JUST ADVENTURE -- B+
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Well, it's about time! Nancy Drew has been sleuthing all about the place for about eight years now, but as far as I know this is the first appearance by the "granddaddies" of teen detectives, Frank and Joe Hardy on your hard drive. Eons ago when your grandparents weren't even born yet, there were such things as book factories, where ghostwriters cranked out book-length stories for the entertainment of America's youth. It was, frankly, the equivalent of today's video game companies. The Hardy Boys series was a phenomenon. If you were a good little lad you maybe got the next installment for your birthday ... However, one glance at the enormity of this enterprise and it does seem quite a mystery why it took so long for someone to turn them into an adventure game series. Frank and Joe did appear in a few Nancy Drew games, on some occasions literally phoning in their contribution, but that doesn't count as having your own series, at least not in my book.
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What would it be like if you and your high school pals jumped on your motorbikes (okay, you and your upper-middle-class high school pals) and zoomed all over town investigating clues and interviewing suspects? Then dashing back to the school chemistry lab to run a few forensic tests. Unbelievable? Sure. Great fun? Unquestionably.
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They've hired a couple of real-life teen idols to not only do the voice-overs but to model for their respective digital characters. Pop star Jesse McCartney has been tapped to play Frank and Cody Linley, of Hanna Montana fame, to play younger brother Joe. In the books and here, Frank, though only a year senior, is the more mature of the two. Joe is scruffier and more outspoken. Frank acts and talks like he's already running for public office, while Joe is still enjoying his youth. This makes for a good dynamic, in the books and again in this game. The two professional actors do a good job of playing off each other as well as the other characters.
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The most important thing, it seems to me, in a game like this is to make the player feel like he or she is indeed tracking and solving the clues of a mystery. This is what the best mystery-adventures do, like the Sherlock Holmes series. Frank and Joe Hardy may not be as clever as Sherlock, but the game does do a good job of making you believe that you're uncovering matters as they do. You're surprised when they're surprised. You're suspicious when they're suspicious. The plot in this game, naturally enough, is broken up into chapters and that too adds to the feeling that you're in Bayport with the real Hardy Boys. Each new chapter is also a dramatic shift in the plot. I'm not entirely sure if all the elements quite hang together, logically, but it did keep me guessing.
The game also does a good job of not butting in too much. As I have ranted elsewhere, it drives me nuts when a game spends half its time trying to "help" me. The Hidden Theft does have an admirably subtle help feature in the form of a cell phone log. If you're stuck you can refer to your "notes," which list the immediate task or two ahead of you, with a good nudge as to where or what to look out for. This "QuestLog" is different from the "Journal," also on your cell phone. The Journal is something you occasionally need to consult for important information and for the text of longer documents. There are also phone numbers on the cell phone you can dial for "help." Or, at least, moral support.
Even Nancy Drew, returning the favor, appears as one of the boys' cell phone buddies.
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The soundtrack in being unobtrusive also gets my approval; this applies both to the music and the special effects. The acting talent surrounding our two heroes was generally professional. The writing, again thanks I imagine to the source material, was also a step or two above the usual ... The same is true of the difficulty. Not hard, but no walk in the park either. I don't really expect a game that is largely going to be, like the Nancy Drew games, marketed to those as young as ten to be a brain-bruiser. Overall, I'd award the game a B plus, but add a half grade to that if you're already a Hardy Boys fan. I know what a peculiar thrill it was for me the first time I was able to "play" Sherlock Holmes in an adventure game, and I suspect a lot of Hardy Boy aficionados are going to get that same treat playing this game.
It seems to me the goal the publishers had here was to reliably usher into the video game medium a century's-old, beloved classic, playable by fans of all ages. In this I'd say they were successful, and I certainly hope that this is only the first of a series. Probably not as long as the original fifty-eight, but we'll see.
Final Grade: B+
READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW AT
http://justadventure.com/reviews/HardyBoys/HardyBoys.shtm
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