Uru: Ages Beyond Myst

Rating:
Summary: Used a "walkthrough" for the first time in a Myst game
Review: I wrote one review already, but I had to add a little more detail.

Let's forget about the graphics problems... lets talk about the game...

I solved Myst, Riven and Exile without any walkthroughs or hints. That was a true testiment to the greatness of the puzzles and logic in those games, because how many role playing games can you actually do without a help guide? (not many)

I was hoping URU would be the same, but URU turned out to be a joke.

Click on the link for my nickname to see my reviews of Exile... I remember when I wrote those, and how great I thought that game was (and Exile wasn't even as good as Riven!)

Don't fool yourself with URU. It really is THAT bad.

People who just enjoy the graphics, and who commonly use walkthroughs to get through adventure games won't have a problem with URU because it is very similar to other adventure games where you just use the walkthrough, click on the right stuff and walk in the right place. Those are the reviews you read from people who just say how great the graphics were and that the puzzles were so much fun... ppppllleeeassee!!! FUN? give me a break! If you thought those puzzles were fun, you've got to be a very sheltered person. But regardless, the only circumstances where you'd think the puzzles were fun is if you used a walkthrough to get through them. Otherwise, you're just fumbling around for the right answer, and when you get the write answer, you move on, but you don't really know why most of the time.

If you enjoyed solving the puzzles in Myst, Riven and Exile, and you liked not having to use a walkthrough (even though the puzzles were still a challenge) to get through those games, you'll hate URU.

I hated URU. I confess... I had to cheat to beat it. But it was only because URU had me pulling my hair out with frustration. And, after I read about how to get through a certain puzzle that made no sense, I still thought it made no sense. The answer didn't draw from the plot and only partially came from clues, but usually had a completely contrived twist that did not derive from logic whatsever. The clues were usually really obvious too. You were basically handed the information to solve a puzzle on a silver platter, but even with the information, you couldn't solve the puzzle, because it didn't make any sense!!!

The end result, was that you realized that there was no way to really "figure out" the answer by searching around and finding clues. That made the game less fun in 2 ways:
1) searching for the answer to a puzzle was half the fun of the previous myst games
2) you had all the information to solve a puzzle, but still couldn't solve it... VERY FRUSTRATING!!!

I just have to say one more thing...

sit URU sit! good dog.

(had to say that)

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: Cyan and Ubisoft sacrificed a logical plot and good puzzles for fancy graphics. This game sure does have fancy graphics. Great views in 360 degrees. But, The story is pretty contrived. And there are only maybe 1 or 2 good puzzles. The rest of the game is just pulling the right switch in the right order kind of stuff.

Now, Myst, Riven and Exile all have both true puzzles and "pulling the right switch" kind of stuff... but the true puzzles in the previous games were much more creative and they required logic to solve, not just random "I guess if you add the numbers up and divide by two that's the answer" kind of answers (that's not really the answer to a puzzle in the game... just an example...).

The "pulling the right switch" kind of stuff is also very poorly done, because again, there's no logic involved. In the previous games you could see pipes or something going to certain places and figure out what you were supposed to do... there is some of that in this game, but its mostly just random stuff... pulling a certain switch causes a certain door to unlock for no reason really...

I'm not saying that this game is terrible... I'm saying it's about on par with other role playing games... but that's not saying much, because most role playing games aren't very good... Myst, Riven (and arguably exile) were some of the best games because they had difficult puzzles to solve but by immersing yourself in the game you saw how it all fit together and could solve the puzzles. This game does not really fit together. You just jump through hoops to get to the end, and in the end you're not very satisfied.

Finally, the movement of your guy (or girl) around in this game is horrendous. You never had to pick anything up and do anything in prevous Myst games. In this game, you still don't have an "inventory", but, without saying too much here for those of you who still want to play this, you're required to physically do stuff with your character in the game. You've got to kick stuff around and push stuff over and its just such a pain because you have to do this stuff by just pushing your character into something... really poorly designed... you should have been able to pick something up or at least grab it...

I think the problem here is that they really did focus their efforts on making this game have fancy graphics (which incidentally, didn't Quake acheive this kind of graphics about 4 years ago???) instead of making it have good puzzles and logic. But, this is a pretty common problem these days with games in my opinion... too much focus on graphics, not enough focus on making it a good game...

Rating:
Summary: the gaming equivalent of Rocky 5
Review: This is the gaming equivalent of Rocky 5...it shouldn't have happened. Just pretend it's a bunch of outakes, and ignore it from the series.

I must say, I blame ubisoft. I was selected as a beta tester for this game, and while i understand that there are many issues to attended to, all the bugs that I reported are still present in this game, and to me, that's far beyond unacceptable.

To all the people having trouble getting the game to launch: know that you are not alone, and it's likely not you.

