Navigating the lodge and the icy tundra beyond isn’t as easy as it should be. Pointing the Wii Remote at interactive elements changes the cursor to let you know what can be handled. This works fine, but moving is a frustrating step-by-step endeavor. You’ll jump from one section of a room to the next, by clicking on directional areas that pop-up (if available) when you highlight edges of the screen.

Though you can turn to the left and right, or reverse your direction, it’s easy to get a bit confused on your special orientation. Even when you do get the hang of it, moving quickly around the game is nearly impossible. This is further hampered by lengthy load times during most room transitions that cause the pacing of lag on occasion.

Time can be adjusted manually by fiddling with an alarm clock located in your room. This is important for progressing, when you get stuck or are unable to proceed, since certain people can only be found about the lodge during different times of the day, and venturing outside into the cold can only be done when the temperatures have risen to safe levels. Speaking of which, staying out too long in the cold can have dire consequences. Exiting the safety and warmth of the lodge is necessary (and a good change of pace from the stuffy indoors). Entering the cold brings up a body temperature meter that slowly ticks down the longer you spend exposed to the elements. Don’t let it run out completely or poor Nancy will wind up as a Popsicle.

While Nancy sounds a bit older than her years, the hefty volume of voice work throughout the game is well done. As you meander through the lodge and into the snow beyond, you’ll also hear lots of atmospheric sounds like footsteps, growling, rustling, and other nuanced effects that add to the mystery vibe. The graphics are decent, yet they fail to impress. Most of the scenery looks good and characters are reasonably detailed. Animations, on the other hand, are overly mechanical.

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Nancy Drew’s console debut doesn’t make a huge splash, but it’s solid enough for fans that aren’t into PC gaming to take the series for a spin. The new Wii elements are nominal, and this mostly straight port seems like it belongs better on the PC. Still, the story is strong, a scalable level of challenge works well for younger or older players, and anyone who’s followed the digital adventures of Nancy Drew yet hasn’t played White Wolf will derive some enjoyment from the console version.

By Nathan Meunier
CCC Staff Contributor