Schizm: Mysterious Journey

aka: Mysterious Journey 1, Mysterious Journey: Schizm, Schizm: Prawdziwe Wyzwanie

Moby ID: 4688

Windows version

A clone that rivals its mentor

The Good
Schizm was one of the most highly anticipated adventure games to come out in recent years. It was in the development stages when the original publisher, Project 2, went belly up so there was serious doubt that we would ever see this title in stores. Part of the reason that Project 3 Interactive was organized (by former P2 employees) was because of their belief in this game. So, when I finally saw it for sale in the US, I grabbed it. But, other things got in the way and it sat in my closet for a year before I got around to playing it.

It is obvious that the "mentor" for Schizm was the Myst Series. As in Myst, you will spend hours in a kind of "Where am I and what am I doing here?" syndrome. You know you must solve the puzzles, but their purpose isn't at all clear at first. That's normal in this type of game.

Myst and Schizm share many attributes:

First person perspective

Glide-along type movement

Beautiful 3-D graphics

Movie-like video cut-scenes with real actors

Strange world architecture

Unusual, alien gizmos to operate

An innovative story The main difference between Myst and Schizm is that you play two characters and can switch between them at will (a similar idea was incorporated in The Watchmaker and handled even better). Both of them are needed to accomplish some of the objectives (he holds the wheel while she pushes the lever, for instance). They talk between each other when important things are discovered which helps to move the story along. The game ran flawlessly on my laptop in Windows XP. The interface was easy to use and the install/uninstall routine ran without a hitch. Luckily they included a Subtitle option, something I always look for in adventure games. The puzzles seemed to be well integrated into the plot and were decidedly different. The voice acting in the American version was excellent. The DVD version of Schizm is supposed to be even more graphically beautiful than the CD version, which I played. The CD game's graphics were gorgeous and rendered in realistic, full-color detail. Atmospheric music played in the background throughout and sounded fully orchestrated. I hardly noticed it most of the time. The music would build during important sequences for emphasis. Sound effects include footsteps, water dripping, clicking sounds while working puzzles, etc. Overall, sound effects were kept to a minimum but those that were included were appropriate.

**The Bad**
#1 - The puzzles are too hard! Many of the puzzles are random with each game, so there's no specific solution. And some of them must be solved TWICE! There are plenty of clues, but if you're not a math wiz, those clues may completely baffle you. (Without the hint file, I couldn't have finished it.)

#2 - Inventory items have no titles or description, and no manipulation within the inventory screen is possible. (What IS that thing, anyway?)

#3 - Disc swapping between the 5 CDs became frustrating, especially toward the end.

#4 - Travelling between locations was long and tedious. Because you play 2 characters, moving them both into the same spot (using the same exact route) became boring.

#5 - The story - It was as if there was a huge hunk of the storyline left out -- the part that explained who (or what) caused all the problems, what exactly happened and why. The ending does give you -some- of that (enough to conclude it), but I still had questions.

**The Bottom Line**
I think that Schizm is the best "Myst-clone" I have played to date. The graphics are some of the best I have ever seen and, in my opinion, equal all of the Myst series games. Overall, a worthy play for adventurers who enjoy first-person games. I liked it, although I admit wanting to finish it more quickly than I could. Perhaps my taste in games is changing because graphic "eye candy" and puzzles aren't enough for me anymore.

by Jeanne (75944) on March 7, 2003

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