Uru: Ages Beyond Myst Review

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Uru: Ages Beyond Myst

Review by JenDecember 2003

I have played all three previous Myst games and liked them all fairly well. Unlike many adventure gamers, though, Myst was neither my first nor my favorite.

The first two, Myst and Riven, were designed by Cyan, a company formed by the brothers Rand and Robyn Miller. These were both groundbreaking in their visual beauty and in their gameplay style: they are inventoryless, first-person, environmental games set in a parallel world in which it is critical to pay close attention to your surroundings. Exile, the third in the series, was developed by now-defunct Presto Studios under license from Cyan. Exile continued the point-and-click tradition of Myst and Riven, with the addition of node-based panning instead of largely static slideshow-style screens; the overall feel of the game, though, was pretty much the same as its predecessors.

Uru is not the official Myst 4; rather, it marks the return of Cyan to the development of the D’ni universe as well as the first real massively multiplayer online adventure game. Cyan began designing Uru for online play some years ago; recall the hue and cry when it was announced not only that the next Myst was to be an online-only game but also available only to those with broadband internet connections.

Only recently was it announced that Uru would come with a single-player component in addition to the subscription-based online “dungeon,” for want of a better word.

This article is about that single-player experience since, as of this writing, the online component is available to very few players worldwide, and I’m not one of them. It is scheduled to open to everyone who wants to play (and who has a credit card number to pay for the subscription) in January 2004.

Well … one thing’s for certain: This ain’t your daddy’s Myst.

The most marked differences are the 3D graphics with attendant direct control, the ability to switch between first and third person, and … wait for it … your character jumps! Yep, you read it right. There are a number of puzzles that require multiple (meaning two or three, in most cases) attempts to complete a finicky vault to a high ledge or a low mesa surrounded by flowing lava.

Let me elaborate on that jumping part a bit. Yes, you must make some death-defying leaps, but you never have to rush and you don’t really die. Most of the time, if you miscalculate, you just go back and try again. Sometimes you have to travel a bit to get back to the part where you must make the attempt, but that’s by far the worst of it. If you’re determined never, ever to play a game with jumping, no way no how, then you’d best give Uru a miss; if, however, you’re willing to give it a try, you’ll likely find the jumping is no big deal.

The graphics are stunning, as you might expect from a Myst game. Eye candy junkies will eat this with a spoon and smack their lips in satisfaction afterward. As well, the sound design is masterful—as your character turns, the sounds move with her. The environmental ambience is very realistic, at least within the confines of the game world. Water cascades, rock grinds against rock—the sheer scale of the visuals and their attendant sound effects is really something to behold. This is a big game world!

On the whole, the puzzling style is pretty true to the Mysts that came before. You are thrust, in all of your wondering ignorance, into a strange place and must absorb clues from your surroundings as to what to do with the artifacts that you find here and there. Some of the puzzles are obtuse, as might be expected—you’d best have that walkthrough handy before you start. Others, though, are “gimmes,” which is unusual in a Myst game.

The control scheme takes some getting used to, as with all direct-control games, but it is simplicity itself. You have your movement keys and your jump key. That’s about it. All of the commands may be assigned to whatever keys suit you, and you can even use the mouse for much of the moving around if you so choose, although it is awkward. You will be required to use the keyboard to do things like jump (eek! there’s that J word again!), toggle run/walk, switch points of view (between first and third person), and sidle.  Not that I ever actually had to sidle, mind you … but I could’ve if I’d wanted to.

In each Age, the object is to find and touch seven Journey Cloths, which take the form of handprints on burlap. Once you have found all seven and then touch a final eighth handprint, you are through with that Age. (Or are you?) You are free to return to these Ages at any time, though, just to explore further or see if you missed anything.

After a relatively brief introductory Age that takes place on Earth, in New Mexico, to be specific, you get your own little Age called Relto, a platform in the sky with a hut and a hill.  Inside the hut is a bookshelf where all of your fine, shiny new linking books are stored as they become available, with plenty of empty slots for subsequent online Ages. You carry a linking book with you at all times that takes you back to Relto when used.  If you “die,” you are carried back to Relto. As well, Relto contains a wardrobe where you can change your appearance, not just your clothes but your features and I suppose even your gender.

Within each linking book, you get a choice of going back to the beginning of its Age or to the last Journey Cloth you touched.  In addition to finding linking books within the Ages, you will come across a different sort of page for your own book, green hieroglyphs that, when activated, add little personal touches to Relto. These can all be turned on or off at your pleasure.  I’m still not quite clear on what these are good for, other than some slightly amusing farting around; I suspect they will come into play when the MMOAG (now there’s an acronym I never thought I’d see in print) opens and you must distinguish your Relto from those of others to which you may be invited. For now, they are just fun little extra goodies to locate and obtain.

Bear with me while I theorize a bit here: I suspect the single-player experience was built from some of the episodes originally planned to be online-only. The mechanics of the whole thing are set up to accommodate online play. For instance, you can’t save in Uru—your progress is marked on quitting, and you always begin subsequent sessions in Relto. This can be a curse when, say, you miss a jump and land back in Relto and have to link and trek back to the jumping-off point to try again. Fortunately, at least for me, no jump took more than two or three attempts, but still … a bit of a pisser, ’twas.

Also, throughout your single-player Ages you will catch glimpses of a great cave city that you will not actually visit. I think this is the city of D’ni that forms the nucleus of the online experience. As well, there are areas that are blocked off with cones and barriers such as you find around big potholes in real life. I bet those will go away as new online content is developed, giving access to more areas within the Ages you’ve already visited and tying them all together.

A drawback, a big one, is that you play an able-bodied chick (or guy, if your inclinations run that way) and yet you cannot use your arms or hands. When you have to manipulate an object in the environment, your only choice is to bump into it, sometimes lots of times, to nudge it into position. Unnecessarily time-consuming—I think a better approach would have been to allow the player to pick up and drag objects with the mouse or somehow hold items for a brief period.

All in all, I had more fun with these five single-player-afterthought Uru Ages than I did with any of the three previous Myst games. I was completely addicted. I think the jumping and the necessity of switching between third and first person to solve certain puzzles adds an enjoyable extra layer to the gameplay.  And Uru seems to have a certain indefinable joie de vivre missing from either Myst or Riven.

To those who complain that this is not their daddy’s Myst, I can only point out that there is nobody in this world more qualified to define—and redefine—the Myst world than Cyan. It’s their baby, after all. You don’t have to like it … but I sure did.

I’ll even go out on a limb here and predict that this, in addition to or instead of Broken Sword 3 (which I’ve not yet played at the time I write this), is the future of adventure gaming. Love it or hate it, I believe we will look back in five or ten years and see this as a watershed moment in our brief gaming history, in much the same way as the original 1993 Myst is now viewed. That being said, how can I give Uru anything but the Gold Star?  Besides that, it’s loads of fun to play. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Cyan Publisher: Ubisoft Release Date: November 2003

Available for: Windows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

Windows XP/00/ME/98SE 800 MHz processor 256 MB RAM 32 MB video card DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card DirectX 8.1 (included) 4X or faster CD-ROM drive (not recommended for use in a CD-RW drive) 2 GB free hard disk space Mouse, keyboard

Where to Find It

GoGamer 37.90

Prices/links current as of 12/13/03Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

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

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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.

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