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Myst IV - E3 2004 archived preview

It's no secret that Adventure Gamers has quite a reputation as being a "Myst-unfriendly" site. Perhaps part of this reputation is earned, and perhaps part is exaggerated. But a great deal of it comes from the frustration we often express with the direction that adventure games have gone since the days of Myst, and how hollow and soulless so many of these games are.

Our frustration, however, has never been with the original Myst--or any of its sequels, for that matter. We have given every Myst game at least a four-star review score, and for good reason; every game in the series has been visually enthralling, well-designed, and always mentally challenging. Boatloads of ill-fated clones have never been able to duplicate the cerebral and artistic success of any Myst game, and instead usually come out as boring and uninteresting "exploration adventures"; the Myst series is certainly deserving of higher praise than this.

We visited Ubisoft's Myst IV: Revelation booth expecting to see more of the same--gorgeous environments, challenging puzzles, and a sprawling environment to explore. Even with our high expectations of the visuals, we were blown away by the sheer beauty of the environments. Each world is just full of amazing visual elements; there are bugs and birds flying around, the trees sway gently in the wind, and the clouds float above you. All of this is made possible by the cutting-edge A.L.I.V.E. system (Advanced Living Interactive Video Environment), which allows for up to 15 (!) video layers within a single scene. Aptly named, for if one word had to be used to describe any given scene that we saw in the game, it would be "alive."

The world becomes even more visually alluring when you begin interacting with it. Myst IV makes use of a single cursor that represents your hand--and I mean that in a way no game has. Truly, the cursor is meant to be your hand, and your clicking and dragging all over the screen is meant to simulate the actual motions of a hand. As an example, to turn the page on a book you mouse over the corner of the page, click, and drag that page over to the left. It's quite a remarkable feeling. The coolest example, by far, came with our "interaction" with a small brook--clicking and dragging within the brook causes the water to ripple and stir, just as if you were disturbing it with your own hand. Even after seeing Fahrenheit and Dreamfall, this was my personal favorite interface innovation of the entire show.

But wait! Myst IV had quite a surprise in store for us when we hesitantly questioned about the focus on story and character development--because this time around, there actually is such a focus! The Ubisoft team promise that this game will feature more character interaction than every previous Myst game combined! Perhaps not the loftiest of goals, but certainly an encouraging direction. Besides that, there is a great deal of storyline variation--including multiple endings, determined by the choices that you make along the way.

The story, by the way, tells of the final fate of the evil brothers Sirrus and Achenar. It begins with the mystery of a young girl's disappearance, and follows the player as they venture inside the worlds of the brothers to rescue the girl from her fate. Real-life actors will be used to portray all characters, of course.

Longtime Myst fans shouldn't be worried about losing the aspects that made the series enjoyable to them in the first place. As already stated, the graphics are unspeakably gorgeous. The soundtrack is provided by Peter Gabriel and Jack Wall, and promises ambience and total immersion. And the puzzles, of course, are everywhere; the short demonstration we saw had two in a matter of minutes. The greatest difference here is that the puzzles are not just obstacles, but mechanisms to providing clues that unlock story elements.

To us, it doesn't feel as though Myst has tipped to the other extreme of the scale; it only feels like it's becoming more balanced, while still staying true to its roots. The story was co-written with Mary de Marle, the writer of Myst III: Exile (Ed. note: We have since been informed that Mary de Marle was in fact the sole writer on the project and that it was not a collaboration. Apologies for the incorrection information), and Cyan was consulted regularly to ensure that the game would be consistent with the earlier editions of the series. The producer that we spoke to said that the goal is not too make "the biggest Myst game yet", but rather "the deepest Myst game yet." It's an encouraging goal, and the reason that even acknowledged third-person adventure fans like me can really get excited about this game.

Myst IV: Revelation, developed and published by Ubisoft, will be released in September of this year. It will be released on DVD-ROM only. For a better taste of the game, download the Myst IV screensaver.

 

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