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Following a trip to Hollywood to solve a movie mystery and then moving on to Paris to bring her investigative skills to bear on the high fashion industry, Nancy Drew might consider that a holiday rest was on the cards.  Unfortunately that was not to be the case as word reaches her of some unexplained explosions and worries over a wild animal.  It was time to pack her bags yet again and this time travel to the wilderness resort known as Icicle Creek Lodge.  So starts the adventure of The White Wolf of Icicle Creek.

The game starts in the familiar Nancy Drew fashion with a visit to our intrepid heroine’s bedroom.  Here you will be introduced to the various controls, icons and tasks that make up this Nancy Drew mystery.  A “How to be a Detective” book provides information about moving around, finding clues, using the inventory, talking to people, and how to adjust the passing of time to enable you to complete all the necessary tasks within the allotted time span.  Basically this means that arrows indicate the directions in which you can move and you magnifying glass icon changes colour when touching areas that can be investigated further.

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When holding conversations with others in the adventure you will hear the words spoken by the various characters and see the text printed at the bottom of the screen.  From time to time you will be given a choice of selecting Nancy’s response to various remarks and these are selected by clicking with the mouse.  A new addition with this adventure is the appearance of two groups of icons appearing on the lower left and right side of the screen.  Those on the left represent items that Nancy will need while those on the right side are there for the player and cover such actions as quit, save and load.

Before starting the game you are given the choice of playing in either Junior or Senior Detective mode.  As a Junior Detective you will be given more hints and slightly easier puzzle that will need to be solved.

Following a fairly lengthy introductory sequence involving various conversations that require no user input and covers Nancy’s arrival at the Lodge to work undercover as a maid, you then get to take over control of the young detective.  Your first task is to explore your own room at the Lodge.  You quickly discover that there will be plenty of work to keep Nancy busy as you read through the list of jobs that Nancy will need to tackle in her role as a maid.  Cleaning rooms and checking on laundry are just the tip of the iceberg as far as a maid’s work load goes at the holiday lodge.  Nancy will also need to help out with skating pond maintenance, checking the sauna, reporting on criminal activity to the local sheriff and being aware of the dangers of avalanches.

Just what is the reason for the explosions damaging the lodge?  Who was responsible for the case of food poisoning threatening the health of guests?  And how does the white wolf fit into the mystery?  In order to discover the answer to these questions and others that pop up from time to time, Nancy will need to complete numerous tasks, some more challenging than others.  While looking for clues and question characters, Nancy will ride a snowmobile, get involve in a snowball fight, settle disputes, solve puzzles and even feed the guests.

Your view of this game is through the eyes of Nancy as you explore various locations whether indoors or the snowbound outdoors.  While you have a reasonable amount of freedom with regards to movement, some avenues of access are blocked to stop you wandering too far off the beaten path.  There were one or two niggles within the game’s make-up that some could find annoying.  No sign of footprints in the snow where you have been walking and discarded notes returning to their original location after being read are prime examples that immediately spring to mind.

Nancy Drew The White Wolf of Icicle Creek will provide numerous hours of investigative game play.  At times some of the conversational sequences were a little drawn out with no means of cutting them short but they do help flesh out the story.  Priced at £9.99, the game requires a 1.0GHz processor with 1GB of hard disk space, 512MB of RAM running Windows XP and later.

http://www.focusmm.co.uk/shop/Nancy-Drew-White-Wolf-of-Icicle-Creek-pr-1680.html