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porticoi don't like this game, but for some reason i continually forget that i don't like it, so i've replayed it a few times. every time i do, i think to myself: that's the last time i'm ever going to replay that. and then i forget, and do it again. maybe putting it in writing is the ticket. so, DOOR: DO NOT REPLAY THE WHITE WOLF OF ICICLE CREEK.
there's nothing BAD in it per se, it just feels like a rehash of a couple other games i enjoy more, and includes several puzzles that frustrate the hell out of me every time. but i'll get to that. the white wolf of icicle creek sees nancy traveling to alberta, canada to investigate a series of incidents which seem like sabotage at a remote bed and breakfast. nancy gets the gig courtesy of bess & george's aunt and uncle the rawleys, whose ranch nancy saved 6 games ago. and they're not the only call-back--nancy also has to work with tino balducci (from the train), who is consulting by phone after he flirted his way into the gig (and is actually getting paid, which nancy of course is not).
the gist of the case is that things keep going wrong at icicle creek lodge--from food poisonings, to clear stairs getting covered with ice, to an entire outbuilding exploding--and also there's a wolf about. the wolf hasn't done anything, but it's around and sometimes it howls and folks are freaked out. the lodge's maid and cook both quit shortly before nancy arrived, so she suggests that she take on both of those roles in order to get closer to the guests without them getting suspicious. how this works out for the player is you cook a lot of meals.
the folks at the lodge are, clockwise from upper left; ollie randall, the lodge's handyman who mainly spends the game cleaning his rifle and threatening to kill the wolf (his daughter frankie is also present, but she spends all her time in a snow fort outside pelting people with snow balls. nancy pelts her back and earns her undying respect); yanni volkstaia, professional cross-country skier from fake eastern european country fredonia who is there to train (between him and jacques i feel like someone at her interactive does not like skiers); guadalupe comillo, a bird-watcher with truly baffling hair; bill kessler, an avid ice fisherman; and lou talbot, art student with a focus on land art who spends his days snowshoeing. between frankie being a non-character and guadalupe leaving midway through the game (and she's extremely elusive--it's actually possible to manage never to speak to her in person, although you can call her later) it's a real dudefest in canada.
i think the reason i keep replaying this game is because i remember the fun parts of it and forget how LONG it takes to get to them. much like the orca in deception island, the wolf is more than a wild animal, although the game goes out of its way to emphasize that wolves are NOT dogs and should NOT be treated like them (while also requiring you to issue specific commands to the wolf in order to solve several puzzles...). it's another game in which nancy is solving puzzles set out by an historic eccentric which have nothing to do with the case she's on but ultimately doing so allows her to solve it. which is a formula i am fine with! it's just that the puzzles in this one are maddening.
the one that drives most people nuts is the fox and geese board game. the first time i played white wolf i literally called in an expert (my friend's little brother who is a whiz with patterns--he's now a roboticist) to solve it for me. i'm patient enough to do it myself now, but the kicker is that you have to solve it three times. takes ages. there's also a puzzle involved when nancy is asked to clear snow off the skating pond that's basically minesweeper. i have always been shit at minesweeper. and finally, there's a journal in code. why are these historic eccentrics always putting their damn journals in code.
but the most frustrating thing for me this play-through was how much time i spent on the phone. nancy has to call the guests who already checked out after mishaps and get their side of things, she has to call the sheriff, she calls avalanche patrol, she calls a random canadian geologist whose piece of tech she stumbles across (her i liked a lot actually--more canadian geologists in games please), she calls the local hospital. maddeningly, there seemed to be a difference between how you were meant to dial local--canadian--numbers versus calling american ones. which makes sense in real life, but nancy drew doesn't even experience time zones, so naturally i assumed that country codes weren't a real thing either.
anyway, the endgame IS fun (even if the culprit is...i wouldnt say problematic but. lazy, maybe), it just feels like hours of wading through deep snow to get there. so that's it! never playing it again ever. and the moral is more canadian geologist ladies in video games.
there's nothing BAD in it per se, it just feels like a rehash of a couple other games i enjoy more, and includes several puzzles that frustrate the hell out of me every time. but i'll get to that. the white wolf of icicle creek sees nancy traveling to alberta, canada to investigate a series of incidents which seem like sabotage at a remote bed and breakfast. nancy gets the gig courtesy of bess & george's aunt and uncle the rawleys, whose ranch nancy saved 6 games ago. and they're not the only call-back--nancy also has to work with tino balducci (from the train), who is consulting by phone after he flirted his way into the gig (and is actually getting paid, which nancy of course is not).
the gist of the case is that things keep going wrong at icicle creek lodge--from food poisonings, to clear stairs getting covered with ice, to an entire outbuilding exploding--and also there's a wolf about. the wolf hasn't done anything, but it's around and sometimes it howls and folks are freaked out. the lodge's maid and cook both quit shortly before nancy arrived, so she suggests that she take on both of those roles in order to get closer to the guests without them getting suspicious. how this works out for the player is you cook a lot of meals.
the folks at the lodge are, clockwise from upper left; ollie randall, the lodge's handyman who mainly spends the game cleaning his rifle and threatening to kill the wolf (his daughter frankie is also present, but she spends all her time in a snow fort outside pelting people with snow balls. nancy pelts her back and earns her undying respect); yanni volkstaia, professional cross-country skier from fake eastern european country fredonia who is there to train (between him and jacques i feel like someone at her interactive does not like skiers); guadalupe comillo, a bird-watcher with truly baffling hair; bill kessler, an avid ice fisherman; and lou talbot, art student with a focus on land art who spends his days snowshoeing. between frankie being a non-character and guadalupe leaving midway through the game (and she's extremely elusive--it's actually possible to manage never to speak to her in person, although you can call her later) it's a real dudefest in canada.
i think the reason i keep replaying this game is because i remember the fun parts of it and forget how LONG it takes to get to them. much like the orca in deception island, the wolf is more than a wild animal, although the game goes out of its way to emphasize that wolves are NOT dogs and should NOT be treated like them (while also requiring you to issue specific commands to the wolf in order to solve several puzzles...). it's another game in which nancy is solving puzzles set out by an historic eccentric which have nothing to do with the case she's on but ultimately doing so allows her to solve it. which is a formula i am fine with! it's just that the puzzles in this one are maddening.
the one that drives most people nuts is the fox and geese board game. the first time i played white wolf i literally called in an expert (my friend's little brother who is a whiz with patterns--he's now a roboticist) to solve it for me. i'm patient enough to do it myself now, but the kicker is that you have to solve it three times. takes ages. there's also a puzzle involved when nancy is asked to clear snow off the skating pond that's basically minesweeper. i have always been shit at minesweeper. and finally, there's a journal in code. why are these historic eccentrics always putting their damn journals in code.
but the most frustrating thing for me this play-through was how much time i spent on the phone. nancy has to call the guests who already checked out after mishaps and get their side of things, she has to call the sheriff, she calls avalanche patrol, she calls a random canadian geologist whose piece of tech she stumbles across (her i liked a lot actually--more canadian geologists in games please), she calls the local hospital. maddeningly, there seemed to be a difference between how you were meant to dial local--canadian--numbers versus calling american ones. which makes sense in real life, but nancy drew doesn't even experience time zones, so naturally i assumed that country codes weren't a real thing either.
anyway, the endgame IS fun (even if the culprit is...i wouldnt say problematic but. lazy, maybe), it just feels like hours of wading through deep snow to get there. so that's it! never playing it again ever. and the moral is more canadian geologist ladies in video games.