URU - The Verdict
Uru: Ages Beyond Myst
Developer: Cyan Worlds
Publisher: Ubi Soft
Platform: PC
It's Time To Dust Down Your Brain Cells. Uru: Ages Beyond Myst Has Arrived.

The original Myst was one of the few games to turn a genre on its head. It was the first title to offer a graphic adventure in a first person perspective and was single handedly responsible for getting PC gamers to embrace the CD-Rom Drive. The minimalist interface, the gorgeous environments and the head scratching puzzles all contributed to making Myst one of the best selling games of all time. And now, it's back. Bigger and more beautiful than ever.

This time, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst is presented in full 3D glory - and is the first game in the series that allows you to actually see your character, which is handy seeing as you can custom design your explorer to look totally individual. This is especially useful for the on-line side of the game, a function that we have not yet been able to test out - but an intriguing prospect nonetheless.

The single player game is split into four different realms where you need to collect a total of seven sections of a magical symbol that are scattered throughout the worlds. The game, like it's predecessor, is still very much puzzle based but unlike most typical adventure titles certain standard gameplay mechanics are discarded from the experience. For example, your character has no inventory - meaning you don't need to pick up and keep any items in order to progress. The puzzles are a lot more cerebral and thankfully start off relatively simple and then increase in difficulty - rather than the very simple find Key A to Unlock Door B routine of old.

There's also very little screen furniture to clog up your view of the highly detailed environments. There's no real interface at all - you won't find much in the way of menus or pull down windows to clutter up your enjoyment of the world - a refreshing change to the over complicated busyness of many adventure games.

Uru also differs through its complete lack of other characters. And this is something you'll either love or loathe. You're exploring an ancient civilization so naturally you don't expect to encounter many locals but this game really does make you feel like you're all on your own. There's no help menu, so when you encounter a puzzle you have the added challenge of figuring out what you need to do as well as how to go about doing it.