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Hello! And welcome to my 8th review... the 2010 game Trail of the Twister! I recently finished this game & reviewed it, so please read on 
Trail of the Twister
Plot:
Nancy has been asked by P.G. Krolmeister to go undercover and investigate accidents that have been plaguing a prominent Oklahoma storm team research group. One of the interns broke his leg because their equipment was tampered with and now the group is in the running to win a 100 million dollar grant! You as Nancy Drew must get to the bottom of these unfortunate accidents before someone else gets hurt.
I think this plot had so much potential. I felt as though it was different in some ways than any other mystery. The location was different and sounded fun. Chasing tornados was a unique spin on solving a case. However, I felt as though the game fell short. Instead of investigating what was wrong with the equipment, you were doing chores, driving back & forth to different locations & taking pictures all of which had little to nothing to do with the plot. You were basically being yelled at the whole time & told to stop messing up even if you did nothing wrong. This is where the plot takes a turn for the worse. The time you spend trying to help this team is overshadowed by mundane chores & being spoken to rudely.
Characters:
Scott Varnell: Head of the storm team called “Canute Storm Chasers” he is also a professor at the local University. Pretty much all Scott does is sit in his office either telling you you’re useless & to stop messing up, or getting mad & blaming other people for messing up. He isn’t a pleasant character at all and I really didn’t want to talk to him, but unfortunately you have quite a bit of interaction with him.
Debbie Kircum: Debbie is Scott’s right hand woman but often gets overlooked for her hard work & dedication to the team. She mainly keeps to herself, working & tracking tornados and of course giving you chores to do every day. She’s not terribly friendly but she eventually opens up, she’s very passionate about her work and that can come across as her well, sort of yelling at you.
Chase Relerford: Chase is the mechanic & can pretty much fix anything from a computer to a car. Chase is only seen in the garage fixing a car that got destroyed while the team was chasing a tornado. He’s soft spoken & keeps to himself but is very friendly when you do speak with him.
Tobias “Frosty” Harlow: I just have to say as a side note, I love his name-so cool! Frosty is the storm team’s media expert he stays in the basement when he isn’t chasing storms and is somewhat friendly. He’s looking to gain fame & fortune from his experience on this team.
“Pa” Ochs: Pa runs “Ma ‘n Pa’s General Store”; he is a sweet older man, very friendly & is very familiar with the Oklahoma weather & tornados, being a native himself. Next to his general store is a little museum of knick-knacks he has saved & put on display in his spare time.
Just like in my review of CUR I feel a lot of these characters are here to fill the character spots. The culprit is pretty easy to spot & I wasn’t surprised when they showed themselves. Debbie is the person I feel as though you speak to the most & even then it’s just her yelling/telling you what things need to be repaired. Scott seems like he doesn’t want to be there half the time & yells at you for messing up even though you don’t. Frosty tries blaming you for something & it’s really dumb, like the way it goes down doesn’t make any sense. Chase is the most helpful & friendly & Pa gives you a lot of advice & insight on the two teams battling for the grant money. So all in all, I’d say this group of characters is so-so. None of them stand out to me as memorable, and no one’s personally shines through above the rest.
Settings/Graphics:
Ok so the setting is Oklahoma & you’re staying in a quaint little farm house, there’s also a garage & surrounding field. You can also drive your car to Ma ‘n Pa’s General Store, and a few others spots where you can stop & take pictures of the different cloud formations. I would’ve liked to see Nancy’s room, usually in all the other games you do! But when it’s time for bed she starts heading up the stairs & the next day starts so that was a little disappointing. The farmhouse was beautifully created & the surrounding area of the garage & field outside looked really believable. Hands down the most real-looking part was the tornado & the clouds/hail. The sky was just gorgeous & really put you in the game. Of course the graphics were very well done, as this is a newer game and no one was stiff & the words fit with all the character’s mouths.
