Reviewed: November 13, 2004
Reviewed by: Tyler Whitney
Publisher
Ubisoft
Developer
Ubisoft Montreal
Released: September 28, 2004
Genre: Adventure/Puzzle
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen
8
9
9
8
8.5
PC System Requirements
Mac System Requirements
Personally, I have barely scratched the surface of these so-called “adventure” games, like Leisure Suit Larry, Uru, the Longest Journey (one character has my EXACT name! Tyler Whitney…but he’s dead…) and onto this latest installment in the Myst universe. Now… I’m one of those gamers who would rather blow a hole through a wall than find 6 crystals of varying colors that have to be matched to the orbits of the planet at dawn to open the gate of the Gods-JUST BLOW IT UP! So, needless to say I was a bit apprehensive of sinking my teeth into Myst IV: Revelation, the latest installment of the epic Myst franchise
Not having played the previous three games, I was totally and utterly lost as to where, who/ what I was doing, but after a bit of digging on the setting of the story, things were more understandable. Basically, the D'ni, an ancient civilization with the power to travel to different worlds through books, used these "linking books" to visit worlds across the galaxy. This ability, known as "the Art," enabled the D'ni to flee their home before calamity could destroy their civilization. They wound up underneath the Earth, in a giant cavern.
You play as a nameless adventurer, contacted by a D'ni named Atrus. Together with his wife Catherine, they had three kids, and the two boys were troublemakers who created and destroyed “Ages” as they saw fit, thus forcing their parents to imprison them. Your job is to help Atrus in anything he requires as he investigates how his two delinquent sons’ are behaving now.
Gameplay is pretty much what you expect from an adventure game, a point-click interface with pre-rendered backgrounds for interaction with LOADS of puzzles and exploration, some pretty obtuse at that (read: strategy guide recommended). I knew it was a bad sign when I had to have my girlfriend, who is a whiz at puzzle games, help me with the very first one. I had to match oscillations of this frequency machine while listening to Atrus give me hints and suggestions.
Funny thing was I kept adjusting too fast for the audio to keep up with my actions so there was a delay for a long while….not fun. But we (well Michelle) finally figured out how to get the bloody thing working after some trial and error. The puzzles do fit in logically for the most part, unlike in Resident Evil for example where it just seems too “gamey” to make much sense, so that’s a strong point for Myst.
You can rotate the camera all around and take pictures of the gorgeous landscape as well, which helps immerse you further into the world, as well as record clues to puzzles-a nice feature instead of an out of game note system. Overall, it’s a pretty slow paced game, but for you adventure fans, it’s a special treat and a pleasant break from the routine of fast paced action of most games these days. On that note, adventure games seem to be a dying breed, so it will be interesting to see how many units this sells and if their will be yet another sequel.
“WOW WOW WOW!” , was my initial impression of the graphics in this game. The pre-rendered backgrounds sparkle with stunning details, cobwebs, dust, cracks, sun effects, glean of metal, lush forests-you name it, and Myst shows it off in glorioius effect. The FMV (60 plus minutes of it on 2 DVDS) interspersed throughout takes you aback as well; it is movie quality and seems to fit in well with the CG backgrounds seamlessly.
When Atrus greeted me for the first time I almost thought they hired William Hurt, as it eerily resembled the fine actor’s role in “The Village” (great flick too). Little touches like moving water and birds darting about add life to the static backgrounds.
As I write this, I am listening to the very composer of the music of Myst, the world famous Peter Gabriel! Along with Jack Wall (composer for Myst III as well as for Unreal II, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Mark of Kri) the music is astounding and I hope they release a soundtrack to this game, as it rivals the production as such well known ensembles as the Final Fantasy series and beyond.
The ambience and tone is dead on for each scene. The voice acting is well done too, a rarity in most games, but perhaps the pressure was on to perform better from the actors as they are in FMV rather than a mass of polygons to hide in.
Myst offers up hours of puzzles and adventure, and any fan of the series will be in for a joy as usual. However, those of us who are more *ahem “simple minded” may not enjoy the intricacies, somewhat obtuse puzzles and the general slow as molasses pace to the game. Although, personally, it was a nice break from my usual “blood ‘n gutz” assortment of games.
Overall, Myst IV: Revelation is a very solid, well produced game from a veteran and savvy development team who have defined he formula for what an adventure game should be. It’s also one of the few games that can run on both your PC and Mac-woo hoo for those stylish Macintosh lovers out there with your snazzy little Ipods….