But I also wonder why some things don’t get better with the newer releases. The customers still come in crudely drawn monochrome (by today’s standards) colors — blue, green, brown. Wedding Dash proved it’s possible to create interesting looking customers without looking like stick figures.

Diner Dash games continue to be the hardest ones to play in its genre and it doesn’t stop here. I don’t get very far before they have me banging my head on my desk. I can’t be that lousy of a player at these games since I manage to get through other tough diner games including Turbo Pizza — an insane one.

Flo returns to her hometown to find it in near ruins, so she and Grandma help at the restaurants to try to drive up attendance at a variety of locations. She starts working at the zoo and makes her way to the ballpark, museum, and amusement park. Customers also don’t always order, eat, and tip since some order more food.

Beware the game comes in two different versions for PCs. Diner Dash: Hometown Hero Gourmet Edition, which comes with online multiplayer mode, new restaurants for purchasing, and other features that require connecting to the Playfirst server. The Mac version only comes with the basics — no connections or extras.

This game is the first to have meta-transactions where you can purchase more diners, waiters, and restaurants from the boutique. A restaurant costs $4.99 in real-life bucks. Items like clothing, accessories, and décor mostly cost less than a buck. Unfortunately, it requires having the Gourmet Edition to take advantage of these features.

Online multiplayer mode lets players compete against one other player by racing around taking orders, picking up tips, putting away dishes, and all that. Or for those jumpy about competition, try cooperative mode where both of you work together instead of against each other.

Flo also gets an assistant who is more of a pain than helpful. You can’t help but feel like you’re racing against the assistant. Plus, you don’t know what the assistant will do that you start to head to a table only to have the assistant beat you there.

As usual, players earn bonuses by chaining, seating customers by color, keeping customers happy, and placing customers at the right tables so they stay far away from customers at nearby tables who like to chat on the phone or having crying babies.

I’m not into changing outfits, but many others enjoy the feature and this one comes with plenty of new outfits. As you progress in the game, you get to choose the style for upgrading the counters, floors, tables, walls, plants, and so on. However, sometimes the game might only provide two choices instead of three if you don’t reach the Expert score.

If you haven’t played other versions, it’s not necessary to play those before this fourth release. Those who buy the regular edition will feel like the game hasn’t changed much other than new locations, different story, and taking care of customers with reservations. Though most of the new features come in the Gourmet Edition, the regular edition keeps the Flo franchise going strong.

Gamezebo has tips and tricks as well as a walkthrough guide for DDHH. Thank goodness. I went bonkers trying to get through a few levels and these came to my rescue.

Download and try Diner Dash: Hometown Hero

System Requirements

Windows OS

• Windows Vista, XP, 2000
• Pentium III 700 MHz or faster processor
• 128 MB RAM
• 800 x 600 minimum screen resolution
• DirectX 7.0 or later
• 30 MB available hard disk space
• Internet connection required for Together features (multiplayer, sharing content - PC only)

Macintosh

• Mac OS X 10.4 or newer
• G4 800 MHz or newer processor
• RAM: 128 MB
• Minimum Screen Resolution: 800×600
• Hard Drive Space: 50 MB

Oi! Within minutes, I know this game deserves a spot in the top 10. But what unlucky game am I going to knock off the top 10 list?

Before digging into the world of Peggle Deluxe, let me tell you a story. My parents had a classic Pachinko machine with a door handle. It only worked some of the time, but I loved the noise when you hit a jackpot. Years later, Paul and I went to Atlantic City for the weekend and saw modern Pachinko machines with the round handles for sale.

So the first thing that I thought about when playing Peggle Deluxe was that it was a twist on the Pachinko. Sure enough, I found an article about PopCap’s creation of Peggle. Yes, it’s PopCap’s fault that many of us are addicted to several games… Bejeweled (originally Diamond Mind), Chuzzle, and now Peggle.

In Peggle Deluxe, shoot a ball anywhere and let it do the work. The goal is to clear all the orange pegs. After letting go of the ball, sit back and hope it hits lots of orange pegs along with a green peg for a power up and a purple peg for bonus points. Once it makes it through the jungle of pegs, hope that it lands inside the moving bucket that you can’t control. It simply moves side to side. It’s nice not having pressure to control the bucket on top of everything.

