Riven
Timely Sequel to
a genuine Classic
By Steven Bilodeau
The title that millions
have been waiting 4 years to play has finally appeared - Riven: The Sequel
to Myst. If you liked the original Myst, you HAVE to get this.
Your journey continues
and spans five discs, commencing right where Myst left off: Atrus is trying
to find his wife, Catherine, who is trapped in another world - Riven.
If you didn't play the original, that's fine. High quality movies will
set the scene for newcomers, and will refresh the memories of the two
million gamers who have kept Myst on the top-sellers chart longer than
any other title.
Riven has more activity
and interaction in it than did its predecessor. This is not merely a slide
show with a plot, a criticism leveled at Myst. The game world is four
times larger and there is a lot more action. Literally, more things are
in more motion. Water ripples, characters are more abundant and will interact
with you.
There
are players who came back to Myst just to look at the scenery. Riven is
much more intriguing. The images are photorealistic in their detail and
quality. The improvements in technology over four years allowed the producers
to create higher resolution scenes using more colours. The resulting world
is far more convincing and immersive.
As for gameplay, Riven
offers the same combination of puzzle solving and adventure.
I can't think of any
reason why Riven won't enjoy the same success as Myst. For all the games
that have tried to copy that success story, here is a title that deserves
and earns the honour.
Steven Bilodeau
is a columnist for the Edmonton Journal. You can find more of his columns
at www.southam.com/edmontonjournal/computers/bilodeau.html.
Steven Bilodeau
can be reached via e-mail at StevenB@msn.com.
And for more computer news, visit JournalExtra, the World Wide Web site
of The Edmonton Journal, at http://www.edmontonjournal.com.
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