realMYST

Rating:
Summary: realMyst makes Myst come to life!
Review: realMyst is the most REAL 3D game I have ever seen! It takes the old frame by frame Myst game and makes it a free look 3D environment. Rain, snow, lightning, birds, sunrises, sunsets and even starlight! realMyst makes the old game a reality!

With the massive hardware requirements aside, this program IS worth purchasing. I own all the Myst/Riven products and this program is tremendously better than all of them. It also includes a totally new level called the RIME age. It also has weather and lighting effects never before seen in a RPG. (At least I haven't seen any yet!)

It will make you feel like you are REALLY there!

realMyst comes complete on one CD and does not take more than 150 MB of space on the medium installation mode. It requires at least a 3Dfx(R) video card and 64 Megabytes of RAM. A PII 450 is needed to run it properly but is will run on slower PII's with minimal quality loss. (I recomend 128 MB RAM or more, otherwise hard drive memory swaping will make the game performance lag.)

Keep a look out for Myst III - Exile. Myst III is written the a free look 3D environment also and if it's anything like this game it will be worth ordering also.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful!
Review: I bought Real Myst a few days ago and have been thoroughly enjoying it. Myst island is a delight. Standing on the beach watching the sunset over the heaving waves is a perfect stress-buster. I enjoyed the ambiance of night and the crickets chirping among the trees. I also chased the pair of butterflies all over the island (who's there to see me =) ). SPOILER- for those who've read the books there's an extra treat. Among the trees behind the cabin is the grave of Atrus' grandmother, accented with those little blue flowers that mean so much to him. I'm looking forward to exploring all the ages. Of course, the game isn't perfect. Moving about is jerky, rather like being drunk! The save/reload screen is difficult to use a mouse in though that might just be my computer. Despite these and other faults, those that loved the original Myst will enjoy this - if they're willing to burn the money needed to bring them up to the game's steep system requirements.

Rating:
Summary: Not everyone wants an adrenaline rush...
Review: I take exception to the professional reviewers comments about Myst in general, though it is true that to run realMyst you DO have to have a monster system...fortunately, I just bought one recently.

If Myst were such a dog of a game, as the reviewer says, why has it been a top seller for SEVEN YEARS??!! Obviously, he is one of those blood-n-guts, X-treme violence, action-oriented, adrenaline pumping game fans. I do not feel that all computer games have to be of this genre, and obviously I am in good company.

Yes, I'm a Myst junkie, but my first experience at gaming was a gentle game called Loom, by Lucas. The puzzles, though simple, sometimes took a long time to figure out, but I appreciated not dying during the game, and being able to try and try again. Myst is a much better game, of course, but some of us just like our gaming to be cerebral and slow-paced, rather than having to keep shooting and try to figure out how to survive on the run.

Oh, yes, I am eagerly awaiting Myst III: Exile...

Rating:
Summary: Good Graphics But Slow...
Review: realMYST is an update to the original Myst back in the early to mid 90's. This time, you get a full screen of graphics that you can freely move in. No keyboard commands are needed; everything is mouse driven. This is a big plus in the days of mastering several keys to play a good game. The graphics have been updated and they are gorgeous. You can now look at the side of a building or behind something you never got to see. The sounds have also been updated to an extent. Much of the music is updated, but many sounds remain, which is OK. The videos inside the books with the missing pages are the same and the message to Catherine is really not as good (graphics wise) as the original. My only complaint is that all of the free movement is very slow. Now, I have a Celeron 400, but I also have a Voodoo4 32MB graphics card, and it screams on games like Elite Force. But realMYST is choppy and slow. However, this can be overlooked, because revisiting the sites of MYST in real 3D is a joy.

Rating:
Summary: Real Myst or Real Boring?
Review: Captivating the audience with graphics is about all this game is worth. Waste your time figuring out trite puzzles that are about as challenging as learning to count to 10. It gets two stars for graphics. If your looking for eye candy and to throw away 30 dollars, Real Myst is for you.

Rating:
Summary: Max knows where it's at.
Review: Word. This game rules all humanity. Buy it. The graphics rule and I think the puzzles are very cool. They are very realistic. They require common sense. Or at least the lack of utter stupidity. Just buy it. You will love it more than life itself. On second thought, if you buy it, it will become your life. It is that realistic. You will find yourself trying to click to walk forward in the real world. I am actually addicted to realMYST.

Rating:
Summary: Demo is everything I expected
Review: I was surfing the net when I came across a demo for realMYST. I was shocked and excited at the same time... out of nowhere, the game I've been looking forward to ever since it was announced is finally in a playable form. I instantly downloaded it, and was both impressed and disappointed, mainly because of some spots being incredibly choppy, and the demo would freeze up quite often. However, after downloading the 1.2 Patch-up and changing some of the options in the setup, the demo worked perfectly and was everything I was hoping for when I first saw the demo online. One of the stand-out spots in the demo was walking up to the telescope; I don't know why, but it just gave me a haunting feeling I had when I first played the original Myst when it came out back in 1993. I can't wait to get this game... whether it's walking through all of the redesigned ages or experiencing the new ending and new Rime Age, I know this game is going to be one of my favorites.

Rating:
Summary: A pleasant surprise
Review: I haven't played the retail version yet, so my commentary is based on the Stoneship Age demo. Years ago I played the original Myst and was captivated. Recently some friends and I downloaded the demo with low expectations. Three hours later we were still playing, all captivated. Freedom of movement is something I always wanted in a game like this; it dramatically quicken and sustains your suspension of disbelief. Graphically the demo was simpler than I would have liked, but I compared the environment to screenshots of the original game and found the texturing to be more realistic and the architecture basically the same. The slight simplifying of geometry is compensated for by dynamic weather and lighting, and moving scenery. The feeling of exploring underground, only to submurge in the middle of a pitch black thunderstorm is unlike any other game I have played. I actually felt unsafe outside, and lingered in the doorway until it became light again. The sound is very well done too. I am not completely pleased however. I think that the engine could have been pushed further, and it seems like laziness on Cyan's part to simply recreat Myst. It would have been nice to see another Myst game designed from the ground up to work with this engine, and perhaps this is in the works already.

Rating:
Summary: realMYST- some caveats
Review: Though I'm impressed with the amount of care and love that has gone into this redux of MYST, there are some negative things worth mentioning. All these points are based on my own observations from the free demo of the Stoneship Age that was released just prior to the actual game:

a) The system requirements are prohibitively high. Also, even patched, there were a lot of crashes and freeze-ups in the game. This might get fixed by the release date.

b) For all the excitement about the new graphics, the 3-D environment here is still just textures over polygons. If there is groundbreaking new technology at work here, I cannot perceive it. Anyone familiar with Quake II is going to recognise the engine style of this game. The graphics are on a par with current games such as Everquest and the like, but they are a far cry from the stunning visuals of the original.

c) Original MYSTies may find the new interface awkward - it is difficult to steer yourself around.

The original game was a true quantum leap forward in the Gaming industry, and perhaps that's why my own expectations were so high, but I cannot help but feel that Cyan took a big step backwards with this one. They have taken a product that was groundbreakingly original and made it merely ordinary. Sorry folks, only three stars today.

Fi

Rating:
Summary: Very cool game!
Review: I think this version of Myst was awesome! The graphics rock!