Nancy Drew®: Trail of the Twister

I love nancy drew games, but this particular game in the series was a little dissapointing. when playing a nancy drew game you expect to have an interesting plot that makes you feel like you are part of the mystery, but the plot to this game did not live up to the thrill of previous games in the series. it was a little lame because of the lack of danger present, the feeling that someone is out to get rid of you is very weak in this game, which is upsetting because that was a great strength of the other games. some of the puzzles were frustrating, but others were alot of fun and rewarding. definitely not one of the best of the series, but it is still a good game. the few frustrations only showed up a few times in the game so it isnt really that big of a deal. I give it a 6/10, but if your more of a mainstream gamer, I wouldnt suggest this game to you, its for those who enjoy casual games.

For anyone receiving the ERROR CODE that will not allow you to play, go to properties, and enter this code into the BETA section:
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This worked for me!

All the hardcore ND fans seem to hate this one, but I liked it a lot, mostly because of the puzzles. They were mostly logic and spatial-awareness based, and the main way to earn money was a fun circuit-connection puzzle. I had a lot of fun catching the mice each time, loved the grocery budget task, etc. I also liked the candy collection...That's one thing about ND games of late that is so much fun--buying souvenirs. I get a kick out of collecting everything, even if I don't need to in order to complete the game.
There's not much of a plot here, which I think is why most ND fans aren't keen on it, so don't buy it if that's the main reason you play these games. I don't much care about the mystery itself, I'm just here for the puzzles and exploration. The characters aren't super memorable except for Pa--poor, sweet Pa--and the rooms you get to explore are few compared to other ND games.
The way the game flows from task to task seemed very intuitive to me. With a lot of these titles I have a hard time figuring out what to do next so I'll have to consult walkthroughs or call for hints a lot, but with this one I didn't have much of an issue. All the dots connected neatly and I wasn't left wondering whether I hadn't completed something.
Get it on a sale if you can, but I recommend it for sure.

I hate how low the opinion is of this nancy game! It's one of my favs for sure! The characters are so funny and the ending was definitely one of the most exciting. Yes, there's a lot of puzzles, but the story is super rich too! I loved it!

I can see why Nancy Drew gamers didn't favor this game, but I don't think it deserves the negative reviews. It's a great quick starter if you're new to the series. I guess it depends on who you are targeting with your review. I think the "official" reviews chosen by the delevoper say it best: It's a solid addition; play it with your daughter.

One of the weakest ND games I've played (I've played around of third of them, mostly the older titles) so it would not be one I would ever recommend to someone new to the series. It does have some bright spots though that keep me from giving it the thumbs down.
The puzzles were numerous and varied. Many were of a similar type, but there was a nice and natural progression in difficulty I didn't really notice until far along in the game. I particularly enjoyed the camera puzzle, despite it taking me the longest to complete. The mouse trap chore/puzzle appeared a few times too many; it was one of the easier and more tedious puzzles so it was annoying that it appeared so often. The tv puzzle was nauseating and I hate it.
However, despite the mostly engaging puzzles, the puzzles themselves were not tied well to the storyline/mystery. Most of the time they were random chores and tasks given to us by characters that didn't lead to any new information. Given that the storm-chasing characters always seemed frantic and keen to remind us that the weather can change at any moment, I think a few of the puzzles ought to have been timed just to create some sort of tenseness (and the one timed puzzle in the game technically was optional too).
Which brings me to my biggest criticism of the game: it just lacked any sense of suspense. We do very little snooping around in people's stuff and, when we do, it's pretty clear we don't need to worry about being caught. No one seems to suspect that Nancy is anything but the intern who is supposed to fix every goshdarned thing that breaks. None of the characters seem too concerned about the 100 million dollar prize nor that anything is going wrong. Even during the villain reveal, I didn't realize the villain reveal was happening until the "villain" music started up halfway through. I just thought a character was having a fairly understandable breakdown.
Other Notes:
-Probably my favorite thing to do was offer characters candy and then give them cheese instead and have them either be disgusted/angry/confused/worried about Nancy's well-being.
-the characters all felt fairly grounded/believable, though not as well-developed as I would have liked. I think a lot of the fun in these games is learning about character's pasts and secrets; here, Pa and especially Scott were great though.
-the music was generally upbeat and, while as music it was fine, definitely played apart in the lack of suspense/energy the game had.
-some of the locations were really beautiful
-there is some interesting commentary on the commercialization of universities and academia at the cost of the well-being of students and faculty. For example, Nancy only ends up with the case because some wealthy business man is worried about not making money, the news article about the college students upset about their university choosing to let in new businesses and moving the mascot statue in front of the bike racks to make room for the new businesses, Scott not getting tenure in part because of a lack of research with practical applications, Frosty having to make sketchy money on the side because his contract doesn't allow him to use his own photos in his portfolio
- I'm glad the punishment for the "villain" was only community service , but it was frustrating watching Debbie be rewarded for actively attempting and succeeding in causing a colleague to have a mental breakdown

This is probably one of the least-liked Nancy Drew games in general, but it has a lot to offer if you're the kind who enjoys lots of puzzles and clear objectives. You won't spend a lot of time wandering around aimlessly and I felt that the pacing and amount of different activities made up where the story fell short.