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 | Title : Myst 3: Exile
Author : UBI Soft
Release Date : 20010508
Binding : CD-ROM
Regular Price : $
Amazon.com Price : $13.50
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Editorial Reviews :
Myst arrived just in time to take advantage of brand-new CD-ROM technology, and quickly became the number-one reason to buy a new computer. Myst and its sequel, Riven, featured beautiful and lonely landscapes, a strong and fascinating sense of pervading mystery, and puzzles both fiendish and clever. Players navigated through the games by clicking on points of interest, and solved puzzles by paying careful attention to the lush graphics and haunting sounds of the environment. Myst III: Exile proudly continues and even advances that tradition.
Myst's ongoing story line is as convoluted as it is fantastic. Central to the story is the mysterious civilization of the D'ni, which creates entire worlds by writing books. Other books are used to link the D'ni worlds together. Myst trapped the player in a series of interconnected worlds, and challenged the player to puzzle through the ramblings of two mad brothers in order to free Atrus, their imprisoned father. Riven revealed more of the history of the D'ni, and sent the player to the unstable world of Riven in order to rescue Atrus's wife.
Myst III: Exile concerns Atrus's earnest attempt at creating a new world. He hopes this world will mark the rebirth of the D'ni, but before he finishes his book, a thief (portrayed in the game by actor Brad Dourif) breaks into his laboratory and mucks things up. You have to track this thief through worlds written by Atrus in his earlier years. Within each world you must right the wrongs the thief has created, all the while uncovering a deeper mystery surrounding his relationship to Atrus and his troublesome children. Prior experience with Myst and Riven isn't necessary for this third excursion, but familiarity with Myst's point-and-click gameplay and its often infuriating puzzle logic helps.
New to the game is a full 3-D landscape, which replaces the static prerendered artwork of the previous games. The gorgeous new graphics allow you to quickly pan and scan your way through an area, looking for puzzles and action spots with the hand cursor. The puzzles have been improved so that you can now see changes to the environment immediately after you solve one, rather than simply moving on to the next picture. Still, the puzzles are often wickedly difficult and may prove frustrating to new players.
The environment is the true star of the game, and is sure to enchant players of all stripes. As before, the music and artwork are topnotch and immersing, and the experience is not easily forgotten. Myst fans of old will be delighted with this new installment, and those new to the series will be enchanted, provided they are willing to spend time on the puzzles, enjoy the scenery, and let the game carry them away.
Buyer Reviews :
Being a huge fan of both the original Myst and Riven, I obviously had high hopes and expectations for the latest installment.
I got my Collecters Edition copy of MYST3 yesterday evening, and unlike some of the previous reviewers, had absolutely no problems getting it installed and running on Windows 2000. My guess is that those who couldn't get it to work on Win2K didn't install DirectX 8 and Quicktime 4.1.2... both of which are included as install options.
When you first run the game, it will take from 30 seconds to a full minute before actually launching. Hopefully this can be sped up a bit when they release a patch, but it's not a big deal since that's the only time you'll have to wait for anything once the game starts.
Getting back to the actual game, I have to say that after several hours of play that I am certainly impressed thus far. The new 360-degree graphics are clearly the next step in pre-rendered game worlds. Those that were turned off by the original Myst and Riven 'slide-show' graphics will certainly feel more immersed in the worlds of MYST3. One technological breakthrough that MYST3 features is the addition of more characters which actually look like part of the world. The previous games in the series would show flat 2D movies pasted on top of the pre-rendered images. MYST3, however, allows you to look around in full 360-degree freedom while the movies continue playing in the same place. Characters actually look and feel like part of the world instead of looking like cardboard cutouts. Kudos to Presto Studios for pulling this wonderful effect off!
The game itself is true to it's predecessors in that the history, characters, storytelling, worlds, music, and puzzles live up to expectations. Atrus and Catherine return and are in top form and the new characters I've 'met' thusfar have been excellent. Presto Studios certainly did their homework when building this game, knowing full well that they were making a game that has a very large and loyal fanbase.
The other big change is that much of the soundtrack is now a real live symphony orchestra. Myst and Riven were composed electronically yet still sounded remarkable. Composer Jack Wall's score take many familiar elements from Robyn Miller's previous work and brings them to the next level with the full orchestra. Several of the musical numbers are very reminiscent of John Williams work in Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. If you liked the music of Myst and Riven, I highly recommend purchasing the Collectors Edition of MYST3 since it includes a full soundtrack CD.
My only complaints with the game are purely technical. I've noticed the game get a little jumpy from time-to-time, which is probably due to the video mixed in to the 360-degree environment. I'm running on a well-equipped 850mhz machine and can't imagine trying to play this on a low-end 300mhz box. There are some graphic options which can be turned down or off and if you are noticing this kind of problem, I suggest adjusting the options to improve performance.
My only other complaints are that the compression used on the 360-degree images often muddies some of the fine-detail that was previously seen in Riven. Luckily there is now a zoom feature that lets you closely inspect objects in the game world. And that the water effect is often too minimal and doesn't look quite right. The water effect in Riven was more effective, even if it wasn't completely realistic.
Overall, I must say that MYST3 has largely lived up to my hopes and expectations. Fans of the original Myst and Riven will not be disappointed... Just make sure you've got fairly up-to-date hardware to run it on. ;)
(by Michael Olshansky)
Features/Technical Specs :
* Evolution of the popular Myst series, supports optional 3-D hardware
* Free-look movement system allows you to pan 360 degrees at any location
* 5 entirely new ages to explore
* Storyline reveals a new character
* Solve puzzles to uncover the mystery of this new adversary
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