Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor

Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor
Developer(s)	Her Interactive
Publisher(s)	DreamCatcher
Platform(s)	DVD player, Windows
Release date(s)	NA October 25, 2004 (Win) NA June 2006 (DVD)
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player

Curse of Blackmoor Manor is the eleventh installment, released in 2004, in the popular Nancy Drew computer game series created by Her Interactive. The game puts the player in Nancy Drew's shoes, where they must solve the mystery. The game features 3D graphical environments, interviewing suspects, and solving many different challenges and puzzles. The game is often abbreviated by fans as CUR or CBM. The game is based on the book The Bluebeard Room. It has received the highest PSV rating out of all of the games to date in the series. It is also the first game in the series that is set outside United States, and first to be set in Europe; Essex, England, to be precise.

In June 2006, Her Interactive released a DVD version of this game. This is the first time Bess & George are unavailable for hints. An email from them, on Nancy's phone, says they're at sailing camp.

Plot summary

Nancy Drew, famous teenage girl detective, has been asked to discover what strange malady is plaguing young bride Linda Penvellyn. Linda has taken to hiding behind a curtain in bed all day long, snapping orders and acting erratically. Linda's mother knows Carson Drew, Nancy's father, and wants to find a cure. She asks for Nancy to go to the mysterious Blackmoor Manor, a massive mansion rising from the depths of a murky British bog in the middle of a desolate area.

Upon Nancy's arrival, spooky things start happening right away - she hears a strange whisper that says her name and sees a huge pair of glowing red eyes staring at her through the night. Her fears are assuaged by the no-nonsense Mrs. Drake, who brings Nancy to her room. Nancy tries to talk to Linda, but she refuses to come out, lamenting with words that make no sense to the girl detective. Instead, Nancy meets up with another character - Jane Penvellyn. She is Linda's stepdaughter, and loves the supernatural world. She also has many games and puzzles in a hope chest in her room, and is excited for Nancy to become her new playmate.

As Nancy explores the mansion, she also encounters Ethel Bosinny, an elusive woman who is Jane's tutor, and Nigel Mookerjee, who is working on a book about the Penvellyn family history. It isn't long before Nancy's inquisitive nature kicks in, and she discovers an old computer belonging to Jane's grandfather. He has equipped it with a strange "find-the-ghost" game, making Nancy dash about the mansion looking for glowing ghost cutouts when she enters the computer's password. She soon solves the puzzle and learns of a secret passageway in the Manor's East Hall.

As the characters slowly begin to reveal their own dark secrets, Nancy talks to Linda. When she mentions that she found a secret passageway, Linda warns Nancy that "she'll be cursed, too." Nancy pressures Linda into revealing that she found a secret passage of her own by playing around with a gargoyle in the hallway. Using the Penvellyn family crest, Nancy opens the passage in question and discovers a strange curse etched above a door. It says that whoever reads it will become the fabled "Beast of Blackmoor." By looking into the creature's history and snooping, Nancy discovers that Linda thinks she is turning into a werewolf. This may seem silly, but Linda has developed a huge appetite for raw steaks - and her arms are mysteriously hairy.

Nancy delves deeper into the Penvellyn family history, and finds a rumor about a great treasure protected by the family. With the help of Jane and Loulou the Parrot, Nancy navigates the maze of hidden passageways deep within the basement and finds a hidden Alchemy lab and forge. In order to unlock its secrets, Nancy must "reunite the elements four" of air, water, earth, and fire. Using an old journal containing the Penvellyns past and some of her famous intuition, Nancy is able to do just that. In doing so, she forges a unique key that releases the fabled treasure. The treasure also summons the culprit to meet up with Nancy.

The end is resolved in the familiar way of Nancy writing home and tying up all loose ends of the case, explaining the culprit's motives and how they got away with it all. Then, as usual, a sneak peek into her next adventure is revealed.

Second chances

Like in all of the Nancy Drew games, there are many fatal mistakes that you can make which result in death, injury, or Nancy being taken off of the case. When that happens, you will go to the main menu and you can pick up just before you made the fatal mistake by clicking the Second Chance button.

• Playing around with Mrs. Drake's carnivorous plant.
• Waking up Mrs. Drake in the middle of the night.
• Feeding Jane's pet bird Loulou a cake with the wrong ingredients.
• Entering a wrong combination in the alchemy puzzle.
• Going into a pitfall in the maze.
• Not getting out of the way when the box falls at the end of the game.

Characters

Linda Penvellyn - A newlywed woman, who is hides behind bed curtains all day. She refuses to communicate or see anyone, with the exception of a few occasional words. She believes that she is turning into a werewolf due to a curse in a secret passageway.

Jane Penvellyn - A young, attention-deprived 12-year-old girl obsessed with the supernatural, astronomy, and her family's mysterious history. She loves playing games such as Bul and Constellation Match-up, and is excited at Nancy's arrival, so that the two of them can play games. Her birth parents are divorced.

Mrs. Drake - A strict woman who spends her days tending plants in the manor's conservatory. While she may seem uptight, she has a powerful belief in the supernatural world. However, if Linda departs from the mansion, a clause in her father's will would give her half of the mansion's property.

Nigel Mookerjee - A strangely secretive and jumpy historian, determined to write a chronology of the Penvellyns. He would like to be Jane's tutor but Mrs. Drake insisted on hiring Ethel to continue the Penvellyn tradition.

Ethel Bosinny - Jane's strict and somewhat unpleasant tutor. Her family, the Bossinys, have been the tutors for the Penvellyns for generations, and Ethel says that she likes to continue that tradition. She is conversationally odd and engages in some mysterious rituals with Jane in the Great Hall at midnight.

