Myst III: Exile

The Good
Myst III: Exile continues the story set forth in both the original Myst and its sequel Riven. It starts out with you speaking to Catherine and Artus at their home in the age of Tomahna. As the game starts, Artus tell you of the new Age he’s written for the D’ni – Releeshahn. All of a sudden, a stranger appears in the room (Saavedro), and steals the book with the new Age in it, and you run after him.

And so starts your journey in Myst III: Exile. I think it’s a fantastic journey into the realistic world that has been set into motion. First off I’d like to thank UbiSoft for allowing you to install all the files on your hard drive! It’s a 4 disk game, and I’m glad I didn’t have to do the disk-swap tango just to enjoy the game. It allows you to play the entire game without breaking the flow of gameplay and seeing an annoying “Please insert Disk x” during the game. That plagued Riven’s gameplay and broke the illusion of immersion, and now that it’s eliminated, it’s a godsend here.

The graphics in the game are one-word: spectacular. Again the graphics in the game are central to the game. And the graphics are a wrap-around IMAX-style of graphics. It’s kinda hard to explain, but it allows you to actually look around the environment and see what’s about you. And it’s used in a lot of the puzzles where you have to view different aspects of the environment from different angles.

The control is better! Hooray! One of my biggest gripes about Riven and Myst are the fact that navigating around the Ages was a hunk-and-clickfest looking for the one area of the screen that allows you to move up and down stairs, ladders and tunnels. It’s fixed. Navigating the Ages of Exile are as easy as point-and-click. It’s easy to look toward where you want to go, and go there.

The sound and music are fantastic. Yet again, the sounds and music are an integral part of the game, and you need to listen and look to figure out what is going on. They also released the game soundtrack on CD, and it’s great to listen to. One of the great thingas about Exile (and the previous 2 games for that matter) is the fact that the attention to detail is unbelievable. I had no problem playing thorugh 85% of the game without any hints whatsoever.

There are technically 6 Ages (7 if you count Releeshahn) that you walk through. Tomahna (the starting world), J’Nanin (The world that links the three main worlds), Voltaic (the mechanical world), Edanna (the organic world), Amateria (the marble world – you’ll understand when you see it), and Narayan, where you finally confront Saavedro, and determine the fate of the Age off Releeshahn.

And the gameplay itself is great. The story unfolds as you walk through the Ages, and you come to find out that Saavedro (and his people) were basically tortured by Atrus’ sons, Sirrus and Achenar. The game revolves around Saavedro wanting to punish Atrus by subjecting him to the insanity of the ages, much like Atrus’ sons did to him. And the game is basically guided by one principle: total immersion. You have to suspend your disbelief and think like you are actually there in order to make sense of the Ages. If you try meta-game thinking (“If I were the programmer how would I construct this puzzle”), it usually won’t work. The programmers did an outstanding job crafting and creating believable environments that you need to navigate through. The puzzles are actually a bit easier than the ones in Riven, but are just hard enough to make you sit back and think about them logically. For instance of the first puzzles you stumble across is the Prism Puzzle in the Age of J’Nanin. It involves focus a light and bouncing it through posts that have a colored marker on top of them, bouncing it back and forth across the Island, and finally focusing on a door. It lights up the buttons on the door and the sequence to unlock the door is the sequence of the colors as they travel through the posts. It’ll take you a while to figure out what works and what doesn’t, but it’s always logical. And I must say that after solving the age of Amateria, you get the ride of your life through the age itself. It’s better than a roller coaster, and it’s one of the most satisfying feelings you get after you solve an Age.

The Bad
There really isn’t anything bad about the game. There were a few times where I had to resort to hints, especially in Narayan, and the word/symbol puzzle. And the Age of Edanna is very organic, there are no switches, most of the puzzles are based on light, water and electricity. It’s very interesting, but was very confusing. And I thought the game could have gone on a bit longer. Perhaps another age to go through before facing Saavedro in the Age of Narayan.

The Bottom Line
If you like Riven or Myst, then this game is right up your alley. I personally believe that the adventure is going the way of the dodo, but with games like Riven and Exile, and also stellar games like The Longest Journey and Cyberia, the genre is still around. You might have to dig around for the gems in the bunch, and Exile is one of those gems. A must buy for those who like the genre. And for those who haven't tried the genre, give Exile a whirl. It's about 10 bucks now, so there's no reason not to try it.