A lot of fun | The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft ...

Not as refined as Nancy Drew but not bad for first effort | The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft

pc & video games:


	• The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft Windows \| Dreamcatcher Interactive, 2008 view larger image
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I don't understand the bad reviews

Why does everyone hate this game? When I got this game and saw that it was a third person point-and-click game as opposed to the Nancy Drew first person games, I was rather skeptical. However, I was proven wrong as this game was great fun and much more challenging than the Nancy Drew games.

Story-Frank and Joe Hardy work for an undercover teen crime fighting organization ATAC (American Teens Against Crime), and this organization sends them their next case which is to find out who robbed the safe at the Spencer Mansion and how they got through the unbreakable safe. I saw some reviewers were not happy that they are part of ATAC in this game. I understand that some fans liked the older books better, but I think the producers were basing Frank and Joe after the newer books since those are the ones in stores right now. I'm sorry for those who didn't like this part of the game, but please try to be open minded and enjoy it. It's not even a big part of the game!

Graphics-The backgrounds were okay, but what turned me off was that all of the characters have wedgies. I'm sorry, I just found that a bid distracting. But the characters are 3D, and I liked them.

Sound-The sound didn't stand out to me that much, but it was good enough that I didn't get sick of it. The voice acting was pretty good. There was room for improvement, however.

Gameplay-Like I said this is a 3rd person point-and-click game. Some of the locations at the beginning (at Spencer Mansion) are a little hard to figure out, but maybe I was just blind to those places. The puzzles are fun and hard. Most require you to put 2 objects together, but some required you to use your brain. Maybe some people didn't like that about the game. The reason I took off 1 star is because right when I was about to finish the game an important item disappeared from my inventory. I had to start the game over, but I loved the game so it wasn't that bad.

Fun-This game is really fun! Challenging and long, it has the things that the Nancy Drew games lack-and most other adventire games for that matter.

Length-This game probably took me about 3 weeks to finish the first time. I love replaying it, but now it only takes me about 12-15 hours. I think that is long, though.

Overall, I think the reason people don't like this game is because it is based on the newer books. I loved that, and I think some newer fans will, too. One glitch makes it not perfect, but otherwise, it is an awesome game!

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A lot of fun

I enjoyed this game. Had a lot of playtime and some humor to it.

Not as refined as Nancy Drew but not bad for first effort

Okay. I admit, as someone who's played all the Nancy Drew CD-R games, that this FIRST effort to produce a Hardy Boys mystery game has the usual issues and bugs you'd expect from a first-time effort. After all, when I played the Nancy Drew original game I was shocked at how bad the graphics and story line were and grateful for how improved the subsequent Nancy Drew games became. Sure, the Hardy Boys initial game has some issues - the comic book opening/closing is cheesy, the way the characters move looks like a bad Michael Jackson Moonwalk impression. Some of the voiceovers (e.g. Mom) could be a bit better - I disliked the storyline where the Dad lies to the Mom and she sounds like a shrew... but these are MINOR. Our son and we still enjoyed playing the game together and I don't think it should be completely panned (I suggest "to do" lists and junior/senior levels to help). Sometimes we had to go online to get hints as to where to go next - but we had to do that with Nancy Drew games as well.

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Enjoyable but could use improvements

My daughter and I are avid Nancy Drew computer game fans. We were really looking forward to having the Hardy Boys games to play in addition to the Nancy Drew. The plot and most of the puzzles were enjoyable, but there were a few frustrating things:
1. We got off to a very slow start at the beginning of the game with trying to get the keys, figuring out the cell phone and just getting out of the house.
2. At the hospital trying to figure out how to put on the white coats to get past the nurses station.
3. Opening up the locket, we ended up getting a cheat because we never found any clue on how to press the petals in the correct order.
4. Finally figuring out that we needed a "patch" to get the mouse to work properly and to keep the game from freezing up on us.
Pros: Being able to combine items in your inventory to use them together.
Cons: Map format used similar to Nancy Drew's Danger by Design which limits places to explore. Ending with the comic book graphic style pictures was disappointing.
We are hoping that the Hardy Boy games get better as they work out their kinks.
Last pet peeve, I would love to be able to get the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boy games that were made for the Nintendo DS in computer format

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In The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft, the vault of the Spencer Mansion is robbed, and the Bayport Police call on the Hardy Boys to help tie up some loose ends, but they soon find themselves in the middle of a major criminal investigation that takes them on an adventure all over Bayport, and even into New York City. But the pieces don't add up, and Frank and Joe find themselves embroiled in a drama of sinister proportions. Is the recent theft linked to something from the past? Can Frank and Joe find and decipher the clues in time to prevent another crime from happening?

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