URU : Ages Beyond Myst

During your everyday activities, you suddenly feel an overwhelming urge to go to a dessert where life is vastly spread out. You decide to go taking nothing more than the clothes on your back. After wandering for a few hours you see a crater, heading closer you start to make out several buildings, then a fence, and finally a gate. As you enter you feel this overcoming urge that this was where you were meant to go. And hence starts your journey into the surreal realms of Uru.

            Uru is the fourth game in the best selling Myst series, and the development shows. Unlike the first three games, you are given the choice to see yourself through a third person point of view, seeing and controlling the character in the mystic environments. And this time it is not only any character, nor does it just let you choose which one you want. It lets you create all aspects of the character allowing you to create one that looks just like yourself, or really close to your self.

            The story in this game like all the other ones in the series is captivating, this time not focusing on Atrus or Catherine but this time on his daughter Yeesha, and the teachings she left behind over a century after her time. You are trying to discover what she has left behind in various worlds. Now with the closing of Uru live, you also get to explore the great Dni city, if you choose to download the expansion of Uru.

            The worlds are created with many challenging puzzles and they seem to be flawless in every aspect. Signs of life are apparent often being animals and not just humans. The puzzles offer challenges for not only the brain but also of being able to maneuver your character rapidly and precisely.

            The only downsides of the game are the loading time and the high system requirements both of which limit gameplay and often get frusterating, but are none the less necessary for creating a world as believable as they have done in Uru.