by Russ Aaronson

9-30-02

It's been a long time since I've played an adventure game.

How long? Well, let's just say that it was back in the days when the box said "Infocom" and the computer's nameplate read "Atari." I can't possibly express how many hours I spent with titles like "Suspended," "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," and (most memorably) "Planetfall." There were no pictures, but the language in those games conjured indelible images that I'll always remember. Each title was marked by intricate plotting, interesting descriptions, and a keen, occasionally morbid sense of humor. Those were the salad days of adventure gaming.

Now, before the young'uns out there throw out an optic nerve rolling their eyes about another "dem's were the good old days" column, I should mention that we did play a few adventure games with graphics as well. Some played more like arcade games loosely based on some kind of adventure ("Aztec Challenge" springs to mind, but more on that game later), but most worked hard to make visuals a critical aspect of the adventures themselves. The results, however, were usually horrendous. The stories were moribund, and the graphics just weren't sophisticated enough to effectively replace the imagination and imagery words could provide.

Then came Myst. PC evolution had finally delivered computers with graphics and sound advanced enough to create a truly immersive environment. Until quite recently, Myst was still the best selling computer game ever, and it spawned countless imitators, most of which failed miserably enough to make even the most dedicated adventure gamer fire up Doom and never look back. Unlike it's competitors, Myst wove a truly literary plot with a dedication to the idea that there's no point to creating such a lush environment if you don't let players wander around and play with it. Add in a clever mythology informed by the game designers' deep spirituality, and you have a hit with heart.

Or so I hear. Unlike a gazillion other people, I've never played the original Myst, not even for a minute. And I've yet to trek through the hit sequel Riven either. My reason is simple, and it's not going to read like some luddite manifesto on the way video killed the text game star. Quite simply, I am keenly aware of the destruction that a good adventure game can wreak in one's life, and I'm much more exciting than I was at age thirteen (a backhanded self-compliment if there ever was one).

So when Don and Dave asked if I'd review Myst III: Exile, I nervously agreed. In fact, the box arrived on my doorstep one short week after the end of my honeymoon, and one long week into a large bathroom renovation in my "handyman's special" home. The pressure was intense: would my blushing bride turn red with rage when she realized that I was a recovering gameaholic who had just fallen off the wagon? Would my work performance suffer under the strain of my sleep deprivation and puzzle-solving daydreams? Would my home earn one of those "House of Filth!" segments on the local news as the half-wrecked bathroom spread a fog of construction dust above the entire property?

Fortunately, the Engstrom boys didn't send any ordinary copy of the game. I opened the shipping box to see 1) an official MacReviewZone Mug (get yours now!), 2) a bottle of delicious wine (Congratulations for the wedding? Tension relief for my wife? You decide!), and 3) the Collector's Edition of Myst III:Exile. This baby comes with the game, a "Making of Myst III" CD, a soundtrack CD, a pewter "Squee" figurine, and most importantly, the official strategy guide to the game. Such genius! Not only do I have something to help me finish the game before my deadline, but I have a cheat guide that I have to use if I'm to properly review the entire game (again, more on this later).

Maybe my life will survive Myst after all...

The Story

As I said before, the Myst series distinguishes itself from others through it's remarkable storytelling, and Exile hardly disappoints. You play the good friend of Atrus, the man who has created all of the Myst worlds; and your job will be to retrieve Releeshahn (the book that links to his newest world) from Saavedro, the man who was imprisoned for the past twenty years while Atrus' sons Sirrus and Achenar worked to destroy their father's creations (including Saavedro's home world, Narayan). Myst and Riven detailed Atrus' struggle to right old wrongs, and now in Exile, you must do the same for him.

It all sounds pretty convoluted to someone who hasn't played the other games (almost like reading Tolkein's Return of the King and then saying that the book was confusing), but the "Historian's Journal" in the enclosed strategy guide brought me up to speed. Well-integrated cut scenes spaced throughout the game also provide this information, and the end result is an engrossing journey into a totally immersive universe. You'll spend plenty of time in J'nanin, the lesson age, where you learn the essential physics and philosophy of the Myst universe. Then you'll travel through three different ages (Voltaic, Amateria, and Edanna) as you simultaneously track Saavedro down and learn the three cardinal forces behind Narayan.

