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Uru: rather disapointing....
Sequels are often disapointing, and as much as Riven was not disapointing as the sequel to Myst, the game Uru most definately is. on a 1-to-10 I'd give it a weak 5. It would be a 3, except for the fine graphics, and a few of the puzzles were quite good.
I finished the game Uru: Ages beyond Myst this week, and I've got to say that it was rather disturbing on several levels.
You are allowed to look anywhere, and walk or jump almost anywhere (though you must still pretty much stay on the "path".)
Also the graphics were first class; but the level of gameplay wasn't up to the standard set in Myst or Riven.
Several of the puzzles were completely illogical in their solutions, requiring you to do something that was not indicated instead of what was indicated.
Several tasks were strictly of the pitiful twitch game" jump-from-one-spot-to-the-next-without-falling type. Unfortunately, the game "killed" you for trying to jump too far, but is eventually solved when it allows you to jump much farther without damage. OK, you always re-spawn when killed, but it's ILLOGICAL when a llong jump kills you every time except the one critical place that you must jump much further, and then YOU SURVIVE?!?
There are many interesting things that you get to see, but never visit, and many dead ends that turn out to be a total waste of time, showing you places you can't go in this version, and only serve as a teaser to get people to buy an on-line subscription to the "live" multi-player version. The whole game should have been longer, and in itself just seems to serve as a teaser to sell on-line gaming.
BIG SPOILER: Don't read any further if you don't want a big "hint". This was one of the most totally frustrating parts of the whole game, and eventually drove me to cheat.
There are a couple pitch dark caves that you must go through, and you must have light. Now spread throughout this whole game are typical camping lanterns, lit and lighting the way; but could you pick one up and use it? NO WAY!
You have to travel elsewhere and jump through (figurative) hoops to return with a horde of skittish fireflys to light your way.
Unfortunately you are looking for other stuff when you encounter the flys, and should be in first-person view to find them, and won't realize that they're following you unless you switch to 3rd-person view and see them. They never follow you if you're running (and I ran a lot as there's a lot of ground to cover) and the dang things also have other idiosyncracies that I won't divulge here.
Gimme a break! You're supposed to be an archaeologist, and they don't even give you a lantern or a match?
Another gripe: You can jump and fall off things, and jump over things, but only some things, and not off/over many other things that visually present much less obstacle. You spend time finding where the game lets you go, but far more finding out where it does not let you go: which is a whole lot of the most interesting looking places.
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