things shouldn't exist in the setting now. That's my overview of the game. Now I'm going to digress into a discussion of the mini games. One is really good, the other is really bad. The first mini game is "Monster." I loved this game. I would turn on Captive Curse just to play another round. Basically, you and your opponent take turns. One person sets out cows on a board, and the other secretly replaces 3 of the cows with monster tokens. The cow player tries to guess where the monsters are while the monster player kills off the cows. At the end of the round, living cows become points. Then the cow and monster players switch roles. The winner is the one with the most points at the end of the second round. There are any variety of strategies you can use for either side, and each game feels different. The second game is "Raid." Karl, one of the characters, dreams of making it big on the German board game scene. German board games are quickly becoming classics around the world for their emphasis on competing strategies, resource management, and maintaining a level playing field. "Monster" is a good example of what a German board game is really like. "Raid" is like Candyland played with Magic: The Gathering cards. It was clearly designed by someone who had never played a German game in his life. First of all, the game relies on random spins and card draws for movement around a racetrack to the end. German games don't use a race track design, that's a hallmark of classic American games. German games use a counting track to record points scored over the course of the game, but there's no end point to the course, it's just a scoring mechanism. There is NO strategy to playing the cards you're dealt beyond "what has the largest number in the current color category." There's really not an alternate way to play, whereas with most German games, you can try a variety of things. Monster, for example, allows you to place your cows and monsters as you like, and there are a couple ways you can set things up to better locate monsters/better hide your monsters. This is more in the spirit of Germany. Finally, no matter what you do, it is entirely possible for you to run out of cards except for 1 and not be able to draw more. This leads to sitting there, waiting for the game to beat you, which could be another boring 30 minutes. German games, with their focus on keeping things fun, don't usually leave you skunked. American games, however, will sometimes include player elimination or require players to continue even though there is no possible way to recover. "Raid" is an awful, miserable mini game that made me want to bang my head on the wall out of boredom when I got unlucky. It's also completely blind to the mechanics of German board games and why they've gained such popularity. If you would like to try an actual German game, please pick up Carcassone, Cataan, Kingsburg, or Ticket To Ride.

This game was awesome with intricate puzzles and tons of rooms to explore (secret passageways galore!). Kept me guessing who the villain might be up to the end. The character personalities/backstories were well thought out and I thought the ending was perfect. This game reminded me of other Nancy Drew games like Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, the Curse of Blackmoor Mannor, and Treasure in the Royal Tower (which was the best of all time). Overall, great game!

I found this game a bit awkward at first with getting lost in certain areas of the game. I still enjoyed playing it though.

another great mystery

Love this game, and the Nancy Drew series. So glad I got it, I recommend it for anyone who likes mystery/puzzle games.