And this is where the story really comes together; essential laws of physics, energy, and biology are woven through the mythology of the game, lending it a depth and realism that balances the organic-yet-alien visuals throughout the adventure. Most modern adventure games rely far too heavily on cheesy acting in distracting cutscenes or stolid journal entries by the game's characters to provide this backstory; and even though Exile has its share of both (this Literature teacher wanted to assault the Frodo-lovin', Tolkein wannabe responsible for Atrus' journal), they're generally done well here.

The Visuals

Poring through old reviews of Riven led me to the conclusion that many people were disappointed with the appearance of the game. Fans felt that it visually failed to raise the bar set by its predecessor, and it seems that the folks at Presto Studios were keenly aware of the criticism. In Exile, they have created a fully three-dimensional world to bustle about in, and the results are usually breathtaking. The oceans of J'nanin reminded me of the view from my parents' beachside condo on Hutchinson Island, and the cavernous, skeletal construction of the Voltaic age feels appropriately deserted and massive. Everything you see seems strangely familiar -- a paradox that the game's designers were clearly shooting for.

The visual spell is occasionally broken when the player must manipulate some part of the scenery. Just looking at things you can touch occasionally makes you feel like you're playing an older game (the best example would by with Saavedro's desk at the base of the tower, with it's "Look Here! Touch Me! I'm Important!" games scattered across it). Thankfully, this situation is quite rare. Very often, you can look away while you're fiddling with an object, just like in real life. For my money, Amateria is the most visually effective age. The puzzles are the age, and as such, they rarely draw you out of the gorgeous visuals around you. At one point, you will even need to be part of the puzzle to solve it, but that's bordering far too closely on a hint, so I'll shut up.

Surprisingly, my least favorite world, visually-speaking, was Edanna. I initially found the idea of an almost totally organic puzzle environment fetching; but in reality, it was just too frustrating. Aside from the fact that this age contains the most difficult puzzles, I often had trouble figuring out where I could even walk. The visuals were generally way too dark for my tastes, even when I tested the game on machines other than my trusty TiBook (which is known for having issues with lighting in games). Given the logic of the rest of the game, I doubt that getting lost in the woods was one of the problems that the player was supposed to solve.

And speaking of lighting! This game uses light more effectively than any other game I've played, of any genre, on any platform. The light obscures and reveals important game elements with a skill that would have made Orson Welles jealous.

I could provide you with a few snapshots from the game on this page, but they wouldn't really do the game justice. Just click this link to Ubi Soft's Exile webpage and enjoy the free screenshots. You'll see what I mean.

The Sounds

In addition to lighting, anyone looking to design a solid game should consult Exile for its use of sound. Sure, the music is wonderful and appropriate in tone, volume, pitch, and rhythm virtually everywhere, but it's the natural sound that's truly revolutionary in Exile. This is the first game in a long while that I've played with the sound up, partially because there are puzzles that only make sense when you hear them, but also because they're so varied and subtle. Almost every step brings some delicate change in what you can hear, effectively preventing that horrible point you hit in most games where the sound and music become too repetitive, leaving you leaping at the mute button.

Again, J'nanin and Amateria truly shine in this category. The wind and waves whip around the tusks and echo off the cliffs in J'nanin, and the sounds stay in your head for hours after you quit the game. The distant storms of Amateria are strangely soothing (which is good, because a few of those puzzles can drive you absolutely mad!), and they match the pinkish-red sunset all around. The total effect was so compelling, so calming, I wanted to have a summer home there. Really.

The only time that sound became a problem in the game is during the cutscenes. The dialogue frequently lost synch with the video, making some of the lines much more painful. Fortunately, there are Myst III updates you can download for both OS9 and OS X (the latter allowing you to play Exile without using Classic), and they pretty much resolve this issue (though the video seemed just a bit fuzzier in OS X, I could simply be bleary-eyed after spending so much time staring at my laptop playing the game).