I can't believe that Rand and Ryan Miller endorse the work that Ubisoft has done. I have been a big fan of Myst and the D'ni history for a long time, and this game does no justice to it at all. It is more than pretty pictures...I get that point, and it seemed at one time that the Miller brothers were bent on expressing that point. I'm hoping that Cyan will take it back and try to recover from the damage that's been done.

Rating:
Summary: Opinions...
Review: Wow. Judging from the reviews here, URU seems to be a love it or hate it affair! I'll try to give a nice middle of the road review.
First, I'd like to address the graphics card complaints. Alot of people are trying to imply that needing a 32MB nvidia geforce1,2,3,4, or fx / ati radeon 7000-9000+ is too steep a requirement. I'm sorry to say that if you don't have one of these cards, some of which are almost considered "bottom of the line" now, you are not set up to play many, if any, of the newer games comming out. My card is a 64 mb geforce 4 in a pci slot, and my 256 ram causes more trouble with URU than it does. This card was cheap (by comparison) almost a year ago.
As for the game it's self, it is very well done. The graphics are superb, even set in the medium quality range. Moving clouds, ripples on the surface of water, brilliant colors and a little wildlife here and there all add up to a very realistic looking game environment. The sound effects are also very well done, although the music can seem to start abruptly for no reason some times. This takes a little away from the immersion. Overall, the game makers have created a very realistic world, while keeping it within "average" systems performance abilities.
The game play is a little harder to rate. It is very MYST like on one hand, but couldn't be more different on the other. Played from the first person perspective, it reminds me of a seriously upgraded RealMYST. Why some have said this game looks nothing like the others is beyond me. The similarities are unquestionable. Wander, think, take notes and solve puzzels that range from simple to maddening. If it weren't for the jumps, you could call URU MYST 4. But the jumps... Yes they can be very difficult, and the do seem out of place in a MYST game. But they can all be done with a little persistance. If you have ever played one of the Tomb Raiders or a First Person Shooter, you have ran into more difficult jumps than these. And there aren't as many as some seem to believe. There are only four or five "really hard" jumps that are required to finish the game, and the worst thing about them is the two load screens you have to sit through to get back and try again. But it's a routine action gamers know well: Jump, Die, Reload, Repeat. In the end, they end up being a minor irritation that you will get over.
The weakest part of the game is the story line. If you have played the first three MYST games and read the three books by Rand Miller it will all make perfect sense, and you'll be in D'ni heaven. If not, you will no doubt be more than a little confused as to what is going on throughout the game. The main reason for this, I think, is because this was supposed to be an online multi-player game. The story would have continued to unfold as you played online. But with URUlive canceled, you are left with an incomplete story. For those who don't understand the whole D'ni back story, the ending will seem like: "Good job. You pulled all the levers you were supposed to pull in the game. The End." But remember, the journey is the reward.
In the end, this is a game very worthy of a purchase for a MYST / graphic adventure fan. The graphics and sound are top notch, the gameplay is on average with other games on the market, and the story is fair. And with the soon to be released expansion packs (expanding the story and adding more areas) there is more reason to get it now than ever. No game is perfect and URU is no exception. But it one of the best games of this type I have played sience Exile.

Rating:
Summary: Exellent
Review: THIS IS A FANTASTIC GAME!!!!! YOU WILL LOVE IT IF YOU LOVE FANTASY. IT IS A CHALLENGE, BUT A LITTLE CHALLENGE IS A GOOD THING. IT IS SO COOL THAT YOU CAN MAKE YOUR CHARACTER EITHER MALE OR FEMALE, AND THAT YOU CANE MAKE IT LOOK EXACTLY LIKE YOURSELF!!!!! THE PUZZELS YOU HAVE TO SOLVE ARE REALLY INTRESTING. IT IS MUCH BETTER THAN RIVEN BECAUSE YOU CAN CANGE YOUR VEIW AND YOU CAN SEE YOURSELF. YOU CAN ALSO COSTOMISE YOUR WARDROBE, AND EVEN YOUR SHOES. ME AND MY DAD BOTH LOVE THIS GAME!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Upset but thrilled.
Review: I knew that this was not going to be a direct sequel to the Myst saga, but rather it is related. First off; this game is the most beautiful game I have ever played my entire life. The sounds are perfect, the music is perfect, the visuals are perfect. So if this game is perfect...why a 3/5? It seems to have more flaws than perfections. It's hard to explain. You have to experience the other Myst games, then this one to understand. One of the flaws is simply my opinion; it's not a Myst 4, nor is it intended to be. I knew this. But I still got this game because it's based around the other Myst games. Just a few hundred years later I believe. There's just something about the other Myst games that just grabbed my brain, my heart, and my eyes and ears...that this one just didn't quite get a hold of completely.

