Myst Review(CDi)
Myst is a first person adventure using a point and click interface. It started in 1990, when founders and brothers Robyn and Rand Miller started Cyan. This software company first focussed on children titles, but in 1993 they released the project Myst on the Apple Macintosh. Myst became very very popular and more than 11 million copies were sold. No wonder Philips wanted a CD-i version. In 1996, we got one. Myst was ported to CD-i and Ledge Multimedia was responsible for the conversion.
Facts:
Originally produced by: Cyan
Converted by: Ledge Multimedia
Publisher: Philips Media Games
Release: 1996
Genre: First Person Point & Click Adventure
Review date: June 2007
DVC Required: No!
Recommended: Mouse/Trackball/Roller Controller
Extra: no multiplayer, age rating: >7
Myst consists mainly of stills creating a beautifully 3D drawn world with a small movie once in a while. The essence in Myst is to solve puzzles. There are no enemies, no power-ups, nothing like that. In Myst, you play as "Stranger", and you find a mysterious book. You start reading, and when you touch the very last page, something strange happens. You're being transported to the virtual world described in the book. You don't know how you got there, or what you have to do. Soon enough you find other buildings on the island, all with strange mysterious powers. Without spoiling too much of the story, I can tell you will find other books like this, and you are able to transport to other islands (called "Ages" in Myst).
The CD-i version hasn't lost anything of its charme. Everything in the game shows its peace. Everything is quiet here. In fact, this is one of the few games you won't even notice the CD-i is a slow console. It all adds to the atmosphere in the game. After arriving on the unknown island, all you hear are some background sounds and you're able to walk around. Using the mouse cursor on screen you click where you want to go, and the next screen is loaded. True, while wandering around you see you're not actually walking, but instead everytime you click another image is loaded. Myst looks like a slideshow, something borrowed by the CD-i game "L'Ange et le Demon".
While walking around the island you'll discover all kinds of buttons and letters are lying around. Slowly it seems a guy named Atrus is able to visit different kinds of locations (Ages) by means of books and machines. But, something has gone terribly wrong here. There's a library on the island and when you get here, you will be able to read several books about the history of Myst. There are a few movies here introducing the sons of Atrus to you. You are asked to solve the puzzles of every Age and find the way to travel to the other Ages. In every Age there are a few pages of the books, unraveling new information to unlock new islands and puzzles.
The puzzles in Myst are vague to say the least en you'll need a good memory to solve everything. So it's wise to write down everything you see and find out.
The graphics of the CD-i version are ported from the PC version and look pretty much the same as the original. As I said, the CD-i is rather slow and it takes a few seconds to load the next screen. But, in my opinion, Myst is not a game that needs to be fast. Myst works perfectly on CD-i and you'll have a great time exploring and puzzling around. The game is much harder to solve than, say, The 7th Guest, but I find the story far more intruiging. Be warned you're going to read a lot of text in the game but the rewarding game story easily makes up for it.
Ledge Multimedia did a fantastic job converting Myst on CD-i and the version is a "raw" one of the original. The game plays slower than the PC, but I didn't expect anything else. The slide screens are enhanced with an anmiation which can be skipped but it's not spectacular. If you love puzzle games and love intruiging 3D worlds, than Myst is for you. But, considering Myst has been ported to virtually every console that's been released, chances are high you already played it.
Facts:
Originally produced by: Cyan
Converted by: Ledge Multimedia
Publisher: Philips Media Games
Release: 1996
Genre: First Person Point & Click Adventure
Review date: June 2007
DVC Required: No!
Recommended: Mouse/Trackball/Roller Controller
Extra: no multiplayer, age rating: >7
Myst consists mainly of stills creating a beautifully 3D drawn world with a small movie once in a while. The essence in Myst is to solve puzzles. There are no enemies, no power-ups, nothing like that. In Myst, you play as "Stranger", and you find a mysterious book. You start reading, and when you touch the very last page, something strange happens. You're being transported to the virtual world described in the book. You don't know how you got there, or what you have to do. Soon enough you find other buildings on the island, all with strange mysterious powers. Without spoiling too much of the story, I can tell you will find other books like this, and you are able to transport to other islands (called "Ages" in Myst).
The CD-i version hasn't lost anything of its charme. Everything in the game shows its peace. Everything is quiet here. In fact, this is one of the few games you won't even notice the CD-i is a slow console. It all adds to the atmosphere in the game. After arriving on the unknown island, all you hear are some background sounds and you're able to walk around. Using the mouse cursor on screen you click where you want to go, and the next screen is loaded. True, while wandering around you see you're not actually walking, but instead everytime you click another image is loaded. Myst looks like a slideshow, something borrowed by the CD-i game "L'Ange et le Demon".
While walking around the island you'll discover all kinds of buttons and letters are lying around. Slowly it seems a guy named Atrus is able to visit different kinds of locations (Ages) by means of books and machines. But, something has gone terribly wrong here. There's a library on the island and when you get here, you will be able to read several books about the history of Myst. There are a few movies here introducing the sons of Atrus to you. You are asked to solve the puzzles of every Age and find the way to travel to the other Ages. In every Age there are a few pages of the books, unraveling new information to unlock new islands and puzzles.
The puzzles in Myst are vague to say the least en you'll need a good memory to solve everything. So it's wise to write down everything you see and find out.
The graphics of the CD-i version are ported from the PC version and look pretty much the same as the original. As I said, the CD-i is rather slow and it takes a few seconds to load the next screen. But, in my opinion, Myst is not a game that needs to be fast. Myst works perfectly on CD-i and you'll have a great time exploring and puzzling around. The game is much harder to solve than, say, The 7th Guest, but I find the story far more intruiging. Be warned you're going to read a lot of text in the game but the rewarding game story easily makes up for it.
Ledge Multimedia did a fantastic job converting Myst on CD-i and the version is a "raw" one of the original. The game plays slower than the PC, but I didn't expect anything else. The slide screens are enhanced with an anmiation which can be skipped but it's not spectacular. If you love puzzle games and love intruiging 3D worlds, than Myst is for you. But, considering Myst has been ported to virtually every console that's been released, chances are high you already played it.
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