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Uru is a fantastic adventure!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: June 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Don't listen to the negative reviews, Uru is quite possibly one of the best adventure games ever made. Its graphics are gorgeous, its lush enviroments are the most breathtaking I have ever seen in any game. The puzzles are challenging, but not overly difficult, they actually quite brilliant. I loved the ability to create your own avatars.

The only downsides are that the controls could use a little tweaking, and the ability to pick up objects would be nice (it's irritating to have try to move a stone with your feet into one spot). I am also extremely disappointed that the massively multiplayer version, uru live, was canceled.

Still, if your a fan of the adventure genre you MUST have this game.

DON'T TOUCH URU WITH A TEN FOOT POLE!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 21
Date: January 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

What in GOD'S NAME was Cyan thinking!!! I've got a Pentium 4 2.8 ghz with a GeForce 4 128 mb graphics card and 512 mb ram, and I still couldn't get this mess Cyan calls a game to run smoothly. URU ran retardedly slow and jerkilly even when I set the graphics and sound attributes to their lowest settings. Someone needs to track down the so-called crack programming team behind this mess so they can't even think about creating another "game".
I mean, my computer runs C&C: Generals and Sim City 4 like a hot knife cutting through butter, and they're both much prettier looking than URU, and Generals has far more interactive streaming video to incorporate than URU by a long shot.
Whooever made this crap, I want to know how they managed to get a college degree in computer programming, because they sure as heck don't know good code from a hole in the ground.
Bottom line, remove URU from your shopping cart and save your hard-earned money for a game that's ACTUALLY WORTH IT like Half-Life 2, Doom 3, or Syberia 2 . . . IF and WHEN these titles actually come out. PS - Amazon needs to offer a choice of 0 stars on their scale, so people can know when something's THAT BAD.

what WERE they thinking

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 21
Date: January 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I loved the previous Mysts. This one is absolutely aversive.
COMPATABILITY: even though I did get the game to run on my hardware, I won't let them off the backward compatability hook. Much of the manual reads as a disclaimer translating to: "it's not our fault if it doesn't run, you're on your own, go update your drivers you luddite." My one-year old system far exceeds the minimum specs on the box. But because it's a laptop, the driver for the video card was customized by the manufacturer and not supported by the video card manufacturer (true for all laptops). After a long and tedious search I found a 3rd party driver update. NOT FUN, NOT NECESSARY. Also, I have never seen such a large gap between the minimum system and the recommended system. Of course, you have to open the box to find the latter.
GAMEPLAY: If you enjoyed being taken away to a strange new world that felt real and challenged your mind and senses, this game is not for you. The most challenging puzzle you will find is how to get your avatar to do the nintendo-like moves given the obstructive interface. Puzzle solved long ago, I sit watching my avatar turn in place, unable to see in the direction it is facing. Quick, distracting camera angle changes that affect the function of the cursor -- I'm walking forward, camera angle changes -- OOPS!, now I'm turning in place. Switch to first person mode. No control over where I'm looking. For some reason I get stuck looking at the floor or ceiling. I can only change this by walking -- and letting the game decide what I can see. It is obvious that this "puzzle" requires repeated sprints from a starting point to push buttons, returning to the starting point within a limited time. Too bad the main obstacle is the goofy interface. Oh, and what's with all the "puzzles" that require you to herd objects into strange places with your feet? The avatar (and I) have hands, why not let us use them? Because then the "puzzle" would have absolutely no challenge that's why.
STORYLINE: none discernable, other than find these objects and struggle to reach them. Whatta waste.
OTHER: for the life of me, I can't understand why it takes so long to start up and why every change between "ages" takes, eh, ages. Really, when you hear the scene change audio signal, get up, fix yourself a sandwich (or roast a small turkey), come back and wait, wait, wait. BTW, 1.7GH P4.

Worst Myst Yet

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: December 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've loved the other Myst titles (Riven is my favorite) and this is a big disappointment.

First the good... This game has excellent graphics and they have thought up some very interesting new worlds.

The good and the bad... The new interface lets you create an avatar for your character. You can change its appearance in many different ways. That's cool! However, the interface is awkward and you constantly switch back and forth between 1st and 3rd person point of view. Looking around for things (which you do a lot of) is more difficult. I liked the Exile interface the best.

Now that bad...

1) Its boring! The biggest challenge in each age is wandering around looking for things hidden there. I'm sorry, but what's the fun in that? You spend all your time looking behind every rock and every tree. This is not interesting, it's just tedious.

2) Like in the previous Myst games, the cursor changes to a hot spot when it passes over something of interest in the Myst environment. However, in Uru, you have to be standing in exactly the right spot before the cursor will change to a hot spot. As a result, it is easy to miss something that can be manipulated because you might be standing just slightly off center. Therefore, you spend a lot of time walking up to things, trying them. Moving slightly to the left, try it again, move back, try, move forward, try, move right, try, and maybe something will happen.

3) It's a teaser! There ain't much in this game. It contains only a single CD, compared to 4 or more in the previous games. What they really want you to do is become interested in Uru Live and pay a subscription fee to play more on line. For $40 - $50 bucks, I would expect a more complete universe.

I would not recommend this game.

