Set aside a few hours and take the phone off the hook. Hook up your best stereo speakers or dust off your headphones. And did we mention that Riven comes on five CDs? Switching among discs often breaks the mood. Even on a Power Mac 8500/150 with its 8X CD-ROM player, there were noticeable lags in the animation. And all this multimedia takes considerable computing power. If you’ve played Doom, Quake, Marathon, or the others, you’ll be thrilled by Riven’s graphics but not by any realistic 3D movement. Your progress forward is indicated by dissolves between images. Turning to the left or right reveals the seams: The beautiful vistas slide from one to the next, like a slide show. ![]() Unfortunately, movement through this world remains primitive. The illusion of exploring a real, if surrealistic, world remains intact until the end. Riven’s puzzles are so deeply integrated into the “plot,” they never feel contrived or artificial. Although it consists of numerous puzzles, there’s no mad magician arbitrarily throwing a board game in your way before you can unlock a door. Riven also plays like no other game, not even Myst. The effect is so dazzling we could feel the sun’s heat on the back of our necks and the breeze blowing through our hair. Birds casually wheel and call in the sky. Riven’s forests, for example, are alive with flying, winking insects and buzzing beetles. ![]() There’s lots of QuickTime animation, which isn’t just peppered between static graphics. The graphics are always grand and occasionally breathtaking. Visually and aurally, it sets new standards. Riven stands out in nearly every respect, not only from its predecessor Myst, but also from such similar fine games as Obsidian and Amber: Journeys Beyond. And, speaking of 6-year-olds, the game’s content is appropriate for even young children (although the puzzles often are much too difficult). Even a 6-year-old helper discovered significant clues we had overlooked. My advice is to play with at least two people. Even experienced gamers will likely need at least 20 hours to finish the game, and most folks will probably take twice as long. You’ll spend your first hours trying to understand this world - how to navigate it, who populates it, and what’s going on. In fact, at the outset, you won’t even have a clear idea of exactly what you’re looking for or are expected to do in order to achieve your goal. The game has no time limit, you’ll almost never collect objects or tools, and you’ll never hold or use a weapon. Traveling among the islands that make up Riven, you will spend much of your time trying to understand the mysterious, steam-powered contraptions. Follow trails through lush jungles, navigate dark tunnels through mountains, wander along beaches, and explore a primitive village of extremely shy - or terrified - people. After a sketchy introduction by the bearded Atrus, you’re dropped into a lavishly detailed, mythical world, free to roam and explore. Riven, like its predecessor, is unlike any other game. If you never played Myst, even if you’ve never played another computer game, you’re in for a real treat. And this time, when you make mistakes, you can die. There’s lots more animation than in Myst, allowing you to finally interact with Atrus and his odd relatives. This time, your mission is laid out at the start: You must trap Atrus’ father, Gehn, in a linking book and save Catherine before you can leave Riven. But this time the sights are much more spectacular and realistic, the sounds more subtle and sublime, and the puzzles more diabolically difficult. Riven, the Fifth Age, rises out of the same haunting music and similar immersing sounds and sights as Myst. Riven is an evolutionary, not revolutionary, step beyond Myst. It has been a four-year wait for Myst’s sequel (cleverly subtitled “The Sequel to Myst”), and, if you liked Myst, you’ll hardly need our recommendation, but here it is: Buy Riven. If this opening scene from Riven gives you a chill of anticipation, surely you’ve played Myst, the CD-ROM adventure that became the best-selling computer game of all time. He stops and looks up, squinting to see in the dark room. The bearish, bearded man scratches his pen across the page of the thick book. ![]() Riven delivers everything Myst had to offer and so much more as well. Along the way you'll solve complex puzzles that span the entire world, each crafted and created with stunning visual effects. This time, journey to a new Age of Riven and help Atrus search for his missing wife Catherine. Reenter the world first discovered in Rand and Ryan Miller's facinating world of Myst.
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