The Puzzles

The first question people ask about games like Exile is "How difficult are the puzzles?"

It's a hard question to answer. Puzzles can be hard in a good way, and in a bad way. Good puzzles should have a solution that draws from both specific hints in the game and from the general logic and feel of the game. Most of the puzzles in Exile essentially follow this rule, requiring knowledge from something you've seen or read earlier in order to solve a problem later. This usually works well in J'nanin, because finishing those problems allows you to understand the logic behind the game (which, in a complete environment like Exile, can be difficult to nail down) so that you can apply it to the increasingly tricky puzzles in the other ages.

Trial and error puzzles can be pretty entertaining, too, but Exile give you too many of those. Some problems have far too many possible solutions to allow this, and the results of incorrect trials isn't as entertaining or enlightening as it can be in other games (getting the babelfish in the old Infocom Hitchikers game comes to mind). Then again, one of the points of Exile seems to be that everything is related, and that all actions have far reaching effects. In such a remarkably causal environment, trial and error is fairly inappropriate.

Likewise, one or two bad puzzles can destroy a game. Number three on my all-time, game-killing puzzles list is the game ending puzzle. Essentially, I hate that end the game, or end your life while you're doing them. Such puzzles tend to make more of a game out of well-timed saves than the riddles themselves, and that's about as fun as restoring your hard drive after it crashes. If you didn't back up, you're toast, and if you did, you get the thrill-a-minute-pleasure of reloading all of your software. Congratulations, you finally saved well!

Exile really doesn't do this. Until the Narayan age, no action is irreversible, and timing is irrelevant. This is sweet relief in an adventure game, and it gives Exile one up on my beloved text adventures of yesteryear, in which one wrong move would occasionally send you into days of endless death. As I said, the last age in Exile is an exception, so save often, if for no other reason than to say all of the different ways you can screw up hours of hard work.

Tedious puzzles come in at number two on my "Game-killing puzzles" list, and those are rare in Exile. Even with the lightning bolt option (which lets you quickly skip to different parts of a map) engaged, some of the puzzles in Edanna required far too much slogging through swamps and tunneling through dark, hollow logs. I believe there are a few more of these in the game, but I just bumbled my way into the answer the first time and avoided the heartache.

Number one with a bullet on my game-killing puzzle list -- poor control. This happens when you do know the solution, but you can't get the darn puzzle controls to do what you want them to. This happened to me once in Exile, and it took me over an hour to get one stupid lever to rotate, and not slide. This wasn't one of the game's mysteries, it was just a poorly-designed dongle in an otherwise perfectly designed game system. My TiBook's trackpad didn't make the situation better, either. Nevertheless, it was just one, so I'll allow it.

Though the order of the puzzles themselves can be important, you can visit the three main ages in any order and still get to Narayan, but I'd save Edanna for last, especially if you've really gotten stumped on an earlier puzzle. Amateria also contains my favorite puzzles, which do reward trial and error with a precious ball that can crash in seemingly infinite ways. The puzzles in Narayan are probably the easiest ones in the entire game, but you'll need to seriously consider the tone of the game in order to get the desired conclusion.

The Conclusion

Calm down, calm down! I'm not going to tell you how the game ends.

When I told a close friend of mine that I was reviewing Exile, he was surprised. He couldn't figure out where I'd find the time in my busy life to play any adventure game through to it's conclusion, let alone a game with a reputation like this one. I told him that I didn't intend to finish the game, but to give people a sense if it was worth finishing.

Then he reminded me of Aztec Challenge. This was a game from the Atari ST glory days, a game with a fun mix of action and problem solving. It took us weeks to finish the game, and when we killed the final enemy, we couldn't wait to see how this clever game would end. Then we saw the ending:

CONGRADULATIONS!!!!

