Joan Jade is a well known archaeologist who treks along the world with her husband Bruce and their two children. When their children goJoan Jade is a well known archaeologist who treks along the world with her husband Bruce and their two children. When their children go missing near ancient Mayan ruins Joan’s first port of call is the police but they can’t help due to a lack of resources. So it’s up to Joan to investigate the ruins to find her missing children not realising she’s about to make a discovery that will change everything!
Boringly average HOPA Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba (2010) is where as Indiana Jones wannabe Joan Jade you navigate an endless series of dusty old rooms picking up items that can be useful while playing through very typical puzzles. If you can get past the fact that Joan Jade is supposed to be this famous archaeologist with an eye for detail yet misplaces her own children you may find some redeeming value in this game and the fact it comes with an achievements system. Productions values aren’t anything to write home about and the experience feels very samey and workman like. The only interesting point to note is that this game represents developers Artifex Mundi’s first attempt at the HOG/HOPA genre. Needless to say their output improvement quite a bit since this game and Joan Jade is most likely going to appeal only to Artifex Mundi completists. Word of warning the game in its original state doesn’t play at all well thanks to DPI stability and compatibility issues. The Steam version last time I checked however was fine.
Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba is hidden object adventuring at its most middlingly mediocre. There are far better HOPAs the developers would go on to program.… Expand