The game begins with a unicorn as your guide. Every guide has its own special powers that you earn when hitting a green peg. The unicorn reveals a guide so you can see where your ball goes next after it hits the first peg. I won’t mention the others as finding out their powers is part of the fun. Each character has its own theme that changes the pegs and background to match that theme.

The pegs often line up to look like an object or create a challenging shape. One level had three infinitys, another shows one of many animals, and still another has moving circles. Lots of variety! Impossible to get bored and almost impossible to tear yourself away.

The game compels you to cheer and whoop when you hit that last orange peg thanks to its cool close up slow motion effect. The view zooms in to the last orange peg, which slows down like a dramatic moment in a movie. Now, sometimes you might miss, but when you hit it — Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” plays with booming enthusiasm like a running back scoring a touchdown.

Would you believe that one of the best features — “Ode to Joy” — was originally a placeholder? That’s what the previously mentioned article says.

Occasionally, you’ll be amazed by a move. Watch it again with the “Instant Replay,” that does exactly that… replays the last move. After you play through the quest and conquer all the games with all of the characters, you unlock more game modes including Quick Play for playing a previously played puzzle using any character you want, Duel (to play again someone or the computer), and Challenge that contains 75 puzzles.

Each level comes with a specific amount of balls. The fewer balls you use to clear the orange pegs, the higher the bonus. You can also earn free balls by scoring a specified amount of points or dropping the ball into the bucket.

Just try it — play Peggle Deluxe for at least 15 minutes and you’ll love it. Download Peggle Deluxe from BigFishGames or Playfirst.

System Requirements

• Windows Vista, XP, 2000, ME, 98
• 256 MB RAM
• 700 MHz or faster processor
• DirectX 7.0 or later

15-year-old Christina and her best friend, Lucy represent the typical teen girls who like going to the mall and noticing boys. Although, this sounds like a typical girl’s game, it’s only a tiny part of the story. The mysterious part of the story enters when Christina turns in for the night and encounters a strange, yet familiar man in her dream. Those puzzling dreams continue, but they’re hardly as perplexing as Lucy’s parents’ behavior.

In the charming scenes, the anime characters face the screen making players feel a part of the game. Beware — sudden sounds easily startle players when Christina runs into scary situations such as finding a dead body in the woods and running away from people without knowing why. I’m no fan of scary movies or games, but I could handle the creepy and eerie moments.

My eight-year-old son couldn’t help be drawn in to the story. I questioned whether he should watch the game since Hanako Game gave a Teen rating to Fatal Hearts a Teen rating because of suggestive themes and fantasy violence. Since my son hates to read, I let him watch as the game contains heavy dialogue — but I talked with him throughout the game to make sure he was OK. Thankfully, he didn’t get to see any of the endings I encountered as I thought it was too much for him.

But my son proved another point — that the game can interest boys. Teen boys might be another story, but this kid is into boy stuff and screams when anything reeking of “girly” comes near him. Nonetheless, I agree with the teen rating.

Starting the game was a frustrating experience, but the biggest problem was the fact it was loaded on a computer running Windows Vista (I know…) and the developer worked with me to solve the problem. So if you check out the game, try it first — even the game’s Web site recommends testing the demo before buying.

Fatal Hearts is like reading a fantasy novel where players decide what to do and solve puzzles. The decisions can be as trivial as whether to check on Lucy or wait at home, but they affect the direction and outcome of the game.

Most of the puzzles require creative thinking such as figuring out what a word means and unlocking a diary. With 14 possible endings, the game smartly lets players speed through parts they’ve already played and skip puzzles they’ve completed.

Hanako Games also offers a game strategy guide to those who join the forums. The guide includes hints and spoilers, and best of all — information on how to skip a puzzle. One exasperating puzzle involved moving a car through a maze without the bad guys catching up. I just couldn’t get through this one because the arrow keys were backwards for me.

Once players finish an adventure games, they rarely want to play again unless it’s to get a better score or try getting through a scene they skipped. But with its various endings, players will want to play Fatal Hearts again to check out the other endings and find new puzzles.