Game Play/Puzzles:
This game was really short, *some of the tasks didn’t have to be completed in order for you to ‘win’ the game, so that cut down the playing time quite a bit. However, if you like puzzles this game is perfect for you because it’s literally ALL puzzles. You get to snoop through belongings twice, in the whole game. And for me, snooping is my favorite; I don’t like being told to do stuff every time I have free time. I just feel like I was yelled at the whole game even though I was fixing everyone else’s mistakes. There’s also a mini game you play at the general store & at first I didn’t get it but then got the hang of it & won, but it’s really confusing at first. There are directions & maybe I’m just not that bright but it took me a lot of tries before I won. I’d say some of the puzzles are easy like really easy & some I just flat out didn’t understand like the generator puzzle in the garage *(you don’t need this to win the game though). Another thing that I don’t think was thought through was driving. You input your current location then the location you want to go to, and then you just see the road, so you don’t even know where you’re going, you have to memorize the map. It makes no sense to me & was very confusing when you had to go to a new place. Why isn’t the GPS on the same screen?! To sum it up, you may or may not need cheats but this is just another ND game riddled with puzzle after puzzle.
Scare Factor:
I’m only reviewing this aspect of it as to keep continuity from my other reviews but this game isn’t in the least bit scary. Nothing pops out at you; there aren’t even any creepy moments. It’s the least scary ND game I’ve ever played. You can play it at 3 in the morning with all the lights out & you wouldn’t be scared, but you might fall asleep from being so bored.
Music:
Good old honky-tonk southern music! You’re in Oklahoma so the music definitely is light & feathery with a touch of southern feel. It reminded me of the music in SHA. The music was good; don’t get me wrong, just not my favorite. It was also repetitive just like in SAW.
Ending:
The ending was a little better than the game overall. I knew who the culprit was so it wasn’t surprising in any way. It was a lengthy ending which I appreciated & it was different than some of the other more simple endings, so that was good! There wasn’t anything else too special about the ending other than it was a fast-paced you have to do the right thing type of ending but then it just kind of stops & Nancy starts explaining what happened at the end.
Overall:
Eh. That’s how I would describe this game. It’s nothing but chores, puzzles & getting yelled at. The only good qualities are the rare moments you get to snoop (twice I believe), taking pictures, shopping for what goes in a tornado kit & the scenery. The ending was also good but it’s just not a great game to me. However, I do not like puzzle riddled games if you’ve read any of my other reviews. If you like a lot of puzzles with minimal snooping this game is for you!
As always thank you for reading my review! Please leave comments, opinions etc, below... and happy sleuthing!
Trail of the Twister
Plot:
Nancy has been asked by P.G. Krolmeister to go undercover and investigate accidents that have been plaguing a prominent Oklahoma storm team research group. One of the interns broke his leg because their equipment was tampered with and now the group is in the running to win a 100 million dollar grant! You as Nancy Drew must get to the bottom of these unfortunate accidents before someone else gets hurt.
I think this plot had so much potential. I felt as though it was different in some ways than any other mystery. The location was different and sounded fun. Chasing tornados was a unique spin on solving a case. However, I felt as though the game fell short. Instead of investigating what was wrong with the equipment, you were doing chores, driving back & forth to different locations & taking pictures all of which had little to nothing to do with the plot. You were basically being yelled at the whole time & told to stop messing up even if you did nothing wrong. This is where the plot takes a turn for the worse. The time you spend trying to help this team is overshadowed by mundane chores & being spoken to rudely.
Characters:
Scott Varnell: Head of the storm team called “Canute Storm Chasers” he is also a professor at the local University. Pretty much all Scott does is sit in his office either telling you you’re useless & to stop messing up, or getting mad & blaming other people for messing up. He isn’t a pleasant character at all and I really didn’t want to talk to him, but unfortunately you have quite a bit of interaction with him.
Debbie Kircum: Debbie is Scott’s right hand woman but often gets overlooked for her hard work & dedication to the team. She mainly keeps to herself, working & tracking tornados and of course giving you chores to do every day. She’s not terribly friendly but she eventually opens up, she’s very passionate about her work and that can come across as her well, sort of yelling at you.
Chase Relerford: Chase is the mechanic & can pretty much fix anything from a computer to a car. Chase is only seen in the garage fixing a car that got destroyed while the team was chasing a tornado. He’s soft spoken & keeps to himself but is very friendly when you do speak with him.
Tobias “Frosty” Harlow: I just have to say as a side note, I love his name-so cool! Frosty is the storm team’s media expert he stays in the basement when he isn’t chasing storms and is somewhat friendly. He’s looking to gain fame & fortune from his experience on this team.
