The Serpent of Isis is a hidden object game published by Focus Multimedia which revolves around the mystery of a stolen piece of legendary artwork, The Serpent of Isis.  The artwork - originally discovered by  the grandfather of our 'hero' was stolen at the grand opening of the Egypt Museum in Cairo in the early 1900s.  Now, decades later, a mysterious letter has arrived suggesting that the person who possesses the artwork can be found on the Mont Palu Express. 

The game takes place across various locations as you travel across Europe on the Mont Palu Express.  There are several locations on the train but also locations in cities such as Paris, London and Venice.  Additionally, there are sometimes locations within locations: for example, you may be required to enter a storeroom from within a main room and find additional objects.  The Serpent of Isis also has a further element of interaction.  There are a small number of puzzles to solve but at times you may also need to use some of the objects you find to progress further, for example, using a coin to make a telephone call.  You may also need to collect an object in one location to use in another location so you do need to be constantly thinking about what you've seen and what you need.

As stated earlier, some locations are visited more than once but thankfully this is quite limited in The Serpent of Isis and therefore prevents the game from becoming too repetitive.  Indeed, there are numerous locations not to mention a seemingly countless array of objects. 

The Serpent of Isis offers fairly generous timescales in which to complete each chapter of the game (of which there are 10, plus a prologue).  I rarely needed the full amount of time, although there were occasions when it was a little tight.  The Serpent of Isis is also generous with the hint system, although again, not so generous that you can afford to be complacent!  If you are really struggling with puzzles, you can use the Skip Puzzle option, though you will incur a 20 minute penalty on your total game time if you do this.

The frustrations which usually apply in most hidden object games are sadly not escaped in The Serpent of Isis.  At times it can be difficult to make out what particular objects are and the lack of magnification doesn't help.  For the most part though, the images are quite clear and it is a very colourful game: it's always nice to see a hidden object game that's moved away from impossible to find objects of brown and grey on backgrounds of brown and grey!  The Serpent of Isis is certainly pleasantly eyecatching.

The Serpent of Isis may not be a groundbreaking game with a story to thrill but it is a game that you can depend on.  It promises several hours of hidden object puzzles and other mini-games and it delivers it.  It's entertaining, colourful and enjoyable and with an RRP of £9.99, you can't really go wrong.

**Review by Donna Haw**