The music is very good and the sound effects hit the right note although they occasionally made my heart jump. Since Fatal Hearts resembles an interactive book more than a game, it’s not surprising the scenes have little variation. Therefore, most of a player’s time is spent reading the dialogue and making decisions. Though simple in execution and design, Fatal Hearts easily captivates especially those who enjoy fantasy, mysteries, and Choose Your Own Adventures and You Be the Jury — stories where you decide what happens.

Download and try Fatal Hearts.

System Requirements: Windows

• Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• 64 MB+ VRAM
• DirectX 8.0 or later
• 60 MB disk space

I couldn’t believe I never got bored playing basic solitaire golf that came with Windows in the mid-’90s. I even loaded the game on my Palm handheld and played that for a long time. Since then, I got too busy to play the solitaire game.

Furthermore, after becoming a game reviewer, I didn’t have the luxury of sticking with a game for a long time. Whenever I played a game past my bedtime indicated a sign that a game was a hit and I blamed Fairway Solitaire for my recent tiredness.

The basic game isn’t good enough today. Most of your favorites probably have newer versions containing power ups, trophies, and other bonuses. Solitaire golf receives the same treatment.

The power ups show up in the golf shop. As you play each hole, you earn bucks to use in the golf shop for power ups. For a female golfer, buying a skirt provides her with the ability to x-ray a card to see through it.

The set up cards also contain hazards and bonuses. Because of these, you may not play golf the way you would when playing old-fashioned solitaire golf. Different situations call for different strategies, and that could mean sacrificing a long drive for a short one. A long drive occurs when you pick up at least six cards in a row without drawing a card from the pile, which drives up the multiplier and money pot.

Along the way, you can pick up irons and use mulligans. An iron has a number between one and nine. How a iron works: If there’s a card with an 8 on the board and the golf bag contains a 7 iron, pull it out so you can grab the 8. Mulligans let you undo the last move. Beware that the game only lets you use one mulligan at a time.

Cards that contain a water hazard appear with a light blue shade. When you play these cards, the animation and experience match the feel of a water hazard. Cards in a sand trap won’t flip over until you find the wedge. So instead of making a long drive, you target the cards blocking the wedge to open the sand trap cards.

Although a tutorial explains the game and the different types of cards, it may not click right away. The best way to learn the game is just play it. A hole ends when you either clear the board or run out of cards in the draw pile.

When you begin a round, a positive number appears in the box on the lower left corner of the screen. As you remove each card from the board, the number shrinks. Just like in the game of golf: The lower the number, the better the score. Thankfully, a game with a par 7 goes onto the scorecard as par 5 (the maximum). When the score falls below par, it means more cash.

The end of a hole shows the statistics for that hole including the longest drive, time taken, long drive multiplier, and the cash earned. The scorecard tracks the score for all nine rounds. Players earn bonuses for low scores and successfully completing courses, which unlocks more courses and there are 70 courses available.

As for the Wild Shot mini-game, I wouldn’t call it that. The mini-game is too mini (oxymoron?). You can either play the shot or drop it and lose $200. Playing Wild Shot could lead to either good or bad results. Select “play” to flip the images and select “stop” to stop the images. What happens next depends on whatever image appears. You could lose cards, try to put for a hole-in-one, lose or win money, or gain an extra mulligan. Though I’m not crazy about Wild Shot, it surprisingly contains many possibilities. After playing the game for a couple of days, I continue to discover new possibilities. This is the only handicap of Fairway Solitaire.

Well, the game may have one other mini-game, if you call it that. An optional course appears every few course. Rather than playing it like the others, it’s timed play. If you clear the board before time runs out, the game awards bonus points. A long drive also adds a few seconds to the clock. It makes me cuckoo, but it’s also a nice change of pace.

As a package, Fairway Solitaire offers everything for a grand old time including great cartoon-style graphics, lively music, and addicting play. That’s why it earns fore and one-half stars. Lousy golfers like me have a chance to be winners in golf using cards instead of clubs as our weapon.

Typically after completing a review, I move on to the next game. Not this time. I must play more Fairway Solitaire!

Download and try Fairway Solitaire.

System Requirements

• Windows Vista, XP, 2000
• 800 MHz minimum
• 256 MB RAM
• DirectX 6.0 or later
• 54 MB hard drive space

Each story comes into two parts: The investigation and the trial. During the investigation, players examine scenes, interview characters, move to different locations, and present evidence to prove a point. The stories last for a long time giving players a chance to thoroughly learn a case and pick it apart during the trial to help your client.

