Tweet
So I’ve just finished The Shattered Medallion – and it very much surprised me (but not for the reasons I was expecting). I’ve read some of the other forum reviews that have rated the game poorly (some of which I sorely disagree with – MED Is perfect summertime fluff just like the reality TV shows it tries to emulate). But rather than generalize, I’ll break out the game’s highs and lows in the following bullet points.
Pros:
Cons:
Overall, I found MED to be good, light-hearted entertainment. and rated it an 8 out of 10 – which makes it the perfect summertime Nancy Drew game! Not sure I’m ready for the next one however (yet another exotic, hot climate locale? Really?! And just when I was hoping for a spooky, chilly autumn adventure for Halloween!) Ah well, time to catch a plane and polish up on my ancient mythology…
See you in a few months, Nancy!
Pros:
- Bess Marvin – always fun, jubilant and Nancy’s best cheerleader. It was nice to see her put front and center with the supporting cast. She’s portrayed much more likeably here in MED than in previous entries where she’s appeared.
- Sonny Joon – an elusive trickster, that one (on many levels). Although he started off strong in the game’s opening moments, his charming persona and wonderfully endearing quirkiness seemed strangely muted by MED’s ultimate conclusion (I’d definitely like to see more of him in future ND games).
- Improved Exploration – absolutely there was more ground to cover in MED than what we’d seen in The Silent Spy. New Zealand made a nice-backdrop for an ND adventure. I still felt a bit of the gated theme park content while moving from Stage X to Stage Y but overall it felt good to get out and explore. I really do hope future ND games allow for more sandbox exploration that allows players to explore/solve puzzles in any order they choose at any time.
- Tent Confessions – some of the best and funniest dialogue material appears here (moreso than when Nancy is interviewing the contestants individually). I literally laughed out loud after listening to quite a few of them; it’s a shame there weren’t animations of the secondary contestants who were heard (and ultimately eliminated) off-screen.
- Underwater Sequences – driving the underwater sub was an absolute hoot! If any had any regrets, it’s that Nancy wasn’t able to explore more of the undersea area. Absolutely, HER could use this style of gameplay again in a future adventure – maybe Nancy goes deep-sea diving in search of Atlantis…?
Cons:
- George Fayne – honestly, where’s George?! After all the teaser trailer adverts suggesting she’d be Nancy’s partner for this adventure, I was seriously disappointed to find that she was sidelined in the medical tent for the whole thing! I’ve really enjoyed George’s tomboy banter/antics in previous ND games. Of course, her absence made a stronger case for Bess to come from and center so I guess it’s a fair trade-off. In future though, it’d be nice to see more rotating gameplay between Nancy, George and Bess (like we saw in Alibi in Ashes, Ransom of Seven Ships and Legend of the Crystal Skull).
- Nancy Drew – much as I love Nancy, at certain times in MED’s game dialogue, she sounded a bit testy and sarcastic. That’s not usually how she comes across in ND games (at least to me) but then again, she was reacting to some pretty unusual personalities in the supporting cast.
- Weak Dialogue – so while the contestant confessions were absolutely brilliant, the actual suspect interviews were pretty dull and boring to sit through. Nancy wasn’t asking many questions and when she *did* ask questions, the responses she received usually amounted to “hmmm” or “oh” or a random awkward joke from Patrick. Much as I love Jamila as a character (and would love for her to come back a third time), she talked more for minutes on end than Nancy was able to ask her questions and prompt the conversation along. Absolutely half the fun of watching Nancy’s interviews is seeing how she chooses to ask questions and what she chooses to ask about; the other half is just seeing how the NPCs respond. Absolutely MED’s cast of characters definitely had some funny commentary but overall I didn’t feel like Nancy had to be there to elicit such responses (if that makes sense).
- Simple Puzzles – I could be wrong but didn’t feel like there were a lot of puzzles in this one (and what we did have felt a little too easy). I usually play on Senior Detective and I got through half the game without struggling for hours/days over certain brain twisters like I usually do – so either I’m getting smarter or the puzzles are getting easier). One of these days I really hope HER Interactive takes a page from the Myst/Lara Croft song book and starts utilizing physical environment puzzles for Nancy/the player to ponder in tandem with the cerebral “think fast” puzzles. Definitely don’t take away from my ability to explore new areas for clues though – I think we all love searching for clues!
- THAT ending – I won’t spoil it for anyone but the ending definitely left me feeling a bit unfulfilled. I could tell the comic book was hinting at a very philosophical conclusion (and in many ways it was) but the final puzzle was deeply confusing, and the final culprit reveal felt detached from the overall story. Yes, I knew from previous ND games that the person causing problems was the bad guy but here I just wasn’t quite clear about their motivations. I also would have liked for Nancy/the player to save the day as we’ve done in games past; leaving it up to NPCs instead really felt like an abrupt end to an otherwise fun diversion!
Overall, I found MED to be good, light-hearted entertainment. and rated it an 8 out of 10 – which makes it the perfect summertime Nancy Drew game! Not sure I’m ready for the next one however (yet another exotic, hot climate locale? Really?! And just when I was hoping for a spooky, chilly autumn adventure for Halloween!) Ah well, time to catch a plane and polish up on my ancient mythology…
See you in a few months, Nancy!
, I have had so much fun here and made so many memories. The boards may be all but dead but I will forever cherish this place, even if I never return to it. Thank you to you all 
R4JC!! 
Comment