Storywise, it's a fanciful affair, but fans will be pleased to learn that it answers questions left hanging since both the original Myst and Myst III: Exile. The big guns have been wheeled out for the fourth instalment proper, which boasts an original track from none other than coffee table favourite Peter Gabriel (apparently Enya was busy). I then spent what seemed like eight hours rolling cannonballs in and out of a box in order to facilitate a makeshift pulley to get to the top deck of a ship to discover the whereabouts of a mythical winged creature.īerated over the years by hardcore gamers, the Myst series has nevertheless spanned over a decade, with the original shifting some six million copies. I attempted the first puzzle, and instantly got stuck, having to shamefully ask for help. I could have played through the whole game in that time. That's how long it took to get from Waterloo to Paris, thanks to the wrong type of tree on the track. But if you can find a way to accommodate the game, not just on-your HD but in your hardened gaming soul, you'll find plenty to reward you.Įight Hours. Any game that comes on two DVDs and requires 6GB of disk space isn't exactly appealing to everyone. It is a resource hog, let's make no bones about it. The story is told at a perfect pace, and even if you're not familiar with Atrus, his traitorous sons and their imprisonment and subsequent attempts at escape, you'll soon pick it up and find yourself completely hooked. At no point do the puzzles seem forced or contrived, just intelligent and challenging. It's all in the details and it's precisely why Myst IV keeps you coming back.īut what of the game? Just as good. And how your view would subtly shift its focus depending on whether your hand pointer was hovering over something in the fore- or background. And when I noticed that the light levels in different locations were rising and falling due to the moving clouds in the sky covering the sun. And then touched a pool of water in a bucket and saw ripples react exactly based on where the icon touched them. OK, we're not talking about the true 3D that URU managed, but whatever reservations I had about this return to the 'QuickTime VR'-style environment vanished the first time I tapped the hand icon on different parts of the scenery and heard different noises. The end result is one of the most polished games I've come across in a long time. It would have been easy for the developers to have lost heart after the mistakes surrounding URU Live, and it's to Ubisoft's credit that it charged a new team with the task of continuing the story of 'linking books', mysterious worlds and a family of scientific explorers torn apart by inner strife. Put yourself in the right frame of mind and it's nearly impossible not to become captivated. Myst titles have consistently outsold most so-called 'mainstream' games, and with good reason. They may only be played by housewives and geography professors, but the One series refused to die though, mostly because by the time the genre hit its darkest hour it was one of the few games still managing to retain its class, style, intelligence and playability while surrounded by a sea of third-rate dross. The reason the point-and-click adventure died several years ago (apart from LucasArts leaving it behind to test the credibility of its Star Wars franchise instead), was that people got fed up with witnessing badly-rendered cutscenes loosely tying together a basic collection of parlour games, shoehorned into the proceedings with all the subtlety of Graham Norton at a prize cucumber judging contest.
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