Around the World 5: Beautiful America Collector’s Edition

Around the World 5: Beautiful America is an enjoyable hidden object game that follows Emily and her parents on a trip across various locations in the USA and Canada. It also has some educational value, as small chats between the family members introduce historical facts about the tourist destinations they visit.

The main game features 18 different locations, each offering multiple hidden object scenes and one minigame. The scene types vary from word search to image search, pattern pieces search or word riddles. In each location, you’ll also need to spot a cute raccoon and uncover special objects not listed in the clues. Completing these tasks, along with finishing the scene, is required to earn three stars, which is a requirement for one of the game’s achievements.

The Steam version includes the Collector’s Edition, which adds 10 extra hidden object scenes and several additional minigames, plus some bonus features such as wallpapers, a music player and a collectibles room. The collectibles can be unlocked there by spending the points earned from completing levels.

The game doesn’t offer adjustable difficulty modes, but it does feature a quickly recharging hint system. On top of that, there’s no penalty for spam-clicking. Secondary zoom-in areas within scenes are highlighted when they contain items from the list, but the items that you can find in these scenes do not have any special highlighting in the list of clues.

Overall, Around the World 5: Beautiful America is a short and pleasant game that can be completed in roughly three hours. Its hidden object scenes are vibrant, have colorful details and plenty of items to find. The minigames are well done and quite fun to solve. Like in any other game from this publisher, the items noticeably stand out from the background and are quite easy to spot. A particular highlight is the inclusion of fully functional Steam achievements, which are also very easy to obtain. Unlike titles from other publishers, there’s no need to race against the clock and complete hidden object scenes in under a minute or find several objects in a matter of seconds, avoid hints, or play under pressure. Much like the game itself, they’re designed to be relaxing and accessible to everyone, an aspect that I personally appreciate a great deal.