I would say pretty much everyone in the gaming world has played Myst at some point or another, even if only for a few minutes, or seen the screen shots and knows anough about it to have a good grasp of what it's all about. So this will not be a review of the game itself, but rather the game on the DS. The game ably takes advantage of the DS's touch screen by having the player control all interaction with the environment with the stylus. This works well, but only to a degree. Sometimes you will find yourself presented with the choice of two paths will tap to take the left path only to find yourself on the right one instead... frustrating, but no big deal in a game where you have endless time to roam and explore and where you will not be penalised for backtracking. The soundtrack is as lush and atmospheric as the original PC version of the game was, and you will really need to have the sound turned up or be wearing a set of headphones to play this game because the introduction is all spoken dialogue with no subtitles and sound cues throughout the game will be missed otherwise. The reason I scored this game so poorly is that the resolution is just, to put it simply, rubbish. The gameworld should be bright and crisp, but is dark and shadowy instead, and the gamer will be holding the DS up to his or her nose in an effort to make out where they are, let alone if there are any items to be examined. And when you do finally find something to examine, it is not always worth it - a note found on the ground was downright illegible as the text was pixelated beyond all comprehension. Overall, this game had so much promise and had an already built fan base that would rush out to buy it... but I suspect that the majority of them will be disappointed and very, very few will persevere beyond the first five minutes. A wasted opportunity.
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Myst