Melissa K. and the Heart of Gold [Collector's Edition]

A good casual adventure game, mixing point-and-click puzzles, many cool mini-games, and a few hidden-object scenes. It's an Indiana-Jones-type adventure—with very obvious homages—but with a female protagonist, who is refreshingly not sexualized—though she's also kept uninteresting in any other way. (And what's with the name Melissa K? Yawn.)

It's an easy play that won't tax your mind too much, but will still offer many diversely satisfying moments. You can sit back and enjoy the plot, engage yourself in medium-hard puzzles, or just marvel at the graphics.

The graphics engine indeed represents a breakthrough for this genre: 3D effects mixed with the usual lush 2D scenes, with excellent character animation direction. It is a treat!

The background story is based on Thai Buddhism, a topic that as far as I know has never been covered in a video game before this one. The research both in terms of story conception and graphics design are surprisingly good, within the limitations of the genre.