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Awesome, Great Game!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a VERY good game. You're on a treasure hunt in the Arizona desert, which is really awesome. And the graphics are AMAZING! I love this game! If you like this game, my other suggestions are Nancy Drew: Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake and Nancy Drew: Danger on Deception Island! (P.S. You get to go to a ghost town, a canyon, the middle of the desert, a shop, and at the VERY end, ancient Indian cliff dwellings!)

ssssoooooooo much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: November 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

this game is the best in the nancy drew game series. it was very challenging. so dont buy it thinking you'll beat it in 30 min. it was funner than the other ones because there are more places to go than the other games. you get to ride horses which is totally cool! if you need any help you can go to [...](they are links to the same site)and go to message boards where all nancy drew games lovers can share hints,cheats, and reviews. you can also read the book but it won't tell you how to beat the game. it was really fun, had better graphics than most games i have, has a cute boy;dave:) , and lots of cool and hard puzzles. i wouldn't suggest this game or any other nancy drew games for kids under 10 years old, otherwise get ready for unhappy kids and a game that won't be touched for a year or more.(i know this from experience, i got stuck for a year on the secret of the scarlet hand game when i was 10!i did end up beating it though, hooray!)
it is also fun at the end because you'll be suprised at how scared you feel when you are waiting for the bad guy to show up!

an overall excellant game! keep making great games, herinteractive!

here are all the games in the series in order:
secrets can kill
stay tuned for danger
message in a haunted mansion(this has seances and talk of ghosts and spirits, unfortunately:( )
treasure in the royal tower
the final scene
secret of the scarlet hand
ghost dogs of moon lake (no ghosts, really good and cool game!)
the haunted carousel
danger on deception island
the secret of shadow ranch
curse of blackmoor manor
secret of the old clock
**NEW**last train to blue moon canyon

dony forget to read all of the nancy drew books, they are really good!!!!!!!!!!

(P.S. SSSSHHH... THERE IS A NEW GAME COMING OUT SOON CALLED danger by design!!!!!)

Great learning experiences in this game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

My 13 yr. old grandaughter was fascinated with this game. She could hardly leave the computer. She learned about saddling a horse, gathering eggs, building a fire, gathering the ripe vegetables and other interesting things that perhaps "city raised kids" don't get a chance to learn.

I think this game is better than watching TV with all the agression, killing, fighting, that goes on. I was very pleased with the clean content of this game. A grandmother of five.

Great! Didn't have a problem with the game screen at ALL

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: August 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Nancy Drew: the Secret of Shadow Ranch is one of my favorite installments in the series yet.
Nancy is staying at a ranch in Arizona, and Bess and George can't make it because they are having airline troubles. There is a Phantom Horse (which is NOT scary at all) that runs around and blows things up. Well, not blow up, but...uh...wreck. Nance needs to figure out the story behind the horse and the accidents (what else is new).
The characters: Mary Yazzie, who owns a souvenir shop, Tex Britten, the head wrangler who is very moody and needs medication, in my opinion, Dave Gregory, who works on the ranch, and Shorty Thurmond, who is the cook and is looking for ways to get rich quick.
Now, I'm hearing a lot of you other opinion-sharers out there nagging the public about the game screen. The new popup system has caused me no trouble and I really don't see anything bad about it. I bet a lot of you were even bothered with the smaller game screen.
That said, here is what I didn't like about the game, which doesn't affect the total experience that much. First and foremost. The cake is evil. I blew up the oven because I left the cake in too long, and I knew that was exactly how long I was supposed to leave it in. You know what? I tried that about forty-six times before I realized:
I was using the wrong pan.
Boy, was I mad when I found that out. All this time I was using the WRONG PAN and COULDN'T MAKE THE CAKE JUST BECAUSE OF THAT?!!
Well, that's over. This game is very entertaining and I would have to give it four stars.

Another Good Game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 15
Date: December 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I just finished playing "The Secret of Shadow Ranch", and I found it to be a bit more challenging than the others I've played to date. The reason I've given it 4 stars instead of 5 (the first time I've done that with this series) is because there are several places where what you have to do to move on is illogical, and for these same areas, there isn't any hints to let you know what to do. As a result, I wound up having to consult "UHS Hints" (a really good website where you can find hints to all the Nancy Drew games) a lot more than I would have liked...