Huge disappointment

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: January 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have to disagree with the people who are saying "Oh folks just don't like it because they don't have the system requirements." My computer ran the game just fine and it still stunk. The so called "puzzles" were tedious and frustrating, with little to no reward for putting you through the hell of solving them. The 3rd person user interface was disastrous, unnecessary, and poorly rendered. The landscapes were repetitive (note the repeating cloud patterns in one scene) and looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, not a high end video game. The soundtrack was dreary when it wasn't irritating.

I'm so very sad that this game is of such poor quality both in technical matters and concept. I loved Myst, Riven, and Exile. Too bad I'll never get the same experience from this wonderful game world unless I go back to play the old three again. By the time I got to my third age in Uru, I was bored and annoyed at being treated so rudely by Ubisoft/Cyan. I packed it up without a twinge of remorse--well, except for the regret I felt for purchasing it and wasting my last holiday weekend playing it.

The writers of this game should be taken out and shot for degrading the wonderful Myst mystique.

Great Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: February 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am glad I did not listen to all the "nay-sayers" who only gave Uru one star. The graphics are incredible, the puzzles great, and the interface is not to bad to get use to. I mostly use the first person point of view.
As far as the Online portion being cancelled: No big loss, I am not a online game player, though I would have liked to see the new ages. I am told they will release those for download or on CD as an expansion to URU.
If I can give one warning, it would be this: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GAMING PC. My PC met all the requirements, and then some, so I have not experienced any problems. I even have the graphics maxed- out to ULTRA.
AS far as the game taking to long to load: IT is no more annoying than any other previous Myst game, expect that you have the added bonus of not having to change CD's. OF course this also all depends on the speed of your PC and it's hard drives.
And those who say there is no story line: Obviuosly you did not pay attention.
All in all it is a great game!

Buy something else from somewhere else.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 25
Date: January 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

After trying and failing to install this game on my girlfriend's brand-new, top of the line Dell laptop and my brand new PC with a gig of ram and 256 MB video card, I have determined two things:

1)UbiSoft has made this year's most disappointing game because their intent was to market the product based on the fans' love of the Myst name rather than to design a cutting-edge playable game. Most people who own a computer own a Compaq or a Dell, neither of which come standard with the type of video chipset that is required to run this game. No one should be expected to make a $130 upgrade to play a $50 game.

2)Amazon has done all of its customers a disservice by failing to mention that the system requirements of this game are absolute and the majority of computer users in America will not be able to play this game. I'm a computer tech with ten years of experience, and I couldn't get this software to work, so how does UbiSoft and Amazon expect the average user to do so? And if they fail to properly outline the requirements of this software, how many other products have they failed to disclose pertinent information about?

I will be contacting Amazon tonight about returning this poorly designed product, and if they refuse to offer me a credit or refund I will never buy from Amazon again for any reason. Plus I think I'll burn a few hundred copies of Uru and give them out for free in front of Virgin Megastores in Manhattan. I'll let you all know.

Spectacular !!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: December 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

A magnificent addition to the Myst family!! A must have for Myst fans.

OK Quit complaining and upgrade already!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: January 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Yes, you need the specified video card in order to play this game. I got a PowerColor 128MB video card with the ATI Radeon 9200 chipset for $53.00 shipped! from AccuPC - which includes TV Out and DVI connections. I know it cost the price of URU, but it is also far superior to what came with my HP Pavilion 304w. I bought the AGP card (check your motherboard first to be sure you have a AGP slot - if not, buy the PCI card), had the card in and game running in less than half an hour. My motherboard sound card works fine. A prior upgrace to DirectX 9 was flawless.
Once you have the video card set up then you can experience the fun of this game. Being able to move about freely and seemlessly (unlike the prior Myst games) is great fun and a much more realistic experience. I've only gone through the first level of the game, but think the one-star reviews because of hardware requirements are a lop-sided view. It doesn't take very long to be able to maneuver easily, though it is somewhat odd to switch from keyboard to mouse for various functions.
Don't give up and sell your game because of a video card - bite the bullet and upgrade.

Try to sum up things

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: January 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I had posted a review and I actual updated it now that I have finished the game but after reading all the other reviews I felt I needed to add a little something more.
First of all when you see the reviews that state you must have a powerfull video card and ALL stated system requirements....ALL... they are true. I had an older video card that played the game faily well but after upgrading, everything changed, I mean everything. The worlds were brightter, I could see much better making the puzzles easier to solve. And the walking/running got a whole lot easier. The slower the video card the harder it was to walk in 3rd person. Everything is much easier now. Even kickiing things into position, although I have to admit I don't understand why you could not just pick it up!
I have a 1.2G CPU that I ramped (overclock) up to almost burn out since I am planning to upgrade that next anyway. That tremedously improved the load time. I think most of the load time is processing the world. There is a lot going on in these worlds that you don't notice if you don't take the time to smell the roses.
I do have to admit that the CD is just an intro into the on-line version which I can't get into yet probably because they are having sever...problems. (they expect me to upgrade but they haven't the money to do thier own?) Hopefully when the online version gets up and running they have enough worlds so I don't have to keep running into crowds of ppl.

My system that ran the game with no problems, smooth and clean to me wasn't that powerfull.
1) Dragon Lite Mother board with voltage and front side bus boosted to increase power
2) AMD 1.2G Athlon MMX CPU
3) 512MB PC2700 over clocking memory
4) ATI All in Wonder 9000 series video 64M
5) EIDE ATA 133 hard drive
6) SBLive sound card

Hopefully this will give you an idea of the system you need. Don't cheat on the video if you want good game play.
-jim

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