Rating:
Summary: An un-fun mess rushed to xmas market
Review: Uru was an intriguing idea. Unfortunately, due to bad planning, bad marketing and even worse customer care, the whole project turned disasterous. It is now being remolded into an off-line product with "expansion packs" and one has to wonder with the name changes (it used to be called "Myst Online") and the curious reluctance of Ubi/Cyan to alter the packaging still on shelves (which would ultimately be admitting to false advertising) whether or not the demise of "Myst Online" was forseen long before fans were lured to make a purchase.

As presented to the general public, this game appears to be next in the Myst series. In truth, it is not. Myst IV will be a future seperate offline game. Uru is in fact an offshoot of the Myst series whose entire raison d'etre was online play. The wonderful people at Ubisoft will tell you to "read the fine print" if you contact them about lack of this online play.

The version of Uru in the box is itself a redesign of content that was initially intended to be played online. I've played all three previous games and enjoyed Riven the most. Uru is more of a chore than anything. The online portion was a major debacle riddled with technical problems and lacking any real game play. Even with the first free expansion pack due out soon, I don't intend on replaying the main section in order to play that. It's just not worth it.

If you absolutely need this game, do yourself a favor at least and wait until it hits the bargain bins. It is certain to be offered at a discount bundled with expansion packs. You have been forewarned as I wish I had been. I don't intend on buying any expansion packs for this. Furthermore, I will wait for reviews before even thinking about purchasing Myst IV, which I'm very reluctant to do after this experience. Uru stinks, it really does.

Rating:
Summary: URU AGES BEYOND MYST
Review: I JUST FOUND THE CONTROLS IN THIS GAME TO DIFFICULT TO CONTROL.THE GAME PLAYERS, WOULD NOT MOVE WHERE YOU DIRECT THEM, AND THE
ARROW KEY MOVEMENT, MOVED THE PLAYERS IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION
GAME WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT, IF MOVEMENT OF PLAYERS WOULD HAVE
BEEN AS IN RIVEN, MYST III EXILE, OR EVEN MYST, TRYING TO CONTROL
THE GAME PLAYERS, TOOK THE FUN AND ADVENTURE OUT OF THE GAME.

Rating:
Summary: Something different from the Myst genre
Review: Pretty much everyone has heard of the breakthrough game Myst, which in its day was a revolutionary and unique adventure game with no instructions, no defined goals, cutting-edge graphics and mindbending, original puzzles. The followups, Riven and Exile, have continued this tradition in much the same format as Myst.

Uru is another Myst game but in a different vein - and so some Myst fans will love it, some will hate it.

Rather than the prerendered graphics of the previous games, Uru contains immersive 3D environments that are rendered on the computer and so allow you much more freedom to wander round and explore. Unlike the static first person views of the other games, you control an avatar that can run, jump, climb and crawl all over the gameplay area. So if you ever wanted to try to jump on a rock, slide down a handrail or wade in a lake, you can.

Of course, this represents a major departure from the lack of any challenges requiring running, jumping, or timed character manipulation in the earlier games. People unfamiliar with this sort of interface will take some time coming to grips with it. And the presence of timed puzzles where your avatar must do certain things within a limited time will frustrate those whose control of the avatar is not that good. There are not many absolutely crucial jumps or timed runs, but it is frustrating in a Myst game to work out what you have to do but just not have the physical ability to get your avatar to do it. Even more frustrating is the fact that you can 'die' - well, not die exactly, but if you miss a jump and fall into a lava pit you have to link back to another area, then restore your game to where you were before. The game automatically saves your progress to a certain extent, so you won't be caught out having to redo a puzzle, but it is frustrating having to wait a minute or two for the various game sections to reload in order to continue.

The game looks fantastic and perhaps the best aspect is the many large, spectacular landscapes that you explore, all of which have their charms. Of course, this comes at the cost of needing a high-end system more suited to first person shooters than adventure games. Adventure gamers may need to shell out to upgrade their system to play this game, which you may think is a brave move on the part of the developers until you recall that the original Myst game caused millions of people to go out and buy a CD-Rom drive for the first time. Upgrading to play a Myst game is not new.

There are the usual fiendish puzzles. I've written before about the new elements of dexterity that are needed for some of them, which will put some people off. Also, the logic for some of the puzzles is extremely elusive. And the game commits one of the cardinal sins of adventure games, requiring you to go back and forward transporting things from one area to another more than once. This just causes frustration - you've solved the puzzle, why trudge back and forth to complete it?

The greatest disappointment with the puzzles, however, is that there are not many of them. Only one 'age' is puzzle-intensive in the way we've come to expect from the Myst series. Two others have a moderate number of puzzles, and one has, in reality, only one puzzle in the whole age.

In fact, while there are vast areas to explore, many of them are not related to the gameplay at all. Several of them were clearly intended as spaces to be put to use in a planned online extension of the game, which has now been cancelled. The game is certainly self-contained, but is also clearly a lead-in for the online game. There are a number of locations which will not make much sense to the offline player, as they play no part in the offline game.

