User Reviews (31 - 41 of 271)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Exile- Myst III missed the "Riven" mark

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: May 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I loved Riven and enjoy the Adventure and Puzzle style games. I was eager to play my waiting-list copy of Myst III, but I've learned to read the manual first. I followed all the suggestions, like visiting the website of my sound/video card vendor for the latest drivers. I still experienced a few problems (like both my CD-ROM drives wanting to get into the act). I just learned the work-arounds. My first impression of Myst III was it's natural transition from Riven. The Free Look Mode was a bit too much for me at first, but I grew to like it. The music and arts/graphics were superb. The acting scenes were well done and Myst III also has a fantastic joy-ride, but not as many as Riven (a sort of good thing, since they take-up a lot of time). Myst III also has the multi-endings depending on your choices. The quality and quantity of puzzles, however, were not on the same level as Riven. Maybe it was because I had cultivated that brand of problem solving skill, but I do think the puzzles were easier. I finished in half the time I thought it would take. In a nutshell, I'm glad I played it. I would recommend it. I would love to link to the next sequel.

5 stars as a game, 3 stars as part of the Myst canon

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: May 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The original Myst was something of a breakthrough game as it provided an intelligent and immersive experience, matching the subject matter to the medium perfectly. In retrospect it was certainly the least impressive of the three (to say nothing of its wait-and-see disappointment of an ending), but as number one out of the starting gate, we couldn't have asked for more.

Riven, in addition to being technologially superior, far exceeded its predecessor in story and game play. Myst provided an array of random puzzles, each related to the age in which they took place, none of which were really evocative of the story or the world in which they took place. Riven cleaned up all of that by providing what can best be described as an archeological experience: the player was forced to uncover as much information as possible about the D'ni and the man trying to give the D'ni new life as a means of escape from his prison. The design of the game revolved entirely around Gehn's synthesis of the D'ni in Riven, and the only way to get through Riven was to take in all that visual information and integrate it into the challenges that were woven into the story.

Exile falls far short of Riven's accomplishments, reverting back to Myst's original design. It's good eye-candy and the 360 degree free-look (very well designed by the way, as it caused very few problems on my computer during game play which was not at all what I expected) is fantastic. But whereas Riven demanded that the player unfold a story and a culture to solve its puzzles, Exile is entirely about getting from point A to point B much in the same way the original Myst was. Of course, the player is travelling through ages that were created by Atrus (which was not at all the Riven experience) for the sole purpose of instructing our all but forgotten nemeses Sirrus and Achenar - so in that regard, perhaps it only makes sense that we should have a simalar gaming experience.

Still, the game remains a step down. The Riven environment was a great deal more threatening to the player (as they moved through the game under the watchful eye of Gehn) than that of Exile, where your nemesis (Saavedro, played very well by Brad Douriff) keeps himself at a bay but lacks the omniscience of Gehn and hence the menace as well. In all fairness, its difficult to surmount a calculating nemesis like Gehn (played by John Keston) and likewise it may be that the game's creators never really sought to do so (we feel sorry for Saavedro more than fear him, in part because of his predicament but also because of his tendency to come unhinged, which the shrewd Gehn never succumbed to as he oiled up to you, trying to win your loyalty).

Lastly, Exile failed to pick up on a crucial improvement that Riven had over Myst - the lack of game play linearity. This is really the only effective medium in which a story's linearity can be scrambled by the audience. Of course, every person will experience the game differently and in whatever order they choose, but the game does not offer enough variables to allow for that aside from an array of plausible final moment endings. I finished Myst in about a week without having to devote my entire life to it, likewise with Exile. Neither accomplishment speaks to my genius (though my genius remains, nonetheless) but rather the fact that getting from point A to point B comprised the whole of the challenges. Riven, due to its massive size, attention to detail, and demand that the player unfold the story (rather than have it handed to you) took me nearly 3 months to get through This is not intended as a testament to my stupidity (though my stupidity remains, nonetheless), but rather to point out that the integrative story and non-linear format imbedded in Riven is much more conducive to the medium and in that regard, more challenging.

Overall, I reccommend that any fan of the first to and/or the novels play through Exile. I am glad to have another chapter in the series. It's pleasing to see that the story is divorced enough from the original two that it doesn't interfere with the rather elegant ending put forth by Riven (provided, of course, that you finished Riven with the most ideal of the 8 plausible endings). I only hope that Myst 4 will surpass Exile in the same way that Riven raised the bar over the original Myst.

Buyers Beware

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 18
Date: May 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Myst 3 is no doubt a terrific game for the small number of people who have been able to circumvent the bugs. In addition to the problems mentioned in earlier reviews there is also a conflict with Myst 3 and many, many video cards. When one attempts to launch the game it performs an illegal operation and shuts down. Updating drivers, DirectX, and other suggestions do not work. Instead of playing Myst 3 I've been *working* on Myst 3 with no success.

The official Myst 3 site acknowledges this as a *known* problem and is at work on a patch. There is no date given as to when patches for any of the bugs will be released.

Buyer beware - it may not work on your computer until patches are released at some unspecified time in the future, if at all.

Please note that I've assigned One Star to this game only because No Stars or -Stars are not an option.