I don't know if it was the misspelling, the use of the caps lock key, or the extra exclamation points that made the game designers think this was an adequate payoff, but I certainly knew it wasn't good enough for me. I wished someone would have told me that the ending was so bad -- I could have spent the time better at the pool, or canoeing, or picking my feet in Poughkeepsie. Anything would have been better.

So, with the benefit of my friend's suggestion, I finished the game, and I must say, I think you'll be satisfied. Each age ends dramatically and lyrically, and the possible conclusions to Narayan should surprise you. Though the conclusion to the Voltaic age is probably the most poetic puzzle solution in any game, ever, I once again favor the end of Amateria. It doesn't surprise you at all, and yet it's so utterly satisfying to see all of your hard work pay off.

Of course, there's virtually no replay value with this game, but finishing Exile leaves you wanting more, and that's the best endorsement any adventure game could have.

The Collector's Edition Extras

Here's a quick review of what you get for your extra cash:

Prima's Official Strategy Guide: Myst III: Exile
Useful enough, because I couldn't have met my deadline without it, this is the best extra in this addition. It includes a walkthrough, but the "soft hints" are much better, as they prevent you from learning more than you need to know. Sometimes you just need reassurance that you're on the right track (like when you spend an hour fiddling with a stupid lever!), and at other times you may decide that a puzzle isn't fun enough to warrant ten hours worth of solution time. All of the solutions are accompanied by a decent sense of humor, and they're usually provided in clear, simple language. The guide also includes maps, the complete text of Artrus' journal (not because it's Nobel material, but so that you don't have to stop what you're doing in the game to read it), a History of Narayan (interesting and useful, but it can spoil the game if you're not careful).

The Making of Myst III: Exile CD-ROM
Just pop this CD into your drive, fire up Internet Explorer, and witness a special, 22 minute "Making of " movie, as well as trailers that were supposedly shown on TV and in Theaters. The "making of" film is the real star here, though it doesn't reveal many interesting facts (I figured they used 3D modeling software and bluescreens, as most of you probably will). The film's playback was almost unwatchable on my TiBook, as it jerked horribly and lapsed out of synch with the sound for the duration of the piece. Strangely enough, installing the updaters seemed to slightly improve the audio (which makes little sense, since the entire CD-ROM is essentially a series of QuickTime movies with a custom interface), but the end result is still painfully clunky. Given the weakness of the content here, I don't consider the audio problems a deal-breaker.

The Soundtrack
Okay, okay, this game's music is a true accomplishment, but I won't be playing it on my iPod while I'm jogging anytime soon. This must be ultra-fan only material.

The Pewter Squee
What's a Squee, you ask? Play the game! I wasn't impressed with the little figurine until I played Exile, and now he's on my desk at work, calming me down on stressful days.

The Numbered Box
If you don't want to keep the Squee when you're done with Exile, you can make your dreams of outrageous Ebay auction sales come true with this feature!

The Verdict

If you have even the slightest love of adventure games, and your life situation can withstand it, you should get Myst III: Exile. If you've never played an adventure game before (not even Myst or Riven), I can personally attest that you'll still enjoy the game immensely.

As for the Collector's Edition, I'd say that the strategy guide is the key. If you think you'll use it even a few times, pony up the extra cash. If not, you should just get the standard game and settle for trying to steal the pewter Squee from someone else's desk at work.

But before you do, ask yourself: What Would Atrus Do?

Russ Aaronson

English Teacher,Pompano Beach, FL

Product	Myst III: Exile, The Collector's Edition
Company	Ubi Soft
MSRP	$59.99
Hits	Brilliant storytelling, beautiful visuals, breathtaking sounds, challenging (yet sensible) puzzles, great ending, included strategy guide and pewter "Squee!"
Misses	Some choppy audio, some lousy puzzles, no replay value, some scenes too dark.
Rating	(5 possible)
Requirements	233 MHz G3 or faster, MacOS 8.1 or higher, 64 MB RAM, 200 MB Available HD Space, 4x CD-ROM min., 640x480 display, thousands of colors, Supports Optional 3D Hardware Acceleration, QuickTime 4 or higher.