Myst III: Exile

I just finished Exile about a day ago and I am still impressed just thinking about the game. Everything, including sound, graphics, music, story and acting all came together to create this masterpiece.

I could talk about all the technical aspects of the game, but I'll focus more on the movie aspects, namely story and acting. Like Myst and Riven, you explore predominantly empty worlds, with the occasional actor to keep you company. The story is told by finding messages and journal pages left behind by the villain of the game. The story is not complicated, but it is enough to keep the player motivated until the end of the game.

As for the acting, everybody holds their weight. You see characters only rarely. Atrus, played by Rand Miller, appears mainly at the beginning of the game. He is used to playing Atrus, having done so in Myst and Riven. Maria Galante takes the role of Catherine. Though a small role, she carries her weight as does Miller.

The real star, though, is Academy Award Nominee Brad Dourif (Best known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). I don't want to give anything away, but he has the power to make the player's heart beat with fear, especially when holding his giant hammer. He does a great job.

Overall, I highly recommend this game! It is not overly difficult, a problem with Riven, and it is extremely rewarding. So go out and buy it!

I found a few of the puzzles to be very difficult so I cheated and used a "walkthrough." After using so much of the "Riven Walkthrough" I was disappointed and so decided to "tough it out" with Exile.

Recap:

Myst = Part 1

Riven = Part 2

Exile = Part 3

However, there was one part of Exile, the Island world of Edanna, which drove me utterly nuts. So I did use the walkthrough for that. The other puzzles were just tough enough that I could solve them in a reasonable amount of time.

The pleasure of solving them on your own is what you should really strive for. If you stick with it you just may discover how you learn... and how you make mistakes. :)

Enjoy 10/10

-Zafoid

PS: Luke 1:37 "For nothing is impossible with God."

-Z

This game graphically alone is astounding. While the movement is still point to point, which is somewhat of a trademark of the Myst games, you have complete spherical vision. There is no place you cannot look. And this is at no cost to the graphics which are stunning. I stumbled through the game for about four hours and didn't get anything accomplished just because I couldn't stop looking at everything. That along with the sounds and music make the unreal environments seem real. The puzzles are unique and imaginative. Definitely impressive. I cannot recommend this game enough.

Exile delivers to be an excellent game for any fan. Although it was made by a different company than the original MYST and Riven, it still stays true to the complex MYST storyline. My only problems with it is that the specs for the game are a little high and a bit of the acting could've been better. Brad Dourif played an excellent mad man, but Rand Miller's acting skills seem to have gone down since the original MYST, and the new Catherine actress just didn't seem to fit the role just right. But it's still a challenging puzzle game with outstanding effects. Worth the money.

I've had Myst III for almost 4 years. Yes, it's taken me that long to finish it. But it sure is a wonderful game. In terms of graphics, Riven was a simple step up from Myst. But Myst III adds a whole new level of realism to the franchise.

The main new feature is that you can look anywhere you want in any direction withing the photo-realistic worlds when before you could only look at a limited amount of certain things. These worlds are empty but beautiful to look at and have an eerie, ghostly atmosphere to them. The graphics are so convincing that the roller-coaster ride in the middle of the game will make you feel like you're really there. Not only do the graphics stand out but sound effects pan across the sound-field when you spin around and wind whistles between the rocks.

The story involves the maniacal sons of Atrus (that would be Sirrus and Achenar) continuing to wreak havoc through-out the ages. They have destroyed a world known as Narayan and left sole-survivor in exile on the island of J'Nanin. This man is Saavedro (Brad Dourif), who ultimately blames Atrus for his sons going off the deep end.

Atrus (played by Rand Miller as always) calls upon you to go to J'Nanin and find Saavedro, who has stolen Atrus new age Raleeshan. Saavedro traps you into going through many different worlds, unlocking secrets, finding clues and seeing for yourself what Sirrus and Achenar did to Narayan. Each world has a different look from the last but still retains that spooky feeling no matter if your in a swamp, caverns, beach or mountaintop.

But still, the most impressive thing about Myst III is Jack Wall's brilliant score, which is simultaneously haunting, beautiful, dark and Gothic. He seamlessly blends magical with choral and gives us a highly thematic score with surpasses that of most big-budget movies. Definitely the best score a video-game has ever known. And that's a pretty big statement.

I got the Limited Collector's Edition of this game which comes with the score CD (now very hard to find and very expensive) a 'making of' CD, the Prima Official Strategy Guide and lots of other inserts. The game (at the time of this certain publishing) was spread over 4 discs and it became very annoying switching between them all. I minor quibble though.

Overall, I highly recommend Myst III, it's not just a game, it's a journey.