Ned Nickerson - Nancy's boyfriend; Ned is an unseen character who can be called by cellphone.

Mrs. Petrov - Linda's mother, also an unseen character who can only be reached by cell phone. She is worried and desperate for a solution to her daughter's illness.

Hugh Penvellyn - Jane's father. An unseen character, Hugh can be called using the telephone in Nancy's room.

Loulou - An intelligent 6-year-old parrot who gives hints and loves "yummy cakes."

Tommy - A cook who owns a pub. You can order food from him using the telephone in Nancy's room.

The Penvellyn legacy

The Penvellyn family dates back to feudal England, where patriarch Randolph was rumored to hold a great treasure. Disappointed with his son's performance on the battlefield (where Randolph was famous), the man instead entrusted the gift to his grandson after constructing Penvellyn Castle. Randolph designed an ingenious system of "moving rooms" and a giant forge that protected his treasure. Each Penvellyn grandchild was then expected to find the treasure by solving the moving rooms and discovering the family forge. Then, each child was to write an entry in an ancient journal describing their journey. They were then expected to craft some sort of puzzle as a buffer, each generation shielding the treasure with more security and offering clues to future descendants. Other Penvellyns aided in the quest by encoding their unique crests with clues to the treasure's key. The Penvellyn puzzle creators and descendants are:

• Randolph Penvellyn: The family patriarch; he created the massive "moving room" system.
• Milo Penvellyn: Grandson of Randolph; crafted the Jupiter column in the Great Hall and hid the missing thunderbolt key behind a moving tile system above Jane's door.
• Albert Penvellyn: Claiming to "lack his grandfather's ingenuity", he sealed the moving tiles and placed the key in the "singing staircase"; his entry in the journal gives Nancy a hint about how to bring the earth element to the forge.
• Charles Penvellyn: Hoping to help other descendants, he wove the tapestry containing the free-verse poem in Jane's room; this poem tells the order in which the tiles need to be arranged.
• Elinor Penvellyn: Rumored to be a witch; sculpted the Mercury statue and gave him the wand necessary for both his column and the fire for the forge; loved gargoyles.
• Corbin Penvellyn: Developed the "charmed chimes" that move the Mercury statue in the library; the chimes also move Mercury's eyes; the notes have to be played exactly right to release the statue's grip on the wand; his crest also tells how to open his grandmother's secret passageway.
• Penelope Penvellyn: Loved a "go fish"-style game played by her mechanical companion Betty; she created the Venus statue and hid its missing arrow key in her machine, to be given only to one who beat Betty in a special game; her entry in the journal tells how to bring the air back to the forge.
• Brigitte Penvellyn: Creator of many puzzles; made the Artemis column and placed its full moon key in a box in her room; the compartment the box is in needs to be opened with a special telescope-like lens, which also offers a clue for getting the Venus arrow from her grandmother's machine. Nancy sleeps in her former room.
• Edward Penvellyn: An explorer; made the Saturn column and hid its missing clock key in a secret slide; a target on the wall has to be hit to release the clock key that opens the column.
• John Charles Harold Penvellyn: Author of children's book Grenny and the Water Fairy and former owner of Loulou; creator of the Mars column; his book which is actually a coded message reveals the location of the knight's helmet key needed to complete his column; offered a clue about the water in the journal.
• Alan Penvellyn: Enjoyed computers and technology; created a "find-the-ghost" game that hints about Edward's secret passageway and the way to the Saturn column; his entry in the journal also gives a helpful shortcut through the moving rooms downstairs.
• Jane Penvellyn: The newest Penvellyn grandchild; eventually, she too will make a puzzle to aid in the quest for the treasure; however, Nancy Drew actually passes her ancestors' tests for her during the course of the game.

Cast

• Nancy Drew/Loulou – Lani Minella
• Mrs. Drake – Amy Broomhall
• Jane Penvellyn – Conni Ellern
• Linda Penvellyn – Jenn Ruzumna
• Ethel Bosinny – Sarah Papineau
• Nigel Mookerjee – Stephen Hando
• Mrs. Petrov – Dora Lanier
• Ned Nickerson – Scott Carty
• Hugh Penvellyn/Tommy Tucker/Alan Penvellyn – Jonah von Spreecken
• Paliki Vadas – Alyssa Keene

Reception

Jinny Gudmundsen of USA Today gave the game a 4 ½ stars out of five, saying "best for teens 13 and up because it's a little scarier, its puzzles are harder, and its themes of witchcraft, lycanthropy, and alchemy make it more appropriate for an older audience". Lonnie Brown of The Ledger also gave the game a positive review, saying "The graphics are well done, and the music and characters fit the mood" and called the "second chance" button a "very nice feature".

Laura MacDonald of Adventure Gamers gave the game a mixed review (4 out of 5 stars), complimenting the graphics, cinematics and animation but felt the "non-linear gameplay can leave a player lost if they don’t play a sustained game; though the story is well done, could have been more developed". However, she called it an overall "solid addition to the series and likely the best Nancy Drew game of them all...this is a definite buy".

Tally Ho of Just Adventure gave the game a positive review, calling the graphics "the best of the series" and enlarged playing are a "good thing". However, Ho thought "forcing the player to repeat a fairly difficult task again and again, even after beating it is really unfair".

External links

• Curse of Blackmoor Manor by Her Interactive
• Curse of Blackmoor Manor DVD Game by Her Interactive
• Curse of Blackmoor Manor at MobyGames
• Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor by GameHouse

Preceded by The Secret of Shadow Ranch

Nancy Drew Computer Games

Succeeded by Secret of the Old Clock