The game grows tedious with all the dialogue, but players can’t help but want to reach the truth and get an innocent client off the hook especially since it requires thinking to take the right actions. Object at the wrong time or present the incorrect evidence, and lose points with the judge. When the “health” meter runs out, the judge proclaims your client guilty and the game ends.

The screen shakes whenever a character turns flustered, and this gets very old after a few times. It doesn’t matter if the character feels stressed, mad, aggravated or anxious — shake, shake, shake… enough, enough, enough.

Another frustration point is the constant repetition of scenes when you take the wrong step or missed one. Though you can save the game, there are times when saving won’t make a difference or can’t be sure where to save the game. However, what else can the game do or else it becomes too easy? It might help to let players decide if they want to repeat questioning, present different evidence, or replay a specific section.

On the other hand, the game saves you plenty of work as it automatically enters items into evidence once they enter the story. This doesn’t make the game easy at all as some evidence needs presenting at some point to gain more information as a court record before going to trial. A court record reveals more insight into evidence. You might come across an ID badge, but won’t understand its significance until you present it to someone who can offer more details. The game set up makes it possible for players to focus on figuring out the meaning of the evidence and piecing together the story.

When it comes trial time, every witness presents testimony and then you — as Phoenix Wright or Mia Fey — conducts cross-examinations to discover gaps and lies. During the cross-examination, the witness will repeat each line — one-by-one — to give you a chance to object, press for more information, present evidence that contradicts the witness’ statement, or let it go. A standard statement appears with each response, such as “Hold it!” when pressing or “Take that!” when presenting evidence. This also adds to the tediousness of the game. You can also use your voice in objections, but it’s not required — thankfully. A person with imperfect speech — like this writer — might struggle to be heard correctly.

Two spirit healers accompany Phoenix. One is Maya, Mia Fey’s younger sister, and the other is Pearl Fey, their cousin. Pearl easily gets on your nerves like a kid sister while Maya’s immaturity can grate at times. Nevertheless, the girls have good moments when they come shining through. This says a lot about the game’s characters and their uniqueness. It would help to have another likeable character or two — like Mia Fey — that don’t annoy players in the next edition.

Since Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations involves logical thinking and a good eye, it should attract players who prefer Nintendo’s Touch! Generation games such as Big Brain Academy, Picross DS, and Touchmaster. Like those, this one is easy to learn and use especially since a tutorial helps players get familiar with the interface.

Using sharp anime-style images and animation, the game presents everything with a first person perspective making players feel part of the action. After successfully winning all five cases, there may be little motivation to play the cases again. Thankfully, they last a long time making the game worth its value. Though Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations receives a few objections over its annoyances, it’s guilty of being entertaining, humorous, and getting players to use their brains. Those who want to be lawyers someday or watch TV shows like Perry Mason, Matlock, Boston Legal, or Law and Order will enjoy the playing the role without cracking open a law book.

The ESRB rating for this game is T (Teen) for Mild Blood, Mild Violence.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Series

• Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney
• Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All
• Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

Those who have played Chicken Chase can’t help but recognize the similarities between the two games. I enjoyed Chicken Chase, but I like this one better because it has more variety and the Farm Frenzy’s bears are less annoying than the Chase’s ravens. I also don’t feel as panicky around the bears. Those ravens just made me nuts.

Every level of the 45-plus level game contains goals to meet to conquer the level and move on up to the next. Do it fast, and you can earn a gold or a silver star. What is just ducky about this one is that you can’t lose. If you take too long completing the goals, you simply don’t get bonuses or stars and you can move on. That’s one of the things about the casual game industry — it’s not always about winning — it’s about having fun and challenging yourself to earn stars and trophies.

Farm Frenzy involves taking care of the animals by ensuring they have plenty to eat. While keeping their tummies happy, you also purchase machines, upgrades, and more animals. But you may not have enough money on hand, so go to the market and sell up to nine products including eggs, cupcakes, wool, milk, and cheese.

Your truck and product storehouse may not hold what you need, so upgrade them to gain more space to hold more stuff. The game requires planning and strategy to find the right balance in feeding your animals, having the needed funds, and meeting your goals for the level.

