Legend of the Crystal Skull

Legend of the Crystal Skull is the seventeenth installment in the Nancy Drew computer games series created by Her Interactive. Nancy goes to New Orleans with Bess and to check on a friend of Ned's, Henry Bolet, Jr and becomes entangled in the legend of Crystal Skull

Plot
While in New Orleans with Bess, Nancy goes to check up on friend of Ned's Henry Bolet, Jr in his late uncle's mansion. There she encounters a cast of queer characters and a thunderstorm traps her in the mysterious mansion. Nancy becomes entangled in a murder mystery and the legendary Crystal Skull. Nancy seemingly clashes with the arrogant Henry Bolet, Jr and encounters many danger lurking around the mansion and the huge graveyard behind it. Nancy Drew and, on occasion, her best friend Bess Marvin, must find the skull and solve the mystery of Bruno's murder.

Gameplay
In this installment of the Nancy Drew PC series you can assume the role of Bess to help Nancy solve the mystery. The game is 3D and mostly point-and-click.

The player can question suspects face-to-face or by the phone, solve puzzles crucial to the game, explore locations such as a curio shop and mansion, and try to distinguish the murder weapon.

Characters

 * Bess Marvin – One of Nancy's best friends, fun-loving Bess has always been helping Nancy solve mysteries. However, Bess's intentions for the trip were to relax in the sun. Instead, she winds up working with Nancy.
 * Henry Bolet, Jr. – Sarcastic Henry has lived with his great-uncle since the death of his parents when he was young. He's in New Orleans to help clean up his great-uncle's affairs. He is selling off his great uncle's stuff in Lamont's shop so he can give the money to his "flash" girlfriend. Could he be trying to find the crystal skull so he can sell it in the curio shop and give the money to his girlfriend?
 * Renée Armade – Bruno Bolet's housekeeper, voodoo practicing Renée Armade prefers to spend her time in the garden. She believes in spells and wears a special necklace to ward off evil.
 * Lamont Warrick – Lamont owns Zeke's, a curio shop, and loves his job. He says crystal skulls are worth buying. Does he want the crystal skull for money?
 * Gilbert Buford – Bruno Bolet's old best friend and a doctor, Gilbert was the one to find Bruno's body, suffering from a heart attack.
 * Bruno Bolet - The deceased owner of Bolet Mansion. He seemingly died of heart attack, but is his death natural or was he murdered?
 * Professor Beatrice Hotchkiss – Also a suspect from Treasure in the Royal Tower, it seems the "nutty professor" published a lot more than "Lost Diary of Marie Antoinette" since the end of the 4th Nancy Drew game. She mistakes Nancy for a girl who was eating cheese at a cheese factory in Wisconsin. You can only call her in this game. She was an old friend of Bruno's.
 * Iggy – Was once Bruno Bolet's pet iguana. He still lives in the mansion and is notorious for knocking books off the shelves while moving and stealing random papers. If you give him something to eat he will give you a paper that may help solve the mystery.
 * Bernie – A crocodile that lives in a bayou near the mansion, he is another of Bruno's pets and loves to eat marshmallows.
 * Milo the Authenticator - Milo authenticated Bruno Bolet's crystal skull to see if its real or fake. Unfortunately, the crystal skull was a fake which is the reason of Bolet's heart attack. He may only be reached through the phone. It was pure quartz, so no one could tell how old it is.

Cast

 * Nancy Drew -- Lani Minella
 * Bess Marvin -- Jennifer Pratt
 * Ned Nickerson -- Scott Carty
 * Lamont Warrick -- Jason Sharp
 * Gilbert Buford -- Keith Dahlgren
 * Renée Amande -- Walayn Sharples
 * Henry Bolet -- K. Brian Neel
 * Professor Beatrice Hotchkiss -- Keri Healey
 * Authenticator/Additional Voices -- Scot Kirk
 * Additional Voices -- Leslie Wadsworth

Accidents

 * Get bitten by the spider when trying to get the key in the fountain.
 * Get stung by too many wasps while trying to get a loquat.
 * Being eaten by Bernie when you attempt to tip the log for the 2nd time.
 * As Bess, going through the emergency exit door that will sound the alarm.
 * Letting the culprit get away

Trivia

 * The name of the iguana in the game is Iggy. Iggy is one of the names of the dogs in Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake.
 * The music at the end of the game is the same music at the end of Danger on Deception Island.
 * When Nancy looks in the mirror in Renée's room, Nancy has no reflection.
 * When you open the drawer next to Henry's with the white square on it, you can see two memoirs written by two familiar Nancy Drew characters: Bill Kessler from White Wolf of Icicle Creek and Prudence Rutherford from Secret of the Scarlet Hand.
 * There is a statue in Zeke's that is the same as the one of Aeolus in Curse of Blackmoor Manor
 * The hula doll in Lamont's curio shop is like the same one in the gift shop seen in The Creature of Kapu Cave.
 * When you're controlling Bess and you go inside the gumbo stand, the vendor's face isn't seen but his body is seen. The vendor's body is similar to the body of Shorty Thurmond in The Secret of Shadow Ranch.
 * Prof. Beatrice Hotchkiss returns in this game. She is from Treasure in the Royal Tower. Like Charleena Purcell from Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon, she does not remember you.
 * The Whisperer is the name of the crystal skull. The Whisperer is also the name of the scribe/mummy in Secret of the Scarlet Hand
 * The game makes several references to The Haunted Showboat, the 35th book in the original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, such as "Jean Lafitte" and the appearance of hoodoo.
 * When going into Renee's room for the second time you'll hear the lightning strike. Turn around and on the chair which was empty before, there is a doll. The doll is from Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon.
 * After eating six Kokko Kringle bars and Nancy says that's enough back up after the lightning strike look at the bottom right hand corner at the bed and see the shadow of the rocking chair move.
 * The archway between Slumber Gardens, Terra Siesta and Growing Crypts in the scale model of the cemetery plays music from the first Nancy Drew game, Secrets Can Kill.

Critical reception
IGN awarded 7.5 out of 10, highlighting the detailed environments, well-modeled characters and good voice acting, with interesting but hard puzzles. However, the movement system (clicking on arrows) and jerky turning animation was criticized, and it was not rated highly for lasting appeal.