“Pa” Ochs: Pa runs “Ma ‘n Pa’s General Store”; he is a sweet older man, very friendly & is very familiar with the Oklahoma weather & tornados, being a native himself. Next to his general store is a little museum of knick-knacks he has saved & put on display in his spare time.
Just like in my review of CUR I feel a lot of these characters are here to fill the character spots. The culprit is pretty easy to spot & I wasn’t surprised when they showed themselves. Debbie is the person I feel as though you speak to the most & even then it’s just her yelling/telling you what things need to be repaired. Scott seems like he doesn’t want to be there half the time & yells at you for messing up even though you don’t. Frosty tries blaming you for something & it’s really dumb, like the way it goes down doesn’t make any sense. Chase is the most helpful & friendly & Pa gives you a lot of advice & insight on the two teams battling for the grant money. So all in all, I’d say this group of characters is so-so. None of them stand out to me as memorable, and no one’s personally shines through above the rest.
Settings/Graphics:
Ok so the setting is Oklahoma & you’re staying in a quaint little farm house, there’s also a garage & surrounding field. You can also drive your car to Ma ‘n Pa’s General Store, and a few others spots where you can stop & take pictures of the different cloud formations. I would’ve liked to see Nancy’s room, usually in all the other games you do! But when it’s time for bed she starts heading up the stairs & the next day starts so that was a little disappointing. The farmhouse was beautifully created & the surrounding area of the garage & field outside looked really believable. Hands down the most real-looking part was the tornado & the clouds/hail. The sky was just gorgeous & really put you in the game. Of course the graphics were very well done, as this is a newer game and no one was stiff & the words fit with all the character’s mouths.
Game Play/Puzzles:
This game was really short, *some of the tasks didn’t have to be completed in order for you to ‘win’ the game, so that cut down the playing time quite a bit. However, if you like puzzles this game is perfect for you because it’s literally ALL puzzles. You get to snoop through belongings twice, in the whole game. And for me, snooping is my favorite; I don’t like being told to do stuff every time I have free time. I just feel like I was yelled at the whole game even though I was fixing everyone else’s mistakes. There’s also a mini game you play at the general store & at first I didn’t get it but then got the hang of it & won, but it’s really confusing at first. There are directions & maybe I’m just not that bright but it took me a lot of tries before I won. I’d say some of the puzzles are easy like really easy & some I just flat out didn’t understand like the generator puzzle in the garage *(you don’t need this to win the game though). Another thing that I don’t think was thought through was driving. You input your current location then the location you want to go to, and then you just see the road, so you don’t even know where you’re going, you have to memorize the map. It makes no sense to me & was very confusing when you had to go to a new place. Why isn’t the GPS on the same screen?! To sum it up, you may or may not need cheats but this is just another ND game riddled with puzzle after puzzle.
Scare Factor:
I’m only reviewing this aspect of it as to keep continuity from my other reviews but this game isn’t in the least bit scary. Nothing pops out at you; there aren’t even any creepy moments. It’s the least scary ND game I’ve ever played. You can play it at 3 in the morning with all the lights out & you wouldn’t be scared, but you might fall asleep from being so bored.
Music:
Good old honky-tonk southern music! You’re in Oklahoma so the music definitely is light & feathery with a touch of southern feel. It reminded me of the music in SHA. The music was good; don’t get me wrong, just not my favorite. It was also repetitive just like in SAW.
Ending:
The ending was a little better than the game overall. I knew who the culprit was so it wasn’t surprising in any way. It was a lengthy ending which I appreciated & it was different than some of the other more simple endings, so that was good! There wasn’t anything else too special about the ending other than it was a fast-paced you have to do the right thing type of ending but then it just kind of stops & Nancy starts explaining what happened at the end.
Overall:
Eh. That’s how I would describe this game. It’s nothing but chores, puzzles & getting yelled at. The only good qualities are the rare moments you get to snoop (twice I believe), taking pictures, shopping for what goes in a tornado kit & the scenery. The ending was also good but it’s just not a great game to me. However, I do not like puzzle riddled games if you’ve read any of my other reviews. If you like a lot of puzzles with minimal snooping this game is for you!
As always thank you for reading my review! Please leave comments, opinions etc, below... and happy sleuthing!
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