You also buy and upgrade manufacturing buildings that can turn eggs into egg solids, egg solids into cupcakes, wool into thread and so on. Products sell for various prices, but of course those made from other products go for bigger bucks as it takes more time and processing to make them.

The trophies provide another challenge. Since you can play any level again, you can try to capture a trophy by playing the right level. There’s a trophy for never picking up a product. This means you need cats to do the work for you and they’re not always fast or reliable. So find the level where you can quickly buy cats or it comes with cats. One caveat, if you don’t earn a star for the level on the second time around — you lose the original star, if you had one.

The bears? They do what you expect them to do… steal your animals. Boy, it bugs me when they steal my more expensive animals like the $10,000 cow. It’s all in the name of eggciting fun, though. Can’t bear to deal with them? Count on farmer’s best friend, the dogs, to help hold off the bears. They’re not free, though, unless you’re lucky the level comes with them.

While my sons love watching the game, it would be too hard for them to play even for the eight-year-old. It’s a frenzied game (Gee, I wonder how they came up with the name, Farm Frenzy?) and involves multi-tasking and many steps.

Farm Frenzy is an eggcellent all around game that mixes arcade with management without the stink or picking up after the animals. It definitely milks the money you pay for the game for all its worth. Those who are sheepish about buying games can milk every dime with Farm Frenzy’s long lasting game play. All right, I’ll stop with the farm puns already!

Download and try Farm Frenzy.

In Fashion Craze, players have the ability to customize the store’s colors and change Maria’s clothes. Maria is a fashion reporter by day and a good niece in her spare time. She helps run her aunt’s clothing store while she’s on vacation since it could lead to good material for future articles.

As Maria survives each level, she eventually gets to pick one of three colors for more décor upgrades. Unlike many similar games, the upgrades don’t cost anything. The hard work comes in ordering the customers’ color and style, handing them their clothes and accessories, keeping their hearts full with bribes… err… surprises, and collecting the money after they’ve tried on their new duds.

The surprises vary from level to level. They include a soccer ball, fancy ballpoint pen, flowers, and balloons. Every level comes with a coffee maker and those levels with kids come with a doll and car to keep the kids happy.

It doesn’t take long before things get crazy in the game. At first, I thought the game was a little boring, but it gets better as I progressed. The clothes change based on the seasons from skimpy bikinis to warm and plush sweaters. Colors also change for the four lines of clothing with 21 available colors.

The décor comes in bright colored pastels to brighten up the store. It’s nice not having to pay for upgrades giving you something to forward to as you wonder about the next upgrade. Each day begins with a note indicating the weather or season, so you know what to expect when the customers arrive.

You must take care in seating customers when there are two seats as some customers’ heart meters will drop if you put them next to the wrong person or better yet, fill up when you find a perfect seatmate.

Thank goodness Fashion Craze prevents you from going stir-crazy by only letting you pick the right color material and the right styles. If you accidentally click on the wrong colored material (one that no one has requested), nothing happens. When customers pour in, it’s easy to click all the wrong things.

But I got annoyed with seating the customers. I’d drag a customer to the chair only to see the customer bounces back to standing up and waiting. It’s not as if I dragged the customer above or below the seating area — this shouldn’t be an issue. Sometimes I click an outfit or a customer, but nothing happens. This occurs more often when kids start coming in pairs with their parents. In this case, you must click on the person with the request.

When the customers try on clothes, they don’t look like as you would expect and that’s what makes this the most fun part of the game. Two customers could order the same thing, but they look different when they put them on. One outfit looks like a raincoat, but sometimes it looks like a robe.

While Fashion Craze doesn’t offer any runaway or original features, it’s a solid game with well-drawn graphics. The story only plays a small role in the game as the focus is the game play. Some casual gamers will find this high stylin’ game fashionable and worth trying on to see how it looks, or rather … plays.

System Requirements: Windows

• Windows XP/Vista
• 1 GHz or faster processor
• 256 MB RAM
• 260 MB hard drive space
• 64 MB graphics card
• DirectX 9.0 MB or later

A family feud again takes center stage in the story mode as the Baumeisters return dealing with a mole in the business. Chocolatier 2 takes place 40 years later after the original, and the scenery reflects the styles of the 1920s and 1930s. Even buildings that don’t exist in 1920 like the Empire State Building will crop up in cities in later years.

