Title: Myst III: Exile
Genre: Adventure
Big Word: myssed
Strap: Myst sold in the millions.
Millions watch Coronation Street. Go figure. Here we go again.
We all know Myst. It's that damned name that people who know nothing about
computer games excitedly parp when conversation turns to the mouse operated
entertainments. "I've played Myst" they erupt, an assured smile
smeared across their childlike face. "It was great! I really liked the
puzzles".
Myst was not great. Myst was horrible. As a wise man once said, Myst was an impressive Power Point demonstration. You clicked the mouse when you were told, and the next static screen of laminated textures dazzled. Yes, there were some puzzles, but that is what The Poundstretcher Compendium of Puzzles is for.
With the exponential increases in technology since, what will part three be like? Imagine it - Myst in its day made eyes melt with the pictures it could paint on your screen - so what now?
They rotate! That's right folks! Rotation! So they move of course? No. It's still pre-rendered, fixed-point, pre-selected positions. Oh noooooo! How can this be the case? Presto seem to have managed to avoid the advances made in adventure games by even Cryo! It's so, so wrong.
But all that can be cast aside. Graphics are not so important in adventure games (although if there was an exception, this should have been it). What does gameplay have to offer? FMV characters, and puzzles. Oh good gravy. FMV did, does, and forever will look nothing other than ghastly. Cut and pasted (leaving a cheap and tacky green-screen aura all around) onto pre-rendered back drops looks laughable. It is impossible not to think of 7th Guest. You heard right.
And the jagged memory stands when scrutinising the puzzles. There is never any explanation of why you are doing anything. On the first island you will find lots of rotatable things. And you will eventually realise that this thing in the sea shines a light if you turn it enough flaming times. And then they seem to shine the light at one another. So you do it in an absence of anything else to do. Then the second island has rotatable flowers, and a light source... As is the way with all. It looks like a puzzle, so you fiddle with it until you realise what it's meant to do, and then learn why you were doing it afterwards.
There's not room to explain quite why this is so wrong. It's grossly flawed
in failing to indicate which areas of the screen should be clicked on to change
location, leaving you randomly clicking until you hit the right spot. It's
disorientating with its archaic location hopping, and there is no compass to
help. The puzzles are shite beyond belief. The acting is awful. And reading
numerous twenty page books in a computer game is stupendously pointless. I bet
all my money that this damned thing is going to sell in millions. Don't be one
of them. (I haven't mentioned that a full install is over 2GB. Dammit).
Margin notes:
Stool Motions Video
FMV is a shrivelled curiosity from a bygone era, and it should have stayed there. With zoetropes and smallpox. Its appearance in this game is as disappointing as being dumped by Steph from Neighbours on your birthday. But then the /FOUR/ CDs in the box should have been a warning.
Verdict: An embarrassing backwards
step in a backwards genre. Smash it with a house.
Score: 34%
Tech Specs:
Publisher: Ubi Soft
Developer: Presto Studios
Price: £30
Minimum System: PII 233, 64 Mb RAM, 200Mb
HD, 8Mb 3D card.
Recommended: PII 450, 16Mb 3D card.
Multi-player: No
Web Address: www.myst3.com