INTRODUCTION

In my review of Uru:
Ages Beyond Myst,
I criticized its awkward navigation system that was totally inappropriate
for an adventure game. The only saving grace was that it was appropriate
for a Massively Multiplayer Online Game, which was originally the
ultimate goal of Uru.

Uru was marketed as an adventure game that took place within the
Myst universe. You buy the game, play it through on your own and
then sign up for the on-line experience. There you would be able
to meet other players, form a party and play additional levels as
a group.

An intriguing idea, but
it never happened. For the first couple of months that the game
was out, people could sign up for free and
walk around the “common” areas. You could meet other
players and explore the amazing underground cavern which is D’ni.
Unfortunately, the technology wasn’t quite up to the task. Only 35
players were allowed on the server at any one time and even then
the lag was so bad that the game was unplayable.

After a couple of months, UbiSoft threw in the towel and canceled
Uru Online. The official reason given was that not enough people
had shown interest to make it worthwhile. Maybe so, but the fact
is that it had never been shown to work with more than ten players
at a time.

But Cyan Worlds had already developed enough additional Ages to
keep Uru Online running for a year. Could all this work be salvaged?
They decided to re-tool the ages to be playable by single players
and then release them as Expansion Packs to the original game.

The first X-Pack would be free and would include all of the Common
areas which were available to people during that two month Preview.
It finally included:

• Ae’gura – the
  island capitol of D’ni. Larger than the Capitol Mall in D.C.
• Two neighborhoods.
• The Grand Zero – Center of D’ni
• 47 new journals that
  extend the story of the Myst universe.
• More clothing options
• Several new puzzles
  to tie it all together into a playable game

INSTALLATION

X-Pack 1 is freely downloadable from Gigex and 3D Gamer. It installs
on top of your original Uru game and you will need the original CD
to both install and play the game.

RANT – Please excuse
me as I now rant on the stupid copy protection inflicted upon this
game. Why do I say it is stupid? Doesn’t UbiSoft
have a right to protect its investment? Yes, they do. But that is
not what they did. First, the pirates posted a cracked version of
Uru onto the Internet a full two weeks before the game was even on
the store shelves. Second, X-Pack 1 comes with a list of about a
dozen CD players that are known to have trouble with the copy protection
scheme. So it did nothing to stop piracy, but at least is preventing
legitimate owners from playing the game they paid for. I call that
STUPID! – END OF RANT.

THE GOODNESS

There is much good about X-Pack 1.

The graphics are jaw-dropping,
drool-puddling awesome. The ancient underground city of D’ni has
been abandoned twice – once centuries
ago by the D’ni themselves and just recently by the archeologists
who were trying to restore it. The sense of ancient loneliness is
very moving. As you can see from these screen shots, it is a dark
place and you will want to play with the lights turned out. View
these shots in full-screen if you want to be able to see them better
(We have brightened the screenshots to make them easier to view).

The following map, found in the center of the island, shows how
grand the vision was for D’ni. This is just part of the Capitol Island,
not the entire cavern.

Some of the buildings can be entered. The original concept was to
gradually open up more and more of the city as the archeologists
uncovered and released more of their work. It remains to be seen
if any more development time will actually be spent on D’ni.

Anyone who played any of the Myst games knows that books are frequently
left lying around to open up the story. X-Pack 1 provides another
47 journals revealing much of the history of D’ni and possibly explaining
what happened to the archeologists. Myst fans will be pouring over
and dissecting these for months to come. Expect timelines and full
histories to appear on the web.

THE BADNESS

Unfortunately, we are still stuck with the horrible navigational
interface even though there is now no reason for keeping it. You
can read my review of Uru for the ugly details, but it all boils
down to an interface so cumbersome that you have to concentrate on
it rather than the game.

X-Pack 1 forces you play Uru all over again a second time. Once
installed, you find a couple of new books on your bookshelves. One
of them is a link to the Neighborhood, Belvin. That eventually takes
you to one section of Ae’gura, but the rest of the town is blocked
off. You must go through the entire game to find the two clues which
were added to the original ages. Without those clues, you cannot
continue. I don’t know about you, but the second time I play a game
I experience little of the joy from seeing things from the first
time, but I experience all the drudgery of working through it.

Several new puzzles (Cyan
Worlds claim five) were added to turn the X-Pack into a game. Two
of these puzzles had little or no logical
lead-in. I already mentioned that you had to play the whole game
over to find clues. But there is no clue that the original ages had
been modified and should be searched. Elsewhere, you run across the
name “Bob O’Goobo.” An interesting – dare we say suspicious
– spelling. But with very little clue as to what to do with it. Most
players will need a walkthrough to get them past these.

The storyline is just a little forced. This is to be expected as
material is forced into a new paradigm. Some of it is jarring. Examine
the following two screenshots:

One of these is an impenetrable barrier. There is nothing you can
do to pass it. The other shot is of a barrier you can go through.
What is the difference? Why am I incapable of moving a 25lb stand?
Yes, it was made that way for the sake of the game, but it jars
with our intuitive understanding of how the world should work.

And finally, I am disappointed
with the music. There are two places – Cleft
and Kadish Museum – where there is wonderful background music.
It is haunting and effectively sets the mood. But where is it for
the rest of the game? Most of the game has no music at all. There
are a couple of other places where there is music, but it is so subtle
as to be stealth and of no effect.

CONCLUSION

Mixing it all together,
I must give Uru To D’ni a solid ”B.” It
does not set any new standards and it is at times significantly flawed.
This prevents it from getting an A. But it is a solid value and anyone
who enjoys Uru will enjoy X-Pack 1.

I just hope that Cyan Worlds will continue to develop D’ni as they
release the other ages as additional X-Packs.

Final Grade: B

System Requirements:

• Operating System:
  Windows® XP/ME/2000/98SE (only)
• Processor: Intel® Pentium® III
  800 MHz or AMD Athlon™ (Pentium IV or Athlon 2 GHz or greater
  recommended)
• RAM: 256 MB RAM
• Video Card: 32 MB
  NVIDIA® GeForce™ 1, 2, 3, 4, or FX; ATI® Radeon™ 7000-9800
  or better
• Sound Card: DirectX® 8.1-compatible
  sound card (DirectX 8.1-compatible EAX 3.0 recommended)
• DirectX Version: DirectX
  8.1 (included on disc)
• CD-ROM: 4X CD-ROM
  drive or faster (not recommended for use with CD-RWs)
• Monitor: 800×600 resolution,
  16-bit color monitor (1280×1024 resolution recommended)
• Hard Drive Space:
  2 GB (4 GB recommended)
• Peripherals Supported:
  101-key standard keyboard; two-button mouse
• Internet Connection:
  Not required (ADSL/Cable modem recommended)