While I was a huge Cyan Worlds fan at the time, admittedly, their recent decision to keep "Uru Live" dead (despite the false promise of a forthcoming relaunch, as "Myst Online Restoration Project") has HUGELY diminished my respect for them. And I mean, HUGELY. Like, MASSIVELY, GARGANTUANLY. That's not a word. Anyway, here's something I typed back when I actually had the heart to support Rand Miller's bad decisions.
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* Myst (1993) - Yes, I know it's a classic, but come on; if you go through all the trouble of finding the pages, you help out the bad guys and lose the game. But hey, the graphics were innovative for back then (and this thing was designed for 386 computers... I still don't know how that worked, considering it has video components, but hey...) and it's still fun to wander around in. "RealMyst" should've made this game obsolete, but I'll get to that in a bit... [8/10]
* Riven (1997) - The game that really turned me on to the series. I fondly recall long hours of playing this in the elementary school library. (Those tram things that took you from island to island were really impressive back then.) There's still enough tucked away in this game to keep it interesting even to this day; come on, someone else reading this must know about the "click spots" :-). [9/10]
* RealMyst (2000) - Ah yes, the game that's friggin' hard to find!! RealMyst, a remake of the original Myst with full movement (as opposed to clicking) was released as sort of a teaser to the engine they were designing for "Uru"... and was on store shelves for like, a day. Which is a shame, because even though it's rehashing a seven year old game, it's still gorgeous, and lot more enjoyable than the original. (The Channelwood Age seems a lot easier, for one thing.) So I highly recommend getting it somehow... it's not the easiest thing to find on eBay, so hey, BitTorrent it. No one will know, and I won't tell! [10/10]
* Myst III: Exile (2001) - For a while, this was the end of the saga for me, because this was the last one my old computer would run. But even though it was slow, it was still friggin' worth it!! Brad Dourif is the greatest villain ever, because he's just so sarcastic ("Is it over HERE? Is it over THERE?") even though his 'change of heart' at the end is just a teeny bit sappy. But hey, this game has the most impressive Myst age ever (the one that pretty much ends in a big long roller coaster ride), so it's hard to nitpick. Loved it. [10/10]
* Uru: Ages Beyond Myst (2003) - OK, I've finally finished this one, and upon final evaluation, I like it a lot more now than I did at the start. I admit that I made a stupid mistake towards the end and had to start over (I misread a strategy guide, and ended up permanently blocking my own path), but otherwise, there are enough nice places (like the garden with the fireflies in it) to make the game easy on the eyes... and also, you're left curious about where you'll go next. [7/10]
* Uru: To D'ni (2004) - Not much to this one (in fact, you can get it for free), but it's still a decent game. Most of it centers around the city of Ae'gura, which you only got a couple sneak peeks of in the first "Uru". The visuals are fantastic, especially in the vast city. The 'find the markers' part is a little irritating (a lot of times, my little detector thing kept going off and I had no idea where the hell it was finding one) but if you like scavenger hunts, you won't mind. The final marker, which is unfairly located over a cliff and unless you're really clever requires a suicide jump, is just plain stupid though. But apparently, there is still stuff to do after you've completed the game which, I noticed, ends in the place where Myst V begins. Apparently there's a big long easter egg hunt (how "Riven"esque) that you can go on, if you so choose. [6/10]
* Uru: The Path Of The Shell (2004) - I HATE IT! I HATE IT! IT'S HORRIBLE! MAKE IT STOP! OK, so as opposed to a ton of interesting locations, this game only has TWO Ages, one of which you have to link in and out of about 350 times. Oh, did I mention you have to swim (slowly) across this seemingly impossibly large lake about 20 times, and there's a part where you have to sit there and watch the game, and do nothing, for 14 minutes? (The other ones were exaggerations, but this time, I'm serious... you have to sit for 14 minutes. Shit) Luckily, I got "The Complete Chronicles" boxed set, so I got the other two decent Uru games... I feel bad for anyone who bought this piece of garbage separately. [1/10] I have a heart... 0 is too unfair.
* Myst IV: Revelation, aka "There's Never Any Trouble Here In Bubble Land" (2004) - Not counting "The Path Of The Shell," which was an add-on to a spinoff, this is where the Myst series went sour. The visuals are nice enough, and that little girl ain't a bad actress, but... what the HELL is up with the last 1/3 of the game? You have to look for your "spirit guide" (which is a tornado/flame/waterspout with big cartoony eyes) and go to the "dream age", where you meet the 'pure' form of your spirit guide, who is for some reason voiced by Peter Gabriel. The Dream Age, and especially the trip to it, are basically the video game equivalents of bad acid. I don't think I'll be returning to this one any time soon. [first part - 9/10, from 'bubble land' onwards - 3/10]
* Myst V: End Of Ages (2005) - Okay... this is my second time around for this game, because the first time, I returned it because I quickly tired of the extreme slowdowns. But I bought it again, actually took the time to experiment with the settings, and it worked fine. So how did it rate? Not very well, for a few reasons. First and foremost, I *really* didn't like the whole "3D face-mapped characters" thing. One of the charms of Myst was that you actually interacted with real people. (I know, Uru had this too, but like I said, I don't count that in the Myst series.) Also, there were no "oooh, I'm gonna ride on something and it's gonna be really fun!" parts. I mean, nothing can beat the 'roller coaster' part of Myst 3, but come on... every Myst game, even "Path Of The Shell" had something you could ride on. This game didn't have that - just a dinky little cart that took you a short distance at one point. Pfft. I should point out though, something I noticed - if you choose one of the bad endings, you get to return to Myst Island, which is all dilapidated. Scary that the real thing is starting to look like what that old parody "Pyst" predicted it would look like... [5/10]
BONUS REVIEW: * Pyst (1994?) - Now that I brought this up, I should review it! "Pyst" was a spoof put out by the long-bankrupt Parroty Interactive to show what Myst Island would look like after millions of players trekked through it. I found this after a multi-year search, in a used computer game store. Seven dollars was too much. It's not a game - merely a slideshow. Each slide has spots you can click on to 'interact' and see various destroyed aspects of Myst Island. Pretty lame, and not very entertaining after the first run through. (John Goodman's theme song is pretty funny, though.) They started making a sequel, "Driven", but the company went kerplunk. You can still find the demo of that one though, if you manage to find one of Parroty's post-"Pyst" CD-Roms. [3/10]
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