Myst Masterpiece Edition 

Review by Jen

Myst. You either love it or you hate it. It has the unique distinction of not only being the best-selling computer game of all time but also both the best-loved and the most-loathed. No matter what camp you fall into, one thing is for certain: no other game has gotten more people hooked on adventure gaming than Myst.

Seeking to capitalize on the previous success of Myst now that it's fallen off the bestseller charts, Mindscape has released an updated version called Myst Masterpiece. The enhanced version is the same game with the same puzzles, but the graphics are now 24-bit, the music has been remastered, new sound effects have been added, and the game now installs and plays very easily in Win95/98. In addition, there is a new online hint system—if you get stuck, you simply click on the bottom of the screen. Three levels of hints are available, from gentle nudge to outright spoiler. I know I would have welcomed a feature like this the first time I played! Oh, and I almost forgot, the swellest new addition is a map of each world. I always get disoriented very easily in slide-show style games, and the maps are great!

I was surprised at the level of story there was in Myst. All of the loathers have been getting to me, I guess, because I remembered it as a series of puzzles that lead to a conclusion, but it actually has a pretty strong fantasy plot. Replaying it brought back a lot of fond gaming memories. I actually remembered quite a bit with regard to the puzzle solutions (I guess because I strained my brain so hard the first time around that it all got hardwired), and so I found it not so fun the second time through (but it went fast!). Thus, I would recommend buying this new version only if you haven't played Myst before or if you played it years ago in Win 3.1 and now want to try it again on your more up-to-date system. However, if either of these two are the case—go for it!

A final thought: you know how there are red and blue Pokemon games and now they're coming out with a yellow Pikachu version? They should have added some yellow Pikachu pages to Myst. We and about a hundred million other parents will most likely be buying that yellow Pikachu Pokemon, even though no doubt it's the same damn thing as the red and blue, around Christmas time, and it might have worked the same way for Mindscape.

Want to learn more? The official web site is www.mystmasterpiece.com. 

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Red Orb/Cyan
Publisher: Mindscape
Release Date: August 1999

Available for:  

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System Requirements

PC:
Windows® 95/98
Pentium 90 MHz or better
16 MB RAM
Super VGA (640x480x256 color)
4X CD-ROM or better
Sound Blaster or compatible
QuickTime 4.0 or higher

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