Riven: The Sequel to Myst (Cyan Worlds $4.99)
Riven has come to iOS. The sequel to Myst, and a long time favorite of geeks all over has finally come to iOS devices. This is NOT a universal app but rather an iPhone app, but game play on the iPad is very possible. It seems like they could (and should) make this into an iPad app as well, but for now the game works on the iPad even if it is a little pixelated. This game was a hit in its day and now stands to make a come back. Myst was released for the iPhone back in April of 2009. Wile the original game is a lot of fun, the sequel provides a lot more than the original. This game is very large, measuring in at just over 1GB. So don’t try and download it from your iDevice, but rather do it from iTunes and then sync it for a much smoother installation. All together it took around 8 mins for me to download and install it from iTunes. Also be sure to have at least 2GB of disc space available on your device for the installation process.
I use to play the Myst games a lot when I was younger, and although i remember Myst itself quite well, I really don’t remember Riven very well which allows me to play as if I never have before. Game play works exactly as I’d expect it to and very much like I remember it working on my old PC. I keep waiting for Myst URU to come to the iPad as that was by far, my favorite Myst game. But I’ll settle for Riven for now and am definitely finding a lot of fun and interesting game play. This is definitely my type of game, you spend a lot of time looking round and touching things, exploring and playing with things, figuring it out. There are a lot of puzzles and things to do with the end goal not exactly apparent.
As you play through the game you’ll find that the more you explore and touch, the more you’ll discover. It is important to take notes and screenshots while playing the game as there are clues throughout that will help you at some point later on. It can be frustrating at times but the way to play the game is to keep trying different things. If you get too frustrated with one part then it is time to move on to another. Take screenshots by holding down the sleep and home buttons, and write notes in either Notes or an app like Pages. If you use Pages you can put the images right in with the notes.
FEATURES:
- The game is designed for the iPhone and iPod but works great on the iPad as well.
- Game play includes a bunch of videos throughout to help you play the game. These videos include instructions OR are just actions that are taking place (like water filling a tank).
- At any time a video is playing you can skip ahead by simply touching the green fast forward button in the top right corner.
- Your progress is autosaved while playing.
- Bookmark your progress at key points in the game, go back and start again from that bookmark.
- Adjust settings for sound, transition speed as well as hints.
- Get hints when you idle in a spot for X amount of time (set in the settings).
- Get help with the game using an in game option which takes you to guides on their website.
- Game play is identical on all of your devices. Since there is only one version, there is no difference between the iPad version and the iPhone version.
- Game Center integration although I am not exactly sure what this gets you.
- Hours upon hours of fun, exploring, discovering and playing.
This is an older game and so you really need to be into that sort of game in order to like this one. It is important to remember that this game is ported over to your iDevice exactly as it originally was except instead of using a mouse you are using your touch screen. The graphics are not great but are good for this game. You move around by changing views and touching through the game, it isn’t as advanced as some of the games that come out today. But if you are a fan then this game doesn’t disappoint. I wish there was a way for me to backup my gameplay so that if I had to restore my device, I wouldn’t loose my place. Unfortunately they do not provide a way to do that although they could by simply allowing you to copy the bookmarked files out and reimport them in. Maybe they’ll bring that feature later on. I would also be nice to get an actual iPad version, even if the game play is the same it’d be nice to have it made with the correct resolution for the ipad. Overall, this is a great game, I enjoyed it years ago and will enjoy it again. For only $5.99 it is worth it!
