Xiama, a fiendishly cerebral offering from Down Under, bills itself as a "very different computer adventure game," and to some extent it makes good on that claim, although not always in the best way. The game opens with a rather unprepossessing hook, and between that and the koala bear on the jewel case, you might expect what follows to be lighter than a rice-cake float. At the beginning of a nature trail leading deep into an Australian rain forest you find a note written by Peter, (the game's designer Peter Hewitt, most likely) in which he amiably apologizes for being unable to meet you as planned, and instructs you to touch base with him at the top of the waterfall. "Oh, and by the way," he adds, "I've set up a scavenger hunt to make your journey even more interesting."

Though unable to keep his appointment, Peter has managed to find time to despoil much of the rain forest in his wake with a grab bag of puzzles that range wildly in straightforwardness, theme, difficulty, and quality. Accessing these mind-benders is simple enough, and simplicity is Xiama's greatest strength. You click on the appropriate directional arrow at the bottom of the screen and advance in an eye blink to the next slide of majestic flora. A flash of yellow appears somewhere in the visible terrain on nearly every game screen. Click on it, and into the puzzle you go. Right-clicking anywhere takes you out. Getting around at least is a breeze, but it's the only breeze that blows anywhere near Xiama. You spend virtually all your time in the puzzle screens.

Few of the puzzles in Xiama are for the faint of intellect. This is a game for people who love mental challenges. It's probably a good game for smokers as well, since only a few of the puzzles are time-based; in general it encourages you to fart around until you "get it" and fill in the gaps. All 24 puzzles are visually interesting, but only a few of them are actually fun, such as the Turtle Machine (a device that evokes pleasant memories of both Etch-A-Sketch and Spirograph). The equal parts mesmerizing and infuriating Green Stones is modeled after Chinese checkers, and apparently it even unmans its creator. The only hint Hewitt apologetically offers at the Mulawa website regarding the more difficult variations is to "do a Web search for 'solitaire puzzle.'"

In Eleusis, you're trying to spot patterns in a series of exposed playing cards. There are even a few puzzles that have something to do with the rain forest setting, and oddly these are the least interesting of the bunch. In one, you must put a collection of pages depicting the stages of your journey in the proper order (only the front portrait is entirely visible). It's a bit like filing index cards that, in this case, all look fairly alike. In another you have to poetically arrange bits of verse pinned to a stand of trees so they form the correct refrain of a beloved (and Lewis Carrollian) Australian ditty. There's "something for everyone," which is another way of saying the crests and troughs are by design.

Xiama's let's-get-on-with-it jauntiness sometimes works against it. A book (accessed by the TAB key) keeps track of which puzzles you've successfully completed, and you save your progress by going to this book and hitting ENTER. Even when you do, however, your just-finished solutions are purposely re-scrambled after you leave the area, courtesy of the omnipresent Peter. This is presumably meant as a convenience should you want to re-do a particular puzzle, but it is a bit disheartening to see any visible effects of your landscape restoration count for naught. You need to check out the game's FAQ—a hilarious must-read in every sense—to learn that you can choose among different books for different players, each with its own animal on the "cover." The down time for your pages of puzzle scores to load is strikingly severe compared to the rest of the game. And don't those Olympics-struck Australians know that when we reflexively hit ESC, it's to save, not quit to desktop?

So, bottom line—is Xiama worth your time? The in-game reward for successful completion of all 24 brain-spankers is little more than a cruel joke; some sort of collegiate degree feels more appropriate. But if you're patient by nature, or just shell-shocked into craving a respite from your louder, bloodier daily fare, Xiama offers enough diversity that it's a sure bet you'll find something among its tetrahedrons and butterflies to awaken the gamer within.