The game controls are, besides the aforementioned complaint, easy to use and understand during the vast majority of game play. Myst 4 uses the same point & click system we all know and (hopefully!) love. But Ubisoft has refined the system by adding a number of options and tweaks that create a more personalized system. The pointer, shaped like a hand, can be set to be left or right-handed, a move sure to please all those lefties out there. You can also change the brightness of the hand, from barely noticeable to 100% opaque. But one of the smaller things I really liked about the interface was that you actually needed to grab and push or pull levers, doors, and journal pages; just clicking on them won’t work, which I felt added a nice level of depth to game play.

And this wouldn’t be a Myst game if there wasn’t plenty of journal reading to do. I counted five journals to sort through. Every character in Myst seems to be a prodigious writer, and every journal comes loaded with hints and clues the player will need to succeed at various puzzles. One of the nice things about Myst 4 is that it includes an in-game camera, something the other games didn’t. Instead of making detailed notes, as in days past, you can just take pictures of anything you think you might need such as languages, symbols or machine configurations. This is tremendously handy and I found myself quite taken away with this new tool, rapidly clicking away at anything I thought might come in useful later.

The acting is also above par. In Exile, the first game to actually include any real amount of character interaction, I found the Saavedro character to be too overwrought and a tad too far over the annoying line. The characters in Myst 4 are given a good deal more screen time than in previous games. This is especially true with the character Yeesha, Atrus and Catherine’s daughter. Yeesha is a new character we have not previously met in the series, and she is the lynchpin that holds much of the plot together. Therefore, the character needs to charm the gamer or they won’t care a whit about what happens to her. The young actress Ubisoft found to fill this role does a remarkably good job at grabbing and holding the gamer’s attention. For such a young actress, who most likely had to act against nothing but a blue screen, she never looks uncomfortable or unsure, which provides Yeesha with the quiet confidence that powers the game’s story.

The music is incredibly polished. Which isn’t surprising when you consider that it was composed by Jack Wall, who did a brilliant job with Exile’s soundtrack with help from Peter Gabriel. Myst and its sequels have always gotten this part of the design process right and this game is no exception. It even offers you a music frequency option! The higher the frequency the more music you hear, the lower the frequency less – do I love this feature or what! What a great idea. Not that there was any need to be hesitant, this game has a high quality soundtrack which offers a diverse number of tunes for different environments and a full range of ambient sounds. The music always seems to have a haunting quality, as well as a sense of urgency that spurs the player on and is a fitting match for game play. And everything seems to have it own realistic sound built in, just try tapping something with your pointer.

I felt this game was very reminiscent of Riven, but like all the Myst games its puzzles are smoothly woven into the game’s environment. Don’t be surprised if you need to pick up three or four different clues at different parts of each age to solve puzzles. This was something that all the games have done well and is a leading reason these games are so well liked – they are a challenge, but a solvable challenge.

There are so many good things going on in this game, I feel confident that every type of gamer will find something to like. Though there were a few puzzles that caused some frustration, all other facets of the game are so well developed and presented that I have confidence these small inconveniences will soon be forgotten. Revelation is a worthy and enjoyable sequel, and if they keep making them this good, this series might just go on for another ten years. Here's hoping!