8.9

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Myst V: End of Ages

Myst V: End of Ages is the final chapter to the Myst saga where the gamer once again begins in the familiar surroundings of Atrus' prison room in K'Veer where you helped him escape in the original Myst game over a decade ago. Time has not been kind to Atrus and he has passed his torch (more specifically an ancient tablet) to his beautiful daughter Yeesha.

Those familiar with the Myst series will also be pleased to know that you reprise your role of the philanthropic stranger who must assist Yeesha in solving an age old puzzle that may threaten the very universe of Myst.

Without any doubt, the Myst series has been highly popular, especially among female gamers and older male gamers to which once again this game is targeting. Unlike the previous series, this current and perhaps final incarnation of Myst uses real-time graphics that is probably one of the most graphical impressive games on the market at the moment.

Features

• Easy Point-and-Click Interface

• Easily explore vast 3D worlds with just a click of the mouse.

• Innovative Slate System

• Interact like never before with the environment – a dynamic new slate interface lets you communicate with mysterious creatures and manipulate the world around you. The first new gameplay element ever introduced in the Myst series.

• Richer game environments

• The critically acclaimed creators of the Myst franchise raise the bar yet again with new photo realistic worlds ripe with life, weather, movement and mystery.

• Pioneering Cinematic Technology

• Innovative facial mapping technology, “face over”, brings characters alive with unprecedented emotions and expressiveness

With the introduction of real-time graphics, the entire psyche of Myst has changed and gameplay is no longer dictated by prerendered environments because the gamer or more specifically... the adventurer, can literally wander where ever they like. Although the view is similar to first person shooter gamers, the control system is far from it and uses the traditional Myst controls of manoeuvring throughout the gaming environment.

Like the previous Myst games, End of Ages is divided into a series of ages, each of which features an overall goal and a suite of puzzles standing between you and that goal. You’ll find yourself having to lug heavy tablets through these ages and much of the puzzling involves finding ways to move yourself and those tablets around obstacles, often by drawing on the tablets themselves. By drawing runes on the tablets you can summon a mysterious race to perform magical tasks for you such as summoning water or even wind itself.

I would recommend this game to those anybody who enjoyed the Myst series or for those that love a challenge because Myst V: End of Ages is far from easy and requires quite a talented mind to solve the puzzles and also linking all the pieces together. In its purest sense, End of Ages is a traditional text based adventure game that now has a beautiful graphical interface.

With the onset of real-time graphics, Myst V: End of Ages is indeed a true masterpiece that contains some of the most beautiful, realistic and lush graphics that I have seen on a PC. Match that with a variety of special effects, especially form the lighting and shadowing department and it's almost as if you're walking on an alien world. To make matters even more impressive, all the actors that performed the voices for the game had their faces digitally recorded into the game so that these textures could them be placed upon the characters in the game. Needlessly the say, the result if quite spectacular, even though it may look a little odd in certain places.

As with the previous Myst game, the musical score of Myst V: End of Ages is perfect and features a subtle yet engaging soundtrack that perfectly suits the adventure genre. The voice acting of the title has also been professionally implemented and nothing sounds too forced or contrived and match that with some realistic sound effects and you have an extremely impressive sound title.

The developers of Myst V: End of Games claim that this is the final game in the series but with such an impressive gaming engine, I believe that the creators will use this to create some side stories of the Myst universe. The game itself has received a massive overhaul that contains a beautiful 3D engine, realistic graphics and exceptional character acting that probably makes this one of the best games in the series itself. A must have to all fans of the original games!