For its point-and-click interface and stepped movements (once again with the ability to look around 360 degrees), there's very little static about Myst IV almost every scene has some sort of animation in it, bringing the game to life. Outside of a few random crashes (I suggest making regular use of the game's save function after solving every major puzzle), the game ran fairly fast, even with the great amount of video animations injected throughout the game. It's easy to see why Ubisoft made this decision, however: the game takes up a whopping 8GB of hard drive space, a mammoth amount. Maybe it's appropriate, since the original Myst was arguably the game that sparked the CD-ROM revolution. It's worth noting that Myst IV is a DVD-only game, one of the few PC games to date to go that route. Some of the entries in my journal might seem like spoilers, but in reality they give away very little of the plot, and might actually a useful guide in determining the "right" way to proceed through the game. It's certainly possible to complete the game without resorting to hints, but it's not necessarily fun.Įven the in-game help system (buried in the Options menu) isn't particularly effective, suffering from graphical glitches that obscure some of the hints, and it doesn't necessarily tell you what order to complete the puzzles in or help you figure out where that one lever or scrap of paper might be hiding. Solving Myst IV at times feels like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle in the dark: it's possible, but more tedious and less enjoyable than it ought to be. Some of the puzzles may be brilliant on their own, but continually leaving the player to figure out the rules and instructions to boot gets to be a bit too much. The major problem with Revelation, however, is that this doesn't necessarily make for engaging gameplay. Prepare to hit the books to solve one of Myst IV's key puzzles. As someone who's spent years building a collection of puzzle books, many of the puzzles in Myst IV are worthy of high praise. And while it's rarely apparent at first, the puzzles usually display some sense of logic and continuity within the various Ages, which wasn't always true of previous Myst games. The puzzles, viewed in a vacuum, are often marvels of ingenuity - many of them are extremely original, grounded in basic concepts like nature, sound, color, shapes, codes, logic and math. As videogames go, it's also one of the best stories I can recall Myst fans are practically obligated to play through Revelation (with a walkthrough, if necessary) simply to see what happens to all the characters. "Pretty" doesn't begin to explain it many areas feel like someone's imagination, dreams - or nightmares, in some cases - brought to life. In many ways, Myst IV is an extremely ambitious game, and in several areas - especially artistically - it succeeds overwhelmingly. As much as I'd have liked to express my feelings about the game solely through those entries, however, there are a few remaining aspects of the game that simply can't be conveyed in terms appropriate for Atrus' world. If it wasn't clear from the mock-journal entries on the preceding pages, there's a lot to like about Myst IV.
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