The game, like its predecessor, beautifully presents every ingredient and finished product based on 72 recipes. Well, one ingredient might not sound pleasing to many, but it’s a delicacy in some places — fire ants. Bars, squares, infusions and truffles all return into the recipe book along with sauces, pralines, and exotics.

This time, we get to create our own recipes using secret ingredients from hidden ports around the world. However, it requires raising enough funds before purchasing a chocolate tasting lab in Buenos Aires. People we meet along the way provide clues and ideas for new recipes, but experimentation is also necessary. Pick a handful of potential ingredients, and the researcher extraordinaire will let you know what works and what doesn’t work — much in the same way Mastermind.

Chocolatier 2 comes with over 200 quests, 20 cities including Bombay, Cayenne, Paris, and Moscow, 6 factories and 4 shops. The secret ingredients hide in the new hidden ports, which take longer to access and cost a pretty cacao.

I’m thankful for the changes in the arcade part of the game where we set up a factory to make a new product. Again, you have to make as many as you can of a product following the set recipe by shooting ingredients into circles.

Instead of spinning circles, which make me dizzy, the circles don’t spin and instead flow differently on the product line. Sometimes another circle blocks the circle you want. The arcade portion now includes bonuses turning this into a fun game — something it wasn’t in the original.

The most disappointing part of the game is logo design. The game contains a limited choice of images and some of the colors are awful. I know the creators were trying to capture the art deco style of the ’20s, but I actually love art deco and this isn’t pretty. Some of the images are of terrible quality — like someone stretched a small image. It’s surprising considering the rest of the game has beautiful designs and images.

The basics of the game includes buying ingredients, manufacturing new ingredients, making new products, selling chocolates, buying factories and stores, and traveling the world. I love how the traveling varies based on location. Players could take a train, ship, hike, or a canoe.

Of course, we continue to use the finest ingredients, so lots of traveling is necessary. But this time we need to watch the seasons since some ingredients cost thousands of dollars off-season, and drop into the more affordable hundreds of dollars when they’re in season.

Some cities don’t have a store for selling chocolates, so it’s important to think ahead to ensure you have enough funds to get you through a trip. Also returning for an encore are gambling hot spots. I don’t play these games, but they’re there for desperate times or those who enjoy dice games.

Another improvement is the message section. This time, it only displays one big task at a time. I don’t mind seeing multiple tasks, but the message screen was too small in the original.

Chocolatier 2 comes with lots to do and no set path you must follow. You don’t have to do one, two, three before four can happen. Although, you do need to attain certain titles and funds before you can access information. You can also make whatever you want as long as a factory or two meets any customer requests.

I’m all for a third edition of the game if it’s done right or expand it by changing the industry or products. Chocolatier 2 is addicting as chocolate that I stayed up late several times unable to pull myself away.

System Requirements

Windows:

• Windows Vista, XP, 2000
• Pentium III 700 MHz minimum
• 128 MB RAM
• 800 x 600 minimum screen resolution
• Sound card recommended
• DirectX 7.0 or later
• 25 MB hard drive space

Mac:

• Mac OS X 10.3.9 or newer
• G4 800 MHz or faster processor
• 800 x 600 minimum screen resolution
• Sound card recommended
• 25 MB hard drive space

While the game won’t blow you away with anything special, it’s a completely well-produced game from graphics and story to mini-games and bonuses. The historian’s mission is to find the Lost Tomb by completing 20 missions with each containing multiple levels.

Although the hints are almost always available, the game makes a point of mentioning when players rely on hints when reporting the score. This mention is enough to discourage hint abuse especially when using a hint takes away 4,000 points. When using a hint, the hint meter starts over again and must fill up before it’s ready to give the next hint. It doesn’t take long for the meter to fill up.

A perfect search — which is not using any hints during a level — equals 15,000 points. The game awards bonus points for finding two items quickly, even for those who opt to play relaxed mode. Too much random clicking leads to losing points. Players also have the opportunity to earn title promotions, but it won’t mean any extra pay or perks.

“Find the Lost Tomb” would be the story game mode while the “Secret Game” resembles — without giving away too much — unlimited game play. Within the story mode, you can either play timed mode or relaxed mode. Having relaxed mode helps make the game more enjoyable for many players who want to make the most of the experience rather than hurry up and go.

