'Real Myst' Doesn't Match Real 'Myst'

By AARON CURTISS

Dec. 21, 2000 12 AM PT

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aaron.curtiss@latimes.com

Nearly six years ago, when I first played “Myst,” it was difficult to imagine that a game could be any more dramatic, any more mysterious, any more beautiful. Although a lot has changed since 1994--try playing anything on a 486 with 4 megabytes of RAM these days--few games have yet come even close to matching the artistry of “Myst.”

Not even “Myst” itself. Or, rather, “Real Myst,” a novel--although ultimately disappointing--recasting of the best-selling PC game ever as a completely three-dimensional adventure in which players can move freely and explore every inch of Atrus’ far-flung islands.

The original “Myst” was driven by story. Two brothers, imprisoned by their father, plead with players to free them from the books in which they are trapped. Players wander disparate islands and solve puzzles to collect missing pages from the books and slowly rebuild the tale of the two brothers.

Strictly speaking, none of the puzzles in “Myst” were all that tough and some gaming purists complained that its ponderous pace tricked casual players into believing it was art. But the slow rhythm of “Myst” was one of the things that made it so delicious. Players were encouraged to linger with the haunting soundtrack and visuals that revealed many wonderful things just out of reach.

Bringing them in reach, apparently, is the idea behind “Real Myst.” The game begins precisely as before, and players find themselves on the dock that’s so familiar to the millions who played “Myst.” Except this time, players can use the keyboard to move around just as they would in any first-person adventure such as “Doom” or “Unreal.”

Feel like checking out the library? Just scramble on up the hill. No need to follow the static path of the old game. And although the game still has no time limits, time does pass and players can watch the changing of day into night into dawn. Plus, a new realm has been added so “Myst” enthusiasts can learn new details about the story.

All of these so-called improvements in “Real Myst” fundamentally change the nature of the game of “Myst.” And not for the better, really. Technical limits of the day forced designers Rand and Robin Miller to create worlds in the original “Myst” that were largely static. As players moved slowly through them, tiny hints of motion added to the sense of depth and isolation that made “Myst” so popular.

But with a 3-D engine allowing players to scamper here and there the way they do in so many other modern games, the very things that made “Myst” special back in 1994 are lost. What’s next? “Myst Arena,” in which players suit up for futuristic combat and shoot it out in Atrus’ realms?

‘Surfing H30’

There’s a very good reason that the recent craze for boarding video games--snowboarding and skateboarding, in particular--has not extended to surfboards. It’s too darn hard to make surfing fun on a video game console--as demonstrated convincingly by “Surfing H30” for Sony PlayStation 2.

The goal of this incredibly tedious game is to, duh, surf waves and collect points by surfing past markers and performing tricks. Fundamentally, it’s the same idea that underlies some of the really great snowboarding games such as “Cool Boarders 2001” for the original Sony PlayStation and “SSX” for PS2.

But where those games make for interesting play, “Surfing H30” splashes along hopelessly. The game controls are nowhere near as refined as they ought to be. And the instructions--both in the manual and in the in-game tutorial--are laughably sketchy, considering that it takes only a few seconds for novice players to wipe out on each new wave.

Far more helpful would have been a learning mode similar to those included in fighting games so players can master the techniques necessary to keep their boards going.

Clearly, designers spent a lot of time programming realistic wave physics and surfer characteristics into the game. If only they had spent as much time and effort showing players how to get into the game, “Surfing H30” might have been something other than the wipeout it is.

‘Star Wars Demolition’

When you get a good thing going, you stick with it. That’s the mantra of the movie business and is fast becoming standard operating procedure in the video game world. That’s how we end up with games like “Star Wars Demolition” for Sega Dreamcast and Sony PlayStation.

Designed by the same team that gave the world that absolutely fabulous “Vigilante 8” vehicular combat series, “Demolition” lets players slip behind the controls of their favorite “Star Wars” vehicles and cruise around blowing stuff up.

Cool.

Well, it would be if the game had not been done so many times before. Games such as “Vigilante 8” and “Twisted Metal” were fun because they were fresh. “Demolition” feels and plays too much like those classics to be called anything but a knockoff.

So what if players get to drive an AT-ST instead of a psychotic ice cream truck or a tricked-out school bus? And big deal if the action takes place in Mos Eisley instead of Las Vegas. It’s the same game.

Aaron Curtiss is editor of Tech Times.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Skinny

Title: “Real Myst”

Genre: Adventure

Price: $30

Platform: PC

System requirements: Pentium II 450 with 64 MB of RAM, 50 MB of available hard disk space and a graphics accelerator with 16 MB of video RAM

Publisher: Mattel Interactive

ESRB* rating: Everyone

The good: A classic game

The bad: Too many bells and whistles