Riven - Myst 2

Riven - Myst 2
Company : Cyan
Reviewed By : Lonelines

Well here's a game we've all been waiting for a long time... Back when CD-ROM's where Single Speed and WIN95 was just a nightmare far away, there popped a quest game called myst. Myst was quite unique from all the adventure games back then since you didn't control a visible character and told him to look, take, talk, fetch etc. You were the character, you saw the world, you walked

around. Many loved the idea of the myst games and the game became a hit, and naturally when there's one good hit many clones follow. Some good (Like Zork: Nemesis), Some are fairly good (like RAMA), and some awful (Like Lighthouse).After 4 years waiting, the sequel to myst is out with the name RIVEN. To me it was the biggest disappointment from a sequel ever. Don't get me wrong,

the world itself is amazing, featuring high resolution graphics that would make you believe that these are actual photographs, the sound too is amazing, the surround sounds of the beach the animals will make you feel you actually are in that fabulous place. The plot... well we wouldn't be here if we actually wanted a plot I guess, even though you do learn about myst and riven history as you go

along. So what makes this game a disappointment you ask? First of all the puzzles. What I really liked about Myst were the four unique individual islands, each with its own UNIQUE puzzles and thoughtline. In Riven most of the puzzles on a specific island is usually somehow connected to the other islands. For Example: I found out how to travel to the "Village Island" (called that way because there are villagers there who flee away at the sight of you, your alter ego must be REALLY ugly). In Village Island I roamed around figuring out various puzzles and finally reaching a tower,

with no apparent way to get to the top... So naturally I start looking for a way to get up... After A while I gave up the search and looked at the UHS... (WHICH I REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO DO!) The UHS gave me a tip that I must make a floor on which to stand on. Good! Back to searching. After around 30 minutes I got fed up with searching and decided to look up the full answer, which told me to worry about it later since access will be given

here through a different island... Now roaming around from island to island wouldn't be so bad... Except there are four (or if you wish five) islands. AND EACH ISLAND IS ON A SEPARATE CD!!! Which gives you a total of like a 100 CD SWAPS in order to go from island to island to island to island... Now after I kept going (while swapping CD's like mad), I got really really annoyed at this disk swapping that I just looked more and more in the UHS so that I would go to a particular island only and continue only to necessary islands. However, the puzzles in the game are simply inhumane... There are 2 puzzles in the game that if you want to solve all by yourself demand a

visit to each of the islands (sometimes more than once). That was unbearable to me and finally I gave up trying to find the clues myself and just read the solution in the UHS so I wouldn't have to go to all the islands again. I don't know why the programmers haven't thought of some easy to use map system (or perhaps a linking book/s) that will link you to each island and save you the time. The only part where you get linking books to all the Island is near the end which by then is absolutely useless.

Also I would have gladly gave up some Video Sequences if the game would have been reduced to less CD's (for example the frog trapping device does not do anything useful besides entertain you a bit and has a lot of video in it). Perhaps this game will have a comeback on DVD (hopefully with an upgrade your CD to DVD offer), since I found the game unplayable on 5 CD's.

	Great sound, great graphics and animation, pretty good plot that continues where myst left off.
	Most puzzles are linked through the islands, some puzzles way TOO hard for normal player (like the animal circle), WAY TOO MUCH SWAPPING, no map system to link you to other islands already visited instantly (a real shame on you guys).

For the average quest/adventure I would recommend not to buy the game (unless you own 4/5 CD-ROM's which is doubtful, I have 2 and I still kept swapping like mad). For the Myst fanatic also not very highly recommended since it's not that much like myst. Instead of getting this game, go get Zork Nemesis (if you haven't played it) Since it's much more Myst than Riven is... However, if you don't mind the swapping and beautiful animation, graphics and sound are your cup of Java, go get it (and don't tell me I didn't warn you about them swaps).