Preview Myst IV: Revelation Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Publisher: Ubisoft Release Date: 4th Quarter 2004 Platform: (DVD-Only) Preview by Ray Ivey June 4, 2004

Okay, now on to a creative source with a slightly more checkered track record. Don’t get me wrong, no one respects Rand Miller more than I do. Myst changed the gaming world as surely as Jaws changed the movies. I admire the heck out of Myst. Its follow-up, Riven, infected me with the PC gaming virus. Exile was one of my favorite adventures ever.

And then came the Titanic of adventure games, Uru. After years of promising a revolutionary online adventure gaming experience, Cyan Worlds and UbiSoft delivered a beautiful but extremely irritating single-player game and killed the online project.

Randy and I spoke to Rand Miller, who is a handsome, unassuming and completely personable chap. He seems genuinely amused by his celebrity: “I’m only famous at places like this,” he joked. “In my normal life I’m just me.”

Like many gamers, I’ve had a burr under my saddle since the evil cancellation of Uru Live. Like everyone, I wanted to know what the problem was. Money, or technology? Did UbiSoft just turn off the cash spigot too soon or had Cyan been promising technical wizardry all these years that it simply could not deliver? I wanted to get the answer straight from the horse’s mouth, and without going into too much detail, Miller quietly affirmed that it was the money. “It all would have worked,” he said firmly. “We just needed more time.”

Now, before we all grab our torches and storm the UbiSoft offices, let’s talk about the project that should heal many of the gaping wounds caused by Uru: Of course, I’m talking about Myst IV: Revelation.

In the last couple of years, UbiSoft in-house development has turned into a creative powerhouse, turning out such stunning games as Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Beyond Good and Evil. Since the developers of Myst 3: Exile, Presto Studios, are no longer in business, I can’t think of a more promising source for a Myst game.

This fourth installment in the series returns to the plot of the original game, and explores the story of Atrus’ two sons – you remember, the two sneering guys trapped in the books demanding that you bring them blue and red pages. The story of Revelation explores their story.

Miller told us that the catch phrase the developers used was “Myst comes alive,” and that certainly seems to be the case in the gameplay footage we saw. Though it will be in the pre-rendered, 360 degree scrolling, node-movement format of Exile, the screens will be very much more kinetic. Far more animations are used to make the environments feel vibrant and alive. In addition, there’s more than 60 minutes of FMV footage. (That’s good news for me, always a dweeby fan of FMV adventures.) [Ed Note: Myst IV will be released on 3 single-sided DVDs, the alternative option would have comprised almost 10 CDs of gameplay. UbiSoft has promised to offer incentives to encourage gamers to purchase DVD drives for their pcs – Randy]

The game is mouse-driven and uses a beautifully intuitive hand icon to guide the player through the possibilities of interaction. Maps are always available.

Two more features seem quite impressive. First, the player has a camera that can be used to snap pictures of anything, anywhere. The player can keep these pictures in an album and – here’s the kicker, folks – make custom notes for each picture. So all that sketching you had to do in the first three games will no longer be necessary. Think how this feature will streamline gameplay in a Myst game: “Here’s the clue on the first column. Here’s the clue on the second column. Here’s that map from the wall of the bedroom.”

In addition, Miller says the game will have an in-game help system that will feature three levels of help for each puzzle.

If Myst IV: Revelation fulfills its promise, it could go a long way to healing the wounded feelings in the Myst fan base.