Recent reviews by memerick

I'm a huge fan of the HerInteractive Nancy Drew games, and "The Haunting of Castle Malloy" is no exception to this addiction! I found this game to be really fun, I loved the change of scenery with Ireland.

If you're already a fan of these games, I'd recommend adding this one to your queue. If not, it would be a fun game to introduce you to the rest!

I've been an avid fan of the Nancy Drew games since HerInteractive first started producing the games. The first game I ever played was the second computer game to come out called "Mesage in a Haunted Mansion." And of course, since then, I've been totally addicted to all games by HerInteractive.

This game happens to be one of my favourites. I never managed to complete this game when I was younger, but as an adult, I realy enjoyed it--especially since I took two years of studying Japanese language and culture since then! Given the background I've had with Japanese, I found most of the puzzles to be fairly easy. But there were a few challenging ones that I really enjoyed. The one that immediately comes to mind is fixing the portrait hanging wires at the beginning of the game and Nancy learning how to write her own name in katakana!

I think anyone who is a fan of Nancy Drew already will enjoy this game. And if you're new to Nancy Drew, I don't think this is an especially bad game to start with, all considering it's got some pretty good jump scares and doesn't require much background context about Nancy Drew, the other characters, and the previous games.

Overall, a great game! Have fun!

Waka. Waka. Waka. Waka. Waka. Waka.

Man, when you say his name over-and-over again like that, it kind of sounds like the Pacman noise!

Anyway, **wink wink** Idea Factory **nudge nudge** make Waka a route! **gets down on knees** Please, I'm begging you. He just looks so freaking cool! **tears up**

Anyway. Right, so the review!

Fantastic stroyline. Amazing art. Great voice acting, music, and audio. I literally have no complaints. It was worth every penny, though I think I did get it on a small discount. If I had any complaints, it would be about the price. But that being said, the character routes are long (in a good way), and new characters are still being churned out. So the way I see it, I'm just investing in some more fantastic add-on's and routes to the game. And, well, I won't argue that. Keep all that good and hard work going, Idea Factory. Oh, and, psst'... WAKA!

**Warning: some possible spoilers!**

Well...

... okay, so here it is, in one clear, but disturbing word: incest.

I don't get it. I don't understand why there has to be incest. I find it creepy and gross in fact. In this game, while it's only implicit, I can't shake off the heebie jeebies and creepy crawlies if you know what I mean. And somehow, I just don't think that this implicit incest iis actually necessary to the plotline. Really, I think it could jave been written more successfully without it. Imagine instead of all the characters being related in some manner by memory, that these "warriors" are rather just non-familial characters (i.e. best friend, family friend, the new lord of the mansion, a guard, a member of the mansion staff, etc.) Seriously though, the list could go on and on. Yet, they choose characters impressed with the memory of family members, like the female protagonist's father and brother. EW! How can you have sex with your FATHER!? Especially if he REMEMBERS being your father? NO. NO. NO. On top of that, it's implied that ALL her family members were kind of in love with her in a not-so-familial way if you catch my drift. Honestly, that's just wrong. The game's just wrong.

Don't waste your time. Don't waste your money. However, don't give up on Dogenzeka Lab! They have another game (and even more that I haven't played) called "The Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuyu" (and while it has some maybe not so innocent themes, it's nowhere near the level of wrongness that is this game).

So... the best otome game over? Honestly, yes.

It's really got everything, and I have absolutely no complaints. I love the art. As for audio, its got great voice acting and music. But really, it's the characters that make the game for me. Maybe I love cas, bunnies, and animals too much, or maybe I just have a thing for animal ears, but this game is adorable! I personally like Jisoo the most, but that's just one woman's opinion (plus, I still have yet to play the routes of all the characters).

If there were anything to complain about at all, it might be the price, but that being said, there's sales on Steam all the time. Keep any eye on it, and you never know, it might have a nice, fat discount! But well, even if it's only a few dollars off, I'd recommend buying it. With how high quality this game is, I think it's worth the money.

So the bottom line is... awesome game, and I'd totally recommend buying it.

Overall it's a good game, especially as far as limited availability of otome games go. It does have a unique spin in that the men are the prositutues and the women (possibly even some men [it isnt clear] too) are the customers. I like that this otome game pushes against these stereotypes regarding gender roles. It's definitely a step outside the normal boundaries and paramenters of tpyical otome games. But that being said, it's only a small stone's through from that boundary line. The female protagonist is still much like all female protagonists you run into with otome games. Clumsy. Inexperienced. Oblivious. It's amazing to think that any girl, and really, in the case of this game anyway, a coming-of-age woman, could be so naiive regarding *cough cough* adult matters. *cough cough*

While I do really like the premise, I think certain character routes are lackluster. For certain characters, there's hardly any draw. In my opinion, the most interesting of the several options is Iroha's route. I won't reveal any secrets or spoilers, but let's just say, it has an interesting twist that I wasn't expecting (and that I personally, found to be a pleasant surprise).

As for the art and audio... the art is fantastic. I won't even try to dispute that one. It took me a little while to get used to the art since it's a little more stylisitc than I think most otome game, but as I kept playing, I came to actually really like the art. And the audio is for the most part, alright. There's not any voice acting of the character, but I'm not particularly bothered by that. There is music which is nice, but sometimes I wish they'd toyed more with certain sound effects or something just to change things up a little bit.

Like I said at the beginning, overall, it's a good game. It's not at the top of my list of otome games though. Even if it's not my number one of otome games to play, I think it definitely has its merits and should be recognized for that.

"Nancy Drew: the Ghost of Thornton Hall" ranks in my top five favourite Nancy Drew games produced by Herinteractive. This game is by far the spookiest though, from the random shadows that fleet across the screen to other strange happenings. If you're faint-of-heart, you might like another one of the Nancy Drew games better, or at the very least, don't play this one at night! :-P All-in-all though, the graphics, storyline, and characters are really engaging. Herinteractive really strived to make this game one of their best yet. I have few qualms with the game itself--some of the puzzles were a little too challenging for me, but it's definitely a good brain tease at the very least! Many of the Nancy Drew games recently have really focused on visiting a variety of countries to welcome new cultures to the game. While I fully approve of this notion, some of the games come off as a wee bit stereotyped. This particular game, however, is not one of them. This game has a true sense of place because it's not just aiming to put another Herinteractive flag on the map. The location itself doesn't really pertain much to the game (though it is stated), which in my opinion, makes the gameplay so much more realistic. :-)