Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba - Your Adventures in Latin America

Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba is a new hidden object adventure game that supposes you to act as an archeologist named Joan, who travels around the world solving puzzles and finding hidden objects to rescue her missing children. Joan's children, John and Emily, volunteered to work at an excavation site and got lost in the jungle during a storm. So, their mother rushes to Youcatan as fast as it's only possible. However, the local police do not hurry to help her, so Joan decides to look for her children for herself. Her search takes her into the heart of a Latin American jungle where she must investigate an ancient temple.

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What's good in the game, is that there's no time limit, and you get unlimited hints which take less than a minute to recharge. Joan Jade combines elements of hidden object and adventure gameplay. You'll spend most of your time picking up anything that looks important and adding it to your inventory, then figuring out how to use these items on your surroundings in order to gain access to the next area. Some areas are larger than one room, and you can move from one scene to the next by clicking on arrows that mark each exit. If you get stumped and need a clue about what to do next, you can click on a compass to receive a hint. Besides, you'll definitely find the graphics are very nicely done, with surprising details.
My favorite part of the game was solving minigame puzzles, since there was a great variety of them. You are right if you expect mazes, jigsaws, and logic puzzles. After a certain amount of time you can skip minigames if you wish but you won't - it's for sure. There are also inventory puzzles to solve including memory, point and click style in addition to already mentioned above. What's nice is that the hints don't just help with finding objects, but also with application of items from the inventory.

Although the game idea of Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba is thoroughly average, the game itself is at least easy on the eye and boasts some clever puzzles. On the whole, it makes an excellent first impression.