The story is also much more basic than earlier games. Essentially, both Uru and the proposed Uru Live were about gaining access to the ancient city of D'ni and exploring a number of ages. You have no real quest, merely a mission to explore, and the reason why you are exploring is never quite clear. The game then becomes a simple treasure hunt. In each age you need to find seven panels and then depart through a final portal. There are also bonus items that are not essential to the game but which allow you to customise, to a degree, your own 'personal age', Relto. Really, the plot goes not much further than that, although there is a back story that involves Atrus' daughter, Yeesha, sending you on a quest that never really develops.

Perhaps to enhance the sense of exploration and make up for the lack of story, there are copious journals scattered through the game written by other explorers describing the history of the D'ni people, and their own explorations. These don't advance the story at all and are of pretty much no use in playing the game - they're just there for colour. This would be frustrating to the dilligent gamer who takes copious notes of everything found just in case it becomes relevant.

Uru was initially intended as an online game only, and it was only late in its development that the decision was made to take some of the content and release it as an offline game. This is no doubt the reason why the game lacks some of the structure, logic and coherence as a total package that the earlier games had. It was probably a wise decision to do this, as signup rates for the online game were apparently very poor - and as many of the reviews here show, a lot of people had no interest in the online game. To compensate for the cancellation of the online game, a free expansion pack is being released for downloa in mid-March that should tidy up at least some of the current loose ends with the game, as well as providing some new areas to explore and new 'goodies' such as clothing items for your avatar and customisations for Relto.

The initial release of the game was fairly buggy, so be sure to download the patch available from the publisher's website or via the 'update' feature in-game. You will definitely need a machine that matches or betters the tech specs given - the game is hungry on computing power. Even with a high powered machine, expect some slow load times on particular areas. Fortunately the game comes on one disc so there is no CD-swapping.

In brief - if your system is up for it, and you would like to journey through some truly spectacular scenery with the odd mindbending puzzle along the way, give the game a go. Also, don't forget to keep your eyes out for an expansion pack when it becomes available. The interface can be awkward but stick with it because the visual rewards are great. It is disappointing, however, that the game's origins have prevented this game from continuing in the Myst tradition of carefully plotted, highly logical, high concept games that were far more than just pretty scenery, and which appealed to so many outside the usual gaming market.

Rating:
Summary: Finnally beaten
Review: Well, yesterday I just finished the game and I can't tell you how impressed I am! This game is trully a breakthrough in the Myst games and in the overall world of coumputer gaming. I mean, this game is just great. You also control an avatar instead of just clik to go places. You get to explore way more and in some of the images there were over 3 million polygons! And what Myst game could be complete without linking books and someone who is related to Atrus? Well, this game has linking books and never before seen linking stones along with Yesha, the daughter of Atrus and Cathrine. This also takes place now when the ruins of the Dn'i have been uncovered and you enter them via linking book from the Cleft that Atrus had been raised in. There is also the legendary Dn'i city which has been uncovered and most of the time you go there via linking book, you usually link to a DRC (Dn'i Restoration Council) field ofice. Those usually have some information in them, but its overall meaningless.

On To the Gameplay

Like i said earlier, you control an avatar instead of just click to go places. You use the arrow keys to control it and I can't tell you how much you should value that. Also, more puzzles require that advantage becase they are more problem then puzzle. For examp: You have to get across a stream without touching water or running becase (you'll find out later in the game) and all you have found in this age that will asist you is a whole lot of baskets that were found in a cavern (you actually start out with one, but you find more). What do you do? You also have to come up with that idea from scrach and the game doesn't help you find the answe one bit. Some of the other things include walking to a door across a very large suport wire, jumping from a rotating building to a pinacle and then to another rotating building, and walking along a very narow ledge to find something that you need, and fliping swiches in the right order before a pump depresurizes. Once again, its up to you to find yout what you have to do. You also have to jump a whole lot to solve a lot of these puzzles. There is also this thing called UruLive where you joing the DRC and you can explore new ages and interact with thousands of other online people.

The recomendations
I recomend this game to anyone who likes Myst games or wants to see really cool scenery. YOu also have to keep a cool head at all times and we recomend that you keep the third person view when doing anything that requires jumping or knowing where things around you are. (usually later in the game). The graphics are better than Riven and you can explore full 3-d enviroments instead of just explore a large stack of renderd images that are put togeather so that they look like a world. And if you click on something, it doesn't just do something, but it shows your avatar presisng the thing and then show the thing do something. Me, I just wish that we could use linking books for public transportation. It could aslo replace space travel. You could just link to the international space station or maybe even mars. It would also replace Fed-ex because you could just link your package to where its suposed to go.