Melissa K. and the Heart of Gold– A New Adventure Awaits

An adventure game riddled with puzzles and hidden objects!

Coming soon to app stores, Melissa K. and the Heart of Gold is the latest offering to come from SDP Games. It’s an adventure game riddled with puzzles and hidden objects that is fully interactive and immensely engaging with realistic 3D graphics. It transports players into a new world, full of mysterious events and unforgettable experiences.

The setting is Thailand in 1947, a place teeming with exotic characters, myths, and legends emerging from Buddhist folklore. Melissa, the heroine, journeys to Thailand from England. She has been invited by the Queen of England on an expedition that will take her to places she could not have ever imagined. The twists and turns that she will take will launch her life in directions that will question her every being.

While the game can be played on an iPhone or iPod touch, the scenes and graphics are best experienced on an iPad. SDP Games has created several other games in the past, but their work on Melissa K. and the Heart of Gold is exquisite and responsive. Simple movements on the iPad allow for quick moves needed to maneuver and maintain focus in the game.

The graphics are superb and are amplified on devices with a Retina display, allowing players to easily handle objects, turn them around, and manipulate them. The interactivity in this game is intuitive and easy. If you like searching for hidden objects, this game has a multitude of items to uncover in over 30 locations, artfully embedded in scenes that leave players mesmerized.

The heart of the game is the puzzles that are introduced at every step. While challenging, they are easily mastered through practice and patience. Puzzles can be replayed to improve scores, which is a big bonus. With over 30 puzzles to choose from, entertainment comes not only from the background story and Melissa’s mission, but from cracking the codes on the mysteries and challenges.

Layouts of puzzles vary depending on the purpose of the game. The variety also keeps players interest. One game requires players to skillfully wrench a gem from the clutches of a dragon statue. Solving this puzzle requires a great deal of patience and adroit finger movements. Another game tests the player’s ability to maneuver a flower across and through a field without knocking other items over.

Once downloaded, you can set features to your liking, like sound, Game Center connectivity, and more. There are in-app purchases that allow you to enhance your gaming experience and upgrade to premium editions, as well. What satisfied me from the start was the option to set player difficulty levels. Choices are Novice, Adventurer, or Expert – a much needed feature for those who like video games, but prefer easing into them, rather than stressing out and getting turned off.

While the game crashed suddenly on me a few times, it ran fairly well after a few restarts. What I was not so happy about was the automatic enquiry to hook up to Game Center. I like to decide on my own how much connectivity and sharing between apps I wish to engage in, so the automatic redirect to Game Center was bit annoying for the waste of time.

Otherwise, Melissa K. and the Heart of Gold is a must purchase if you like to travel, at least virtually, like a good challenge and puzzle, and are into mysteries. This game wraps every one of those elements into a beautiful package and adventure you can call your own later this summer. Keep a keen eye out for it!