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"Secrets of Salem - The Phantom Cab" is a Hidden Object Adventure game from the Domini catalogue.  As you might expect from a title referring to Salem and the use of "Phantom", this game is seeped in aspects of horror and the appearance of ghostly figures.  What might not be so obvious is that this Domini Collector's Edition title does not offer the full range of bonus items.  Apart from the Strategy Guide feature, you are limited to one real bonus item that become available once you have collected 140 collectibles scattered through the game.

The game casts you in the role of Detective Grayson who is assigned the task of investigating the murder of a number of victims in Salem during the 1950s.   In each case the victim was last seen entering a black cab and then being found to be a headless body.  Apart from the method of demise, there appeared to be no connection between the decapitated victims.

As with many other games in the Hidden Object Adventure genre, this title offers the chance to adjust various volume levels, such as background music, effects and environment, but does lack spoken dialogue delivered by voice actors.  You have to rely on printed dialogue for both your questions and responses delivered during your investigation.

Spread over four chapters, your investigation will take you to a number of locations as you search for evidence and question individuals.  When moving between locations different methods will be required.  Sometimes you may need to carry out some map reading when travel by car which might involve a car crash that involves wandering spirits.

While on the subject of cars, it seems strange that a detective investigating the beheading of victims while travelling in a black cab, would then order such a vehicle to take him home.  Which was bad enough but then try to order the driver, who happened to be headless, to stop the car.  At least this sequence does kick-start plenty of puzzle solving as the detective tries to escape from the cab.

While dealing with other investigation issues, the game presents a variety of mini game puzzles which offer a choice of either an Easy or Hard version.  These puzzles vary in type and style featuring logic solving, hand-eye co-ordination and rearrangement of elements.  Puzzle game play will come with a Skip option if you should need it.

The game's Hidden Object action could appear in either window's mode or full screen viewed making use of different methods of presenting the list of required items.  The items could be listed in text format, as an image, silhouette or identified by a riddle.  Sometimes you mat need to look for pairs or find the differences between two similar scenes.  One of the required items will become your reward for completing the puzzle.

"Secrets of Salem - The Phantom Cab" can be downloaded from Gamehouse.com where it is priced at $19.99 or from Big Fish Games priced at £11.88.  The game requires a 2.0 GHz processor with 1024MB of RAM and 658MB of hard disk space running Windows 7 and later.

Secrets of Salem: The Phantom Cab Collector's Edition | Big Fish

Secrets of Salem - The Phantom Cab Collector's Edition | GameHouse