realMyst Review

|Tap-Repeatedly|FFC Archives

           

realMyst

Review by OrbJuly 2002

Have you ever played Myst? Kind of a redundant, cloying question in adventure gaming circles, one would suppose. Actually, it’s a redundant question to over 7 million people who have apparently bellied up to the Cyan bar, according to long-term sales figures.

With that in mind, I am not going to cover Myst 101 here and will take the liberty of assuming that you, the ever-enlightened gaming reader, have some sort of at least vague understanding of what this point-and-click milestone is all about.

realMyst is the technological grandchild of the original game. It is really the same old fable of greed and evil and hope and redemption wearing a fancy new dress and the latest shade of Revlon lipstick. And with that analogy in mind, one could go a step further and say the Rime Age is the virtual gaming equivalent of a boob job. Something’s been added, but when you get up close and personal, it just doesn’t feel like the real thing.

A real plus to this latest incarnation is the fact that Cyan was able to take the feel of the original Myst and, despite all of the technical bells and whistles, have it retain the air of the very first version, not turning it into a Riven redux or Exile clone (wouldn’t that be funny?).

Getting to the heart of the matter, regarding the graphics (and that’s really why we are here, is it not?), I’ll admit it. I finished the game, then went back to the original Myst just to see how big the difference is. And the changes are remarkable and quite an improvement. Creating a real-time 3D environment, Cyan has really surpassed the feeling of any previous incarnation of the series. In fact, of all the updated technological improvements, and minor and not so minor touches, the new look is definitely the highlight. The degree of intricacy and detail in the rendering, looking up close at the new and improved surfaces, gives the eye candy junkie a new high.

The other big (read: most obvious of all) change to Myst is the addition of a new age not found in the original. The Rime age, as Cyan has christened it, is a tacked-on, muddled hodgepodge of delightful and cumbersome playing. The age is beautifully constructed … and a letdown. It is not long, ends abruptly (occurring after the original’s ending), and really has the feel of being stuck on as an out-of-place afterthought. The puzzle design in this section is at best uneven—the first discovered puzzle is a clever triumph after a couple of red herring areas, and the final puzzle is a wheezy letdown with a cruddy payoff. Were the ambient sounds more intense at Rime? Seems like it, but that could just be me.

Some minor but worth-commenting-on touches. The original has a bit of animated butterfly floating by on the main island as one traversed down the path, giving it a whimsical air. realMyst has built in a few more butterflies, and they are a little fancier. The incredible freedom of movement in the environments makes a grave marker accessible on the side of a grassy hill, an homage to a character only a reader of the Myst series of novels would grasp. Time changes throughout the ages, moving from daylight to dusk to night and back, giving the environments an eerie reality.

One thing surprising to me in the replay was the realization that Myst does not use soundtrack music throughout, but uses it instead to heighten atmosphere in strategic locations.  In realMyst, ambient sounds were phenomenal. Using headphones, sounds played from the direction that they would be coming from, were the person actually there, a difference accentuated in the new Rime age. Blowing wind sounds were incredibly real. How cool is that?

Many changes about the game get this player’s hearty thump of approval, yet there are a few drawbacks that noticeably detract from full immersion and enjoyment of the game.

One of the changes (and not for the better) was the removal of the fast movement system whereby the player could “zip” to a previously visited location by clicking on a lightning bolt on that portion of the screen. What is so ironic about this bit of Myst minutia is that Presto added this capability into Myst III: Exile, which gave that game the feel of the original Myst, and the creators of the original and this latest “final” version have ripped it back out. Go figure.  In its place the player holds down the mouse button to shoot forward like a cannonball until the mouse is let go.

The game’s new freedom of movement is both a blessing and a curse.  On the one hand, the player is able to creep around within game environments through places that a live person in a similar position would be most likely to actually walk, a freedom-of-movement design first implemented a few years ago by Altor Systems with their ahead-of-its-time game, Nightfall.  A major drawback to this, however (at least in the Mac version), was that the slightest movement of the mouse caused the screen to move around on a hair trigger, causing the environment to swirl about like Dean Martin at happy hour. It was much easier to use the keyboard directional keys.

There are only five save game slots and a “previous visit” slot. Unlimited was better by far. However, the save screen now gives screenshots of where the player saves, which is fantastically more helpful than “selenicageblablabla.”

As for the puzzles, you know the drill. If you like mechanical puzzles, this is a feast; if you hate them, a famine. After seven years, I had managed to forget the solutions to all of the puzzles, which definitely increased the happy factor in replaying it. One nice thing about Myst is the simplicity of gameplay. No pixels to find, no inventory to haul, and really not a monumental amount of notes to take if you know how to look for puzzle clues (and if not, the practice is good for you).

Upon initial release, quite a bit was made of the high system requirements for both the PC and Mac versions. In playing the game through, it is understandable that Cyan was interested in being able to recreate the aura the first-time players felt in playing their way through the game. But one wonders, with millions of original customers to sell to, and a probable host of additional newcomers, whether this was also a strategic marketing ploy to attempt to extend the shelf life of the title to the remarkable range the original enjoyed.

With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if, a couple of years from now once these graphics are dated, it gets fiddled with again. I had a look-see and spotted plenty of places on the island for an additional trap door to a new age. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Cyan Publisher: Ubisoft (PC), Macplay (Mac) Release Date: November 2000 (PC), April 2002 (Mac)

Available for: Macintosh Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

Click to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge

System Requirements

PC: Windows 95/98/2000/ ME Pentium II 450 MHz 64 MB RAM (128 MB recommended) 300 MB free hard disc space 6X CD-ROM 640×480 display High color 16 MB video card with 3D acceleration DirectX 7 DirectX 7 compatible sound and video cards

Macintosh: Power Mac G3 300 MHz OS 8.6 or later/64 MB RAM OS 10.1 or later/128 MB RAM 3D video card 16 MB memory

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

Pages

Top

Category Archives

Top

Blog Posts

Top

14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.