"Another mystery to solve"

Eleven years after Myst was first released on CD-Rom only, Myst IV Revelation the fifth installment into the Myst series (if you count Uru) comes to us. Team Revelation at Ubi Soft of Montreal set out to create the best Myst game ever, did they succeed? No, but they did a fine job anyway.

Gameplay 7/10:
Not unlike its predecessors, Revelation is an adventure that has you solving puzzles on different worlds in order to progress through the unfolding story. Revelation is point and click like it's predecessors (Except realMyst and Uru which were real time 3D) but it takes the node technology from Exile, allowing you to view everywhere around you from wherever you stand. There's also a couple nice features, a journal for recording notes (Or commenting on something if you want) and a type of high-tech camera to take pictures of clues and scenery.

While that's all well and good, Myst IV Revelation features some of the most unnecessary and tedious puzzles in a Myst game to date. Some force you to backtrack all the way through an age just for one little symbol, others require you to backtrack just to flip a switch or move a slider. Like Myst and Exile Revelation seems to have puzzles just for the sake of having puzzles, but unlike Myst and Exile there's no reward for solving these puzzles.

Story 7/10:
Set ten years after Myst III Exile Atrus calls you back to Tomahna to talk about his sons, Sirrus and Achenar which players first met in Myst while they were trapped in prison age books. Something goes wrong however (surprise surprise) and you end up having to rescue Atrus' ten year old daughter Yeesha from her kidnappers, and once again you have to judge whether it was Sirrus or Achenar (or both) who are responsible. I personally found the storyline a little awkward and sometimes cheesy in several places compared to the first three Mysts, but that may be just me.

Along your journey you'll have an amulet with you that can replay important memories (including two taken directly from Exile) held by certain objects or certain places. This amulet also lets you listen to characters narrate their journals should you choose to do so, the amulet itself has no real important connection to the story though, it's just an item to make the game more interesting.

Graphics 9/10:
Revelation is a beautiful game, anyone who has played it will tell you that. While the graphics aren't as clear or realistic looking as Riven they're not bad at all. While they're not as great as Riven they do give a slightly realistic look and succeed in drawing you into the world that you're exploring and a lot of effort was clearly put into doing this.

The creatures of Revelation sadly don't do the game justice, while the live action movies blend into the scenery seamlessly the creatures tend to look out of place and their animation is often jerky, especially the flying creatures, but fortunately it's not too bad most of the time so most people can surely ignore it.

Sound 9/10:
Like the graphics, the audio in Revelation is amazing. Myst IV has ambiance and sounds when you flip switches just like it's predecessors but IV also features new additions to the series. In Myst IV you can tap surfaces and it will sound like you're tapping a real object, for example... say you tap a metal railing, it'll sound like you're really tapping metal and this adds much realism to the game. Another nice addition is footsteps, when you turn around or move to a new location you'll hear the sound of footsteps against whatever you're standing on, like if you're turning around or move to a new location on dirt it'll sound like you're stepping on sand.

The music in Revelation is performed by Jack Wall who also did the music for Exile, and like Exile he did an amazing job. The music adds a great deal of atmosphere, but sometimes he went overboard and some of the music seemed out of place and just a little too loud, like the elevator ride at the end of Spire for example. Peter Gabriel also contributed a song to Revelation as well as some voice acting, but I won't ruin the surprise.

Overall 8/10:
Myst IV Revelation is a great sequel to Myst, Riven and Exile and should be in every Myst fan's collection. New adventurers to the Myst series will also enjoy the hours of entertainment they'll get out of Revelation. Revelation may have a few setbacks which keeps it from being the "best game ever" Ubi Soft probably hoped it was going to be, but it's still a great game and anyone who loves puzzles and\or adventure will find Revelation to be a nice escape from reality.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/21/04