Uru

Type: Adventure

Rating: 7/10 (was 9/10)

The fourth part of the Myst series. If you liked the earlier ones, Uru will not dissapoint you!

Graphics

Graphics are gorgeous! Really! And performance is good too, though this is the first game of the series with a real fully 3D world. My system is not the fastest (though my video card is up to date) and I had no problem using the highest settings available.

Interface and control

You can comfortably get away with just one hand on the mouse. Some riddles require you to move stuff around though and accomplishing this is a little tiresome.

Atmosphere and settings

Gripping, like in the earlier games of the series. Absolutly fascinating worlds and sights. Music is a bit sparse compared with some of the other games - at least that's my impression.

Occupation

Quite a number of puzzles which all require lots of brainwork - and some footwork too in some cases. You'll have to think a lot here.

Story

I'll tell you when I've found out everything about it!

Difficulty

Varies, though overally harder than the previous games. Some puzzles are extremly straightforward (just follow the hints you got) while others are hard and sometimes lacking in logic to a point where they are almost unfair. In the earlier games I only got stuck when I had been overseeing (in the literal sense of the word) something hidden again; as soon as I had found the switch or whatever, the actual puzzle solution was pretty clear most of the time. Uru on the other hand sometimes requires you to do stuff that is all but obvious and as mentioned before, also requires some "footwork" to solve puzzles which (due to technical reasons, that is no real 3D movement) was not present in the ealier games.

Update: After having played some more I'd like to say that some of the puzzles are more than unfair, but really activly missleading. For one puzzle not only was there no actual hint in the whole game but everything that looked like hints was just decoration - or mabye even deception though I can't bring myself to believe this.

Bugs

Much better than Exile, though I had a few crashes before I installed the patch that is available. No problems after that.

Update: Well, so I thought. Unfortunatly I encountered a severe bug which forced me to replay the whole game :-( I forgot to touch one journey cloth on the way and just went on. Unfortunatly when I tried to revisit that place I couldn't because the way was blocked and there was no means to return to this place. So I said "Ok, let's reset this age; you'll have to do it again, but now you know the solution and it won't take long." So I tried this and everything was reset.
Except the one puzzle which blocked the way :-(

Conclusion

Great game! Even just running around and admiring the wonderful worlds is fun. If you liked the earlier games you won't go wrong with this one. If you like lots of "action" it may perhaps not be your cup of tea ...

Update: Together with the bugs - especially the one mentioned above - the unfairness of the puzzles made Uru the first game in the Myst series ever to not only be challenging but really frustrating and annoying - something I never thought would happen for this games. Just to tell you where the two points have gone ...

Last modified: September 11 2008 09:38:15 by Thorsten Thielen
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