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Genre: Puzzle (Hidden Object)

Format: CD

Developer: Big Fish Games

Publisher: Aspyr

Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.3.9, 450MHz PowerPC G4/G5 or Intel Mac, 256MB RAM, 1GB hard disk space, and ATI Radeon 8500, NVIDIA Geforce 2 MX, or Intel GMA 950 graphics card

Review Computer: 1.2 GHz PowerPC G4, 1.25 GB RAM, 128 MB ATI Radeon 9000 Pro

Network Feature: None

Processor Compatibility: Universal

Price: $29.95

ESRB Rating: E (alcohol reference, tobacco reference)

Availability: Now

Demo: Play free for one hour (75.10MB)

Official Website: www.aspyr.com

Travelogue 360 Paris takes you to famous landmarks in and around Paris, where you'll have to find hidden objects in a panoramic view where not even the sky is the limit.

Other hidden object puzzle games give you a static picture, but Travelogue 360 Paris gives you a panorama so you can look up to the sky and down to the ground. Some of the items you have to find are in the distant sky, and others are right at your feet. The quality of the graphics is very good—even zoomed all of the way in. They did a good job at transporting me to those locations, which include a bakery and grocery store, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Elysees, a hidden cave, a windmill, and other famous and not-so-famous Paris landmarks. Keeping with the travel theme, you receive a telegram every so often, and you're asked your opinion of Paris, which gets added into a magazine article you get when you win.

The music is appropriately French-sounding, although I would have liked more than the two tracks. The sound effects are good, although somewhat forgettable, and I never could understand why there was the sound of a drink being poured in the stables as opposed to horse and carriage sounds.

The panorama view is a good idea, but there are several flaws with Travelogue 360: Paris that make it less than enjoyable for older kids and adults. The main one is that it's too easy, because the items you have to find usually stand out from the surroundings. Even worse, many of the objects look the same. So, if you have to find candles or a statue or cheese, they'll look the same no matter what location you're at. Something else I found odd was that I would get asked to find the same items repeatedly; even though there are many items in each room, it seemed that I'd have to find some of them many times, and others never or only once.

The hint system is especially forgiving because you have unlimited uses of a magnifying glass which lets you know once it gets close to an item. It does have a period of time before you can use it again, but it's very short (less than a minute). There's no downside to using the hint system, so you're encouraged to use it often.

To spice up the gameplay, there are three mini-games at the end of every level: a puzzle, a Mah-Jong type game with a pile of postcards, and a game that requires fitting items into a suitcase so they don't overlap. The mini-games are a nice addition, but they're at the same level of difficulty as the rest of the game—not very hard at all.

I liked the inclusion of Mac instructions that told you to use the space bar to rotate the pieces if you are using a one-button mouse. I also liked the fun facts you get when you complete some levels, and the fact that they're easily accessible in the passport from the main menu and during gameplay. It was neat learning a bit more about the places I was visiting, although I would have liked more of them; after a while, they stopped showing up. These fun facts, in addition to the low difficulty level, makes me think Travelogue 360: Paris is geared for younger children as an educational tool, even though it's not marketed as such. Although more could have been done to be educational—such as showing the same locations but without the items just to indicate what they really look like and having more fun facts.

What I found odd is that after you finish the game once and are shown the magazine article you helped write, you're taken back to the very beginning to continue playing with the same tutorial level you started with. Maybe you have to find different items, but it feels like you're going backwards since I was expecting either to have access to all of the locations or perhaps an even tougher series of levels. Then, I tried to find the Tourist mode (which has no time limit), only to find that you have to create a different player and select that mode at the time of creation. When I started playing, I got the same tutorial level, so the actual gameplay is the same except you don't have a timer. I was hoping to have access to all of the locations after beating the game once, but that was not to be.

Overall Travelogue 360: Paris is an okay game that's geared more for younger players due to the difficulty level being so low. I liked the panoramic view instead of the static picture most hidden object games use, and hope this technology is used more often.