Find the newest hidden object games at Game Socks
7.1 excellent
One of history's most fun sex symbols, Cleopatra was only 21 years old when she had herself smuggled into Caesar's palace inside a bedroll. That trick has never failed and it wasn't long before the two had a son, Caesarion. Cleopatra VII the pharaoh and coquette could charm anyone and used her charms to get what she wanted. She was so charming that she even married her brothers. Oh wait.
National Geographic (and Anino Games, Inc.) take us back to a time when large noses were attractive in Nat Geo Games: Mystery of Cleopatra. After Caesar's assassination and the fall of the Second Triumvirate, a mid-twenties Cleopatra has teamed up with Mark Antony to keep the throne away from Octavian of Rome, Caesar's heir. Octavian is the guy who gave us the month of August... so if you've ever had to trudge ten miles along a humid South American river trail in the middle of August you know who to blame!
A sudden break-in - and murder! - at the queen's palace has stirred up the court. As Cleopatra's advisor in Alexandria, you're put in charge of the case. This is your last shot to impress the impetuous young queen. Previously you provoked her anger by declaring your (unrequited) love for her majesty. With the queen's handmaiden Kathya you set out to investigate the break-in. Is it Octavian at work? Can you get to the bottom of this mystery?
Mystery of Cleopatra is a hidden object adventure game. At all times you have a list of tasks to complete, from investigating certain areas to interviewing suspects and witnesses. The mouse pointer changes shape when you hover over certain areas of the screen, letting you know they can be interacted with in some way. For example, the pointer becomes an eye over something that can be examined, and a pair of feet over the exit to a location. The plot is revealed in dialogue scenes with other characters and some above-average animated cutscenes.
Most gameplay involves searching a scene for various items. This is a hidden object game, after all. Obviously suspicious items call attention to themselves with sparkles; examining them may give you another task, pop up a list of hidden objects to find, or trigger a short text description or maybe even a puzzle.
All hidden objects are shown as small gray silhouettes. It's your job to find the objects matching each shape in the current location and click on them. (If you play in advanced mode, you'll not only have to click on the objects but drag them onto the correct silhouette, too.) Hovering over a shape gives you a tooltip text of the object's name, which is often helpful. If this text is printed in yellow, you'll have to manipulate the scene in some way. Open a drawer, for example, or move aside an object. Often you'll search for multiple sets of hidden objects, with one set combining to form a missing hidden object in another. Ocasionally the hidden object silhouettes appear over objects in the scene and occasionally they appear in the parchment panels at the bottom of your screen. It's all very complicated and I can't help but feel needlessly so.
If you get stuck or need help, a hint button is available to send a slow flaming spot onscreen to where one of your objects hides. I must confess that I used the hint button in Mystery of Cleopatra much more than I normally do in hidden object games, because I'm not so good at finding silhouettes... especially when they differ in size from the actual object.
Random clicking is unfortunately penalized... do too much of it and your mouse pointer will flame into nothingness. It comes back soon enough, however.
Useful objects are added to your inventory, a very small scrollable window at the bottom right of the screen. Using them entails clicking on them and then dragging them onscreen to where you'd like them to be used. The game is pretty good about giving you hints about what you should be doing in the tasks list, character dialogues, and sparkle effects that highlight various buttons.
As usual, there are plenty of puzzles to solve during your investigation. And even quite a few flashbacks that take you back to a previous scene as new information reminds you of clues in already-visited areas. These flashbacks require manipulation as well, and as corny as they sometimes are... they were my favorite part of the game because they forced me to follow the same stream of thought as my character, the minus first century advisor.
The graphics, especially the period hidden object backgrounds, really shine and the music is boring yet unobtrusive enough. I must confess that Nat Geo Games: Mystery of Cleopatra was very difficult to get into because of the confusing nature of the hidden object mechanic. Only my passion for history kept me going. This is a National Geographic game, after all, so you know you're going to do some learning... whether you want to or not. Your character carries a journal that he updates regularly with information about the characters he meets. Also stitched in are scrolls found in many locations with descriptions of the history behind people and places.
Watch out for asps!
Download Nat Geo Games: Mystery of Cleopatra