"Shadow Ranch" is situated in the Arizona Desert - and the graphics of this area are great! The mystery surrounds strange happenings that are occuring on the ranch - such as a phantom horse riding through at night, always accompanied by a major mishap at the ranch (a snake bite, power lines become downed, pump house floods).

Nancy finds out early in the game that there are rumors about an old bank robber who had hidden a treasure for his sweetheart - who used to live at the ranch. So your job, as Nancy Drew, teen detective, is to 1. find out who or what is behind all of the strange mishaps - are they linked to the phantom horse, or does it just appear that way? And 2. find the treasure - if there is one...

In order to get around the desert, you get to ride a horse - be sure to look around at everything you can find about riding horses before you begin, or you just might find yourself falling off a lot!!!

Overall, I found this game to be fun to play, although it did become quite frustrating at times... If you find yourself having difficulty as I did, I'd recommend going to the "UHS hints" website - they allow you to choose how many hints to take, and you can always get a few before you're given the full answer - this way, if you just need a push in the right direction, you don't have to see the full answer and ruin the fun of figuring out for yourself.

ND-SSR

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: July 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Hands down to the Nancy Drew series. It is amazing.

Secret on Shadow Ranch overall was very well done. The story plot was good and kept me entertained for a good amount of time.

As mentioned before, the new way of getting items out of a popup box is rather annoying, especially when you have a lot of items. but other than that i liked the new screen format and the way things were done.

This mystery wasnt too challenging for me. i was never so stumped that i was frusterated. i was the most frusterated with a couple of the puzzles already mentioned, they took tons of time rather than being complicated.

I liked this mystery, but it wasnt in my top three. But overall it is entertaining and fun!

Good Game ... Good Recipe

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I liked this game a lot... the only reason I am not giving it a 5 is for 2 of the games... The only bugged me on the senior level... The roadrunner thing you have to play multiple times and on senior the third level was just too annoying to do that... and the puzzle with the magnets got on my nerves cause you couldnt see where you were going and there were too many corners that you had to guess at being there... Other then that the game was great! I didnt mind having to pick the vegetables and eggs everyday... It was all that hard at all... Oh, and for anyone that has the game or is gonna get get it go and make the recipe... I decided to out of curiosity and its very good... I made cupcakes 350* for 25mins... and I am guessing if you make a cake its be 350* for 45mins...

I LOVED IT!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: February 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I really enjoyed this game!!! I couldn't stop playing! The End got my heart pounding like CRAZY!! I also really enjoyed the graphics, it was like I was really there! It wasn't all mystery,it had alot of funny parts. I really recommend this game. I also learned alot like, how to pick ripe veggies, stuff about horses, and even a recipe for a cake!!! SO BUY IT ! NOW!

Great game series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: August 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

These games are great! I have five kids (ages 4-12) and all of us except the youngest play the Nancy Drew games- even the boys. They are fun, challenging, and thanks to the "Second Chance" one of our favorite parts is seeing how many ways we can get Nancy in trouble. (Don't bug the chicken!)

Very Fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I really enjoyed this game. It was not too hard, but not too easy. I only got stuck once, and I got going with the game again pretty soon. I also liked how the plot was very easy to get; in most Nancy Drew games, the plot is very hard to see what it is.

In this one, Nancy goes to a Ranch to figure out who's been behind a ghost horse that's been haunting Shadow Ranch. Then, she finds herself hunting down a treasure.

There are four suspects: Dave (a cowboy), Shorty (the cook), Tex (the head guy who takes care of the horses), and Mary (the lady who owns the gift shop).

You do, like in any Nancy Drew game, have to do other things that have nothing to do with the mystery, but they really aren't too hard in this one. You stay at Shadow Ranch for three days and two nights. Everyday you have to pick the ripest vegetables, collect six eggs, and then do something that's different each day. Once you finish your chores, you can go horse-back riding! That part is really cool. The horse that you get to ride is Bob.

Overall, this is a great game!

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