Thumbs down. This game was released years ago and often crashes under Window 10. That’s actually the good part, because playing this game is more disappointing than having a system crash. The story is terrible, the mini-games are highly repetitive, and there is an annoying bird that keeps flying across the middle of the screen. Don’t bother with this one.

Not recommended, but its still a decent game.

I'm on the fence with this one. As someone who has grown to become a big HOG fan, I had fun with this game. It has some neat interactive scenes, several recurring puzzles, nice graphics even for today's standards and a jungle explorer theme that I always find appealing. On the other end, its older so that means it lacks modern screen resolutions making some objects a little harder to see with widescreen monitors. Also, the puzzles can get a little bit repetitive, its only 2 hours, story is fairly simple and the price is a bit higher than the game is worth. It doesn't hold up as well against the more modern HOGs for the price, but if you get cheap or free, its worth playing.

TLDR: Game OK, slightly worse than your average HOG. Some good puzzles but they're all used over and over.

Pros:
Nice art
Simple story, not hard to follow.
Mostly not annoying puzzles.
Some of the music is nice
The trophy system doesn't appear to work, the game doesn't do the necessary counting, it'd be a massive grind to get these anyway.

Cons:
Short game, 2 or 3 hours.
No voice acting
Story is minimal
Puzzles - 3 of the same kind in a row to open a door - done multiple times with the same puzzles
The game doesn't have achievements, it has trophies but these are way over the top pointless.

Not recommended at anything over 2 dollars.

One of the first Artifex Mundi games so I appreciate seeing the progress of where they started and how they improved their HOGs over the years. Game play consists of simple hidden object scenes and a collection of around 10 mini games that get repeated but more challenging as the game goes on. Some of the mini-games I didn't care for but other like the riddles I had a good time. Each area is pretty contained so navigating through the game was pretty smooth even though the game graphics are a bit dated and make it a little difficult to notice somethings. Story was pretty straightforward and mostly followed image stills with speech bubbles which were fine. Around a 2 hour play time hit the sweet spot for this game experience. I had to turn off the custom mouse option in the menu since it was distorting the game graphics while hovered over an area. Overall while not the most exciting and engulfing game, it was a good chill HOG to pass some time and your mileage may vary depending on whether you are a fan of HOGs or not.

Release data 2010 means it is quite old game but it does not look its age so bad. The graphics part is rather good with this resolution. Exploring places and finding hints left for me by "my children" made me believe I am a part of the story. So I believe the story is one of the better ones, even with some twist in the end. But every part (or set of screens) of the chain of places feels a little static and then you are moved to new location forward like interactive film.
Not worth the price as a single game, I have the game from a cheap bundle.
This game is for HO fans and enthusiastics looking for nice HO historical game. There are better new games now.
Pros: Nice story, some original puzzle
Cons: Repetitive riddles and puzzles, easy and small number of HO screens

Who knew that going into a jungle and looking for treasure... I mean your kids, would be such a snore?

It's not even the graphics. It's not even the old school style of H.O.G. It's the puzzles...! I think I've seen that same fish puzzle like... 5-7 times?! I certainly "did" the "sokoban" one 4 times... "Did" Heh heh... Because in all honesty... The puzzles that repeat? Which is like 80% of the game... It's easier to just "skip" them then keep doing the same thing over... And over... And over again...

Granted they got better... As I am familiar with the Publishers/Developers, but this.......

Can the plot save them?!

Well... It was nice to play a Tomb Raider... Minus the raiding and the enemy killing I suppose. Then you get to the end and... WHO IN THE HELL ARE THOSE PEOPLE?! And the entire time she is sending letters to her husband... Who is back at the police station... HOW?! TELEPORTING THEM INTO HIS HANDS?! So she is hoping and "feels him" behind her... Not an euphemism for something... And then... He hasn't moved from his spot at the police station. Wot...? Who in the hell did SHE FEEL?!

Oh and the story ends in a cliffhanger. But seeing that there is NO JOAN JADE 2... I'll tell you what happens next. Ahem. *Clear throat*: Joan Jade goes into the temple to find the "treasure"... Along with those bad guys from earlier... Whoever they are. They race against time and against one another to open that one door! Then when they do... Joan Jade will outwit them and find the "treasure"... Which is too precious for the world to have. So she decides to let it rest and seals the door, so that the next FAR SMARTER tomb raider shall acquire it!

Yes. Yes THAT'S how bored you'll be during repeated puzzles that you'll actually write a damn part two!

Puzzle repetition is okay, but... A little variation? Maybe the fish could have spots! Come on! Use your imagination!

Anyway, I know it's useless to yell at an old game, and if this was their first project... It would be passable... But knowing that they went onto other H.O.G.s, they can remember this as a failure that got them through towards making even better games.

First of all, this game is clearly old and didn't age well, it has a good sides to it, but definitely doesn't worth the asked price, get it only in a bundle.

Nice stuff:
- Progressive difficulty.
- Few original puzzles.
- Interesting facts about Aztec religion in the book.

The meh stuff:
- Cannot be as good as watching "The Road to El Dorado".
- Text stays an awfully long time on screen.
- Max 2 hours long for a beginner.

The bad stuff:
- Hidden Objects Scene really easy.
- I said a few puzzles were original, but you do the same puzzles with an increasing difficulty all along the game. Matching similar fish, finding hidden pairs, sliders to unlock a key, mini labyrinth, riddles, connecting tubes, matching wheels symbols.. It was nice at first, but after the 3rd or 4th time, you just want to skip.
- Some stuff are just too small and you struggle to click on them properly.

Again, I won't speak about the art and all, it's an old game, just take it for what it is. I really find the difficulty curve well done, so if you like the mini games I listed above, this game is for you. Once more, don't pay it full price, bundle or nope !
This is yet another case where I would like a neutral recommendation.. I'll go for yes though, it has good stuffs for it, it's just old.

https://youtu.be/ySG0C7Zo228

After misplacing her children in unexplored ancient ruins, Jade Joan goes off to rescue them while taking frequent breaks to solve small puzzles along the way.

Decent, almost all, if not actually all, the puzzles can be solved with observation and logic. Sometimes it might be a bit tricky when the hidden object areas come up and you have to find the tools laying around to actually solve some puzzles but it was entertaining. I think this type of game can be played at any age but might be better for kids to help develop some puzzle-solving thinking skills or observation skills.

It's a bit short for the price in my opinion, maybe if it's on sale for $5 or less, or if you get it in a bundle it's a slightly better option.

A decent game if you don't mind a predictable storyline. 2 hours well spent.

Positive
- Puzzles that increase in difficulty as you progress
- A button allowing you to skip puzzles and continue the story
- Interesting concepts of the dungeons you travel through, graphics are nice

Neutral
- Generic story, easy to predict events as nothing spectacular happens
- No character development, characters are pretty much nothing beyond Mom, Dad, Children e.tc
- Just a few different puzzles

Negative
- Bland, repetitive background music that does not fit at all. I had to turn it off because I couldn't tolerate it.
- A few times the game wouldn't register clicking the correct item