WARNING DO NOT BUY

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 16
Date: October 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

WARNING: Holiday season is upon us - The DVD version of this game (EXILE) as well as its sequals MYST and RIVEN do not work with Windows XP especially if you have Quicktime 3.0 or higher. We contacted the company though thier website and they have no intention of upgrading or providing drivers for said games to accomodate users. By their own suggestion at CYAN and RED-ORB and PRESTO is if you have purchased these games and they do not work take them back to the store and see if you can get your money back. Unless the compatibilty with any game produced by this company specifically says it is XP compatible DO NOT PURCHASE IT> Thanks

Most enjoyable!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: May 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Myst was stunning. Like most games that come along, it pushed the hardware and the envelope. The puzzles took some getting used to, but once you began to understand, it was great! Riven was beautiful, but the puzzles were much tougher than many people were willing to tolerate. I've heard countless stories of people who never finished Riven. Myst III:Exile is just right! It balances beauty, technology, and stimulating puzzles - all of which are somewhere in the reach of the vast majority of people playing the game. Myst III does run with the fewest problems on the Macintosh platform (although it does re-arrange my desktop icons sometimes.) The PC platform is a little more problematic... They seem to have done a good job for the first version of the program (it is, after all, difficult to accommodate all of the zillion-billion permutations of hardware and Windows operating systems.) I recommend the game highly if you enjoy a relaxed exploration of puzzles!

Slightly (only slightly) disappointing.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: September 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

OK, the graphics are absolutely stunning, but that they were already in Riven. The only real apparent technical progress (and not the least, mind you) is the 360 degree view, which lets you immerse into the breathtaking sceneries of six (or more acurately, five and a half) different ages.

The puzzles are in the same logical vein as usual, but sadly I didn't find them very challenging and I was able to finish the game in approximately 12 hours, which is much less than what I was expecting from the creators of the Myst series.

As a whole, Exile is a wonderful game, mysterious and beautiful, and the music sends you directly into another, totally magical dimension, but if you've already played its prequels, no doubt you'll be left begging for more. My guess is that people with less experience in the Myst universe will enjoy it much more. I can only recommend they play Myst and Riven (in this order) too.

Haven't finished yet, but couldn't be much happier with it!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This has got to be the most engaging game I've played since "Starship Titanic." I've seen many reviews that complain that the game is too "easy" or "hard," and I think that's missing the point. I'm finding many of the puzzles difficult, but in the end *they all make logical sense.* This game is a lot more intuitive than Riven, for which I had to fill a small notepad with the various codes and clues I had to remember from other parts of the game in order to solve the puzzles. In Exile, I find myself solving puzzles simply because the next step "makes sense." It's considerably more gratifying than remembering a lot of numbers and codes.

The graphics are great, but they're also one of the reasons this game doesn't get five stars from me. It's easy to get disoriented with the 360 degree panning, and sometimes it's frustrating having to watch the same animation over and over again if it takes you several tries to finish a puzzle. But some of the sequences are so breathtaking (I'm thinking specifically of the Amateria ending) that you forget you're just seeing them on a screen.

As a sidenote, I'd like to add that Brad Dourif (Saavedro) is a great addition to this game. He does a great job of adding emotion and a subtle madness to the character, and he ends up actually being a more interesting character than the established Catherine and Atrus. And if you're wondering where you've seen him before, he had a notable guest role as Luther Lee Boggs, convicted killer and psychic, in an early episode of "The X-Files."

Myst 3:Exile

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: May 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

As a player, this game takes you into a world as stunning and breathtaking as any other game you have ever experienced. I myself am a CGI artist, and to be honest, I was aprehensive. Riven was by far, the most spectacular graphics in a game. You can't really compare the graphics of Riven to those in Exile. In Riven, the arcitecture was somewhat familiar. Abandon all familiarities in Exile! Some of these things are positively alien. I loved it. As for the Windows 2000 issues I have read about, I had no trouble. Although I will admit that my system is pretty beefy. The only technical issue I had was with the Making Of cd. The quicktime video and sound tracks sometimes didn't sync correctly. My final thoughts on this game are: If you enjoyed Myst and Riven, you'll like this game. However, just remember that this is a whole new experience. Comparing it to the other two will only keep you thinking. Take it as a seperate entity and flow with it. Shorah.

Don't buy this yet

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: May 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game, which looks sooo good from the box, doesn't run on my computer, or on a lot of computers, from the looks of the Myst III web site forum. There is some problem with Intel chipsets in video cards. The game won't start. We will wait for a "patch" to be developed, but the game will sit on the shelf until then.

THIS GAME ROCKS

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: June 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I've had absolutly no problems with this game, and am so impressed with every aspect of Myst III so far, that I recommend it to anyone and everyone. As my friend Chris says, "there's...there's just something about Myst". There is something about it that just grabs you and won't let go, until you realize it's six in the morning and you have to go to work in an hour and a half. Bottom line, play this game. I loved Myst for all the beautiful scenery and puzzles, thought Riven was...ehh...ok I guess, (too many people), and I guess I've bee searching for something to live up to Myst-like expectations. The closest I'd come was Tomb Raider; but as soon as I saw the opening sequence of Exile, I knew this was the one. I'm halfway through now and have not been disspointed. If you're like me and loved Myst, thought Riven was ehhhh, BUY THIS GAME!! This game rocks!

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions