Uru: Ages Beyond Myst

When "URU" was first released, I (as a huge Myst fan) completely bought in. I pre-ordered the game, updated the family's computer video card (this game took some serious juice for its day), and was all set. Then I anxiously set off on the newest Myst adventure...and was severely disappointed within minutes.

Easily the biggest disappointment from this game is the fact that it isn't a traditional Myst-canon story. Basically, it is your character exploring the ruins of the D'ni civilization. There really is no "story" to speak of whatsoever...only you exploring different worlds and collecting cloth squares.

Also, the graphics are completely 3D-rendered in this one, not the traditional interactive still shots of the previous games. To me, this made the D'ni worlds look somewhat cheap and less- than-epic coming off the incredible beauty of the worlds we had seen to that point. Things just looked a bit cartoon-y and very un-Myst like.

I realize that URU was supposed to be a great online experiment that failed miserably, thus rendering this game the "Chris Gaines" of the franchise (Garth Brooks fans will understand this reference quite clearly). I'll give it two stars because it isn't utterly terrible (exploring the first D'ni cleft even has its moments), but if you are expecting the great Myst images and story lines of the series up until that point, you will likely be as severely disappointed as I was.

URU can easily be skipped in the Myst pantheon, with players moving right along to "Revelation".