After finding all the needed treasures, the mini-game enters the picture. Mini-games include jigsaw puzzles, comparing two rooms for spotting the differences, tile swapping and four others. One of those is the popular memory match game except this one calls for finding same color, same type, related items such as a glove and baseball, or identical objects.

The difficulty level in the placement of the hidden objects is medium. Some objects are easy while others take a lot of work to locate. Those having played many hidden object games will be pleasantly surprised at the unpredictable locations of the hidden objects. Long, thin items won’t necessarily be where they expect to find them. Both new and experienced players will enjoy this one.

What’s more, the game throws a few curveballs in its word choices in the list of objects to find. That’s nothing new, but it does the job without getting carried away and while keeping things fresh. A “red hexagon” references a STOP sign. You can’t help but laugh with hints like “Flew the coop” or “Ribbit!”

Also hidden in the game are 21 ancient Egypt worshipped scarabs. Find them all to unlock the secret game. Even if you forget to keep an eye out for scarabs, it should be OK as the reviewer found all 21 despite forgetting about this little game within the game.

Hidden object games have quirks. Some make it difficult for clicks on the correct object to register. In the hunt for a spike, the viewer correctly clicked the right item and the game seemed to say, “Nope. Uh-uh, that isn’t it.” Finally, the situation called for a hint and sure enough, it was the right object. But this was a rare incident, fortunately. Another time, the list included “3 hand tools.” Hammer, boomerang, arrow, C-clamp, fork, and knife didn’t count. The name, in this case, was too broad.

While Amazing Adventures The Lost Tomb doesn’t have anything that hasn’t shown up in one game or another, it’s a nice full package with a long-lasting value that is sure to please anyone looking for an adventure of the hidden object kind.

Download and play Amazing Adventures The Lost Tomb.

System Requirements: Windows

• Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• 350 MHz or faster processor
• 75 MB RAM
• DirectX 7.0 MB or later

In Quest mode, you go on a — what else? — quest to find a friend. A level consists of a full solitaire game, but it doesn’t require clearing the board to succeed. The level ends when you find the two matching golden tiles. Power ups, hints, undo, and shuffle help you along the way. The game works like any other mahjongg game in that you make pairs. As you make matches, you earn pearls.

Rather than freely giving players all the hints, undo, and shuffle they want, players must purchase them with pearls, which are the game’s bread, dough, moolah, lolly, loot, dinero, or whatever you call money. Add the power ups to mix and the game keeps players hopping. Instead of spending mucho pearls on shuffle, watch for power ups that swap tiles, move a tile to the top, and shuffle a small section of tiles, among others.

Upon finding the two golden tiles, the game cuts to the comic book style scene with a story update. The well-drawn scenes have an anime look and feel. The story could use a smoother transition from start to end and provide more details. Furthermore, the story is incomplete and ends abruptly. The good news is that it doesn’t take much away from Quest mode thanks to the travels, tiles, and artifacts. Artifacts hide in every level, but the artifacts don’t tie in tightly with the story as they could have.

After spending five levels in a country, players move on to the next. Most countries are in Europe and Asia with one in an unknown place. A new country means experiencing a new theme of tiles and a welcome change of pace. With 25 levels in all, the Quest could go on a little longer. I’d trade Endless mode for a longer quest. Hey, I’ll even trade Classic mode for a longer trek.

Since there are five countries, there are five tile themes. Each one is lovely, but sometimes it’s hard to tell what goes with what. Mahjongg players know that some pairs don’t have to be identical like the flowers and seasons. With themes, it isn’t easy to figure these out. The same goes for the power ups. I think using tooltips would help.

The game awards trophies, which pumps the players’ egos and motivates them to keep on. These rely on tooltips, but sometimes they don’t pop up without some effort. My eyes are thankful for the feature that reveals open tiles so I don’t spend a lot of time trying to find them. OK, so this is a shortcut or cheating perhaps, but more games await my eyes for reviewing. They need a break!

Download and try Mahjongg Artifacts and Mahjongg Artifacts, Chapter 2.

System Requirements: Windows

• Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• Pentium 3 800 MHz or faster processor
• 256 MB RAM
• DirectX 8.0 MB or later