The Haunted Carousel

Infobox VG| title = Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel


developer = Her Interactive
publisher = DreamCatcher
designer =
released = July 13, 2003
genre = Adventure
modes = Single player
ratings = ESRB: Everyone (E)
platforms = Windows
media =
requirements =
input =

"The Haunted Carousel" is a 3-D adventure game for PC about Nancy Drew, the famous fictional sleuth. These interactive games are for mystery fans age 10 and up. It was developed by Her Interactive and distributed by Infogrames. It is based on the Nancy Drew book of the same name, #72 in the original series.

The main plot of the story is that Paula Santos, the owner of Captain's Cove Amusement Park in New Jersey, is asking Nancy for help because there have been mysterious "hauntings" at the park - the carousel is turning on and off at night all by itself, and its lead horse is missing, in which there were rumored to be stolen jewels hidden. A rollercoaster in the park has also stopped suddenly, resulting in a lawsuit. The park is currently shut down for maintenance. This amusment park takes place somewhere on the Jersey shore.

Characters

Joy Trent

Joy Trent is the office manager and a jack-of-all-trades. She was recently hired to work at Captain's Cove Amusement Park. Her father was a business partner of Captain's Cove. Joy chews pencils and believes that the owner of the park is behind the haunting. She is described by Miles the Magnificent Memory Machine that she was "a party pooper, stick in the mud". ----Harlan Bishop

Harlan is the park's security guard and oversees the security system of Captain's Cove. He was recently hired to work at Captain's Cove. He is helpful, efficient, and good at his job, but, for some reason he is very evasive. He doesn't have a theory about the carousel haunting or the sabotage. He's an ex-con.----Ingrid Corey

Ingrid is the chief engineer of the park and maintains all the rides at Captain's Cove. She is interested in holistic medicine and believes the park is actually cursed.----Elliott Chen

Elliott works in Art Direction and is responsible for all the visual components at Captain's Cove. He is familiar and skilled with all art media and is also interested in contemporary culture. He is a major procrastinator and has no theory on what is happening at the park.----Paula Santos

Paula is the owner of Captain's Cove and has asked Nancy to come investigate on all the strange things that have been happening at the park. She is away on business at the time and can only be reached by the phone.----Bess Marvin and George Fayne

Bess and George are cousins as well as Nancy's best friends. They talk to Nancy over the phone and offer tips and hints to aid her investigation. They are at home in River Heights at the time.----Frank and Joe Hardy (The Hardy Boys)

Frank and Joe are brothers and amateur detectives. They help Nancy in the same fashion as Bess and George.----Miles the Magnificent Memory Machine

He really isn't a person but he was built by Joy's father to help Joy remember her past. He gives riddles in which Nancy has to answer.

Accidents

As with all Nancy Drew games, in "The Haunted Carousel", there are many fatal accidents, such as:

*Not switching the tracks on the rollercoaster in time
*Not turning off the iron in Nancy's hotel room
*Trying to grab the brass ring too soon
*Getting electrocuted while trying to fix the door to open the rollercoaster
*Not throwing the jewels at the culprit
*Not opening the trapdoor to hit the culprit
*Failing to put on goggles when making dowel
*Getting skewered by a pole under the carousel
*Getting hit by a falling pufferfish

However, if the player makes a mistake, they may click on "Second Chance" at the main menu and it will take them back to the place before they made that mistake.

Cast

*Nancy Drew -- Lani Minella
*Joy Trent -- Laurie Jerger
*Elliot Chen -- Gary Hoffman
*Harlan Bishop/Anton Sukov/Receptionist/Miles the Magnificent Memory Machine -- Jonah von Spreecken
*Ingrid Corey -- Kathleen Howe
*Paula Santos -- Keri Healey
*Bess Marvin -- Alisa Murray
*George Fayne -- Maureen Nelson
*Frank Hardy -- Joshua Silwa
*Joe Hardy -- Rob Jones
*Detective K.J. Perris/Tink Obermier -- Fred Draeger
*Lance Huffington/Luis Guerra -- Max Holechek

Trivia

*If the player goes to Ingrid's office when she's not there, go to the door and click on the very left, at the top of the fire extinguisher where there is a red sign, someone calls and asks the capital of Wisconsin. If they answer Madison, the player receives an easter egg. When taken to Elliott's when he's not there, they must look at the box of horse tails, then go to the Midway, near the prize machine. Clicking on the wall on the right will result in a phone call from a special "friend".
*The brand of the television in Nancy's room is called "Fony" (as in Phony) instead of Sony.
*When you leave Joy a note, the paper that you will write on has a picture of one of the dogs from Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake.
*Elliott has a Poppy Dada painting in his office. Poppy Dada is a character from Secret of the Scarlet Hand.
*On the exit of the Tidal Terror rollercoaster, there is a red handprint, a reference to Secret of the Scarlet Hand.
*The Barnacle Blast game at the Midway is made by Krolmeister. Krolmeister appears in many Nancy Drew games, such as the Secret of the Old Clock , and the Legend of the Crystal Skull.
*The instructions on the back of the midway game have a note on them from Nick F. Part of the message reads "...had to fight the power switch." Fight the power was the catchphrase of Nicholas Falcone from The Final Scene.

External links

* [http://www.herinteractive.com/prod/car/index.shtml The Haunted Carousel] by Her Interactive.