Well, in my opinion Uru is the worst Myst game yet made. The 3d interface is difficult to control, and the puzzles have been dumbed down. Where in such greats as Riven and Exile there were fully realized worlds, and you had to figure out and utilize elements of the world to accomplish something, in uru you just have to wander around and find journey cloths. Yes, we've regressed to finding keycards!

There are some amazing vistas and astounding worlds in Uru, as in previous Myst games. But somehow it's cheapened when you come on top of a vast rotating building, see a great vista, then notice a cloth on a pillar and you remember that the only reason you're there is to touch the stupid cloth and then you leave. Comprehension and appreciation of the world's character has nothing to do with it.

The worlds are also much more linear than in Myst or Riven. True, you can take the 4 ages in any order you like, but within each age it's pretty much a one-way-street to each puzzle.

The massively multiplayer component hasn't launched yet. In the "prologue" (essentially beta testing) there isn't much content yet, but there is unbelievable lag and a lot of crashes, so you can bet it won't be ready for a LONG time. Nonetheless, it's strangely addicting -- I play Uru live prologue quite a bit, despite it's horribleness, and I couldn't tell you why. :scared: Probably subliminal messages in the music.

Upshot is: If you're a Myst fan, and you've played the previous games and read the books, you'll want to play Uru -- seeing the Cleft and D'ni for the first times is pretty cool. And if you're not at all a Myst fan, maybe you'd like a 3D, dumbed-down version as opposed to the more thought-provoking real games. But this game can't touch the greatness that is Riven.

Update: Uru live has been canceled.

As much as I thought was wrong with Uru, I had enjoyed the community and the online gameplay, limited as it was, was rather addictive....Now I'll never see what happens when you calibrate the Great Zero :cry:

Actually, they'll be releasing the content they've prepared as expansion packs, so I probably will.

I think they realized anyone dumb enough to buy Uru in the first place could be convinced to buy any features they might have released for free to a less gullible audience :kundor:

The mmorpg was going to be subscription based like every other mmorpg ever, so it's not that they're making more money :P

It's also worth noting that Uru is a very good-looking game. It's probably the best graphics i've ever seen in a third person game (I used to think Dungeon Siege looked good, but while playing Legends of Aranna after having played Uru, it's hideous.) Especially the people are more natural than any others I've seen.

<loves watching me make a fool of myself>