Brian's Place

Computer Games (Non-Violent, Problem-Solving Variety)

I am no expert on computer games - I don't get much time to play them.

I do, however, enjoy really good adventure games that involve problem solving. The best of these games seem to me to be amazing works of art and technology. Developing these games must be not unlike working on a blockbuster such as The Lord of the Rings (some indication of the necessary skills will be found in the links in the right hand panel).

• Myst (Series of Games)
• Monkey Island (Series of Games)
• Other Games

See also the links to the right!

Myst (Series of Games)

Myst

I was blown away by this game when it came out. The surreal and beautiful atmosphere of the island and its linked worlds, the immersive music and sound effects, and the nature of the problems to be solved, drew me completely in. I can remember on more than one occasion playing it at three o'clock in the morning on a small laptop in a hotel bedroom, knowing that I was going to have to get up in another four hours and go to work!

This game has very modest PC requirements, and you explore its worlds in a "slide-show" format, with animated sections. People who criticize it for its format probably just don't like this kind of game. Once immersed in it (which the music and sound effects help with immensely) then the means of moving through the worlds becomes almost irrelevant.

Another thing I really liked about this game (and its sequels) was that the problems, or puzzles, were mostly a well-integrated part of the story, and not just a barrier to moving on to the next thing.

I notice that a new version of this game (realMYST) has been produced, using modern game technology. If I hadn't played the original, I might well give this try. It would certainly be interesting to compare it with the original.

If you want to read more about the game and its technology, look here.

Riven

I still think that this is the masterpiece of the series (although I haven't played the last one yet), and possibly one of the greatest games of its type every produced.

It still uses a "slide-show" format to move around its worlds, but with much more animation than in the original game. The linked worlds and the underlying story that hangs it all together are true works of art. Like all the Myst games, the technology you are exploring has a Victorian, Jules Verne quality to it, mixed with beautiful natural landscapes and structures that include elements of classical Greek. In the case of Riven, some architecture reminiscent of Pueblo Indian is mixed in for good measure!

The build up to the release of this game was one of prolonged anticipation, as far as I was concerned. Along with many other people, I haunted the Riven web site, exploring the pre-release images and animations of intricate mechanisms and strange animals. When the game was finally released it really lived up to the trailers. My only real disappointment with it was that it comes to an end, as all good things must; when you finally reach the inside of the structure shown on the cover of the game, you have hit the edge and there is nowhere else to go! Also, it is mostly a lonely set of worlds; you don't interact much with other people (although when you do, it's important!).

If you want to read more about the game and its technology, look here.

Myst III: Exile

This game was a little "dumbed down" from Riven, one of the intentions being to allow you to explore more of the worlds without having to solve puzzles first. However it was still very enjoyable to play, and I found some of the puzzles still fiendishly difficult.

This game introduced a 360 degree panorama system for viewing the world.

On a scale of Riven=10, to me this scored 8 (but that makes it a high score).

If you want to read more about the game and its technology, look here.

Uru: Ages Beyond Myst

This has several differences in style from the preceding games. The original intention was that it would be almost infinitely extendable, and become more interactive, via online additions, but the ambitions in this area had to be dialed back (although not completely discarded - there are, for example, both free and non-free bolt-ons to this game).

The first difference I noticed was when I came to install it. There was only one disk, but it became obvious as the software unpacked itself (for what seemed like hours) that there was some amazing compression technology in use.

The second and main difference was that the worlds are fully modelled, by which I mean that you can move through them smoothly and continuously, kick rocks or other objects out of the way and later on find them where you left them. You can (and have to) run and jump, both up and down, in various interesting and sometimes perilous situations. How all the variety and complexity of the various worlds, modelled in this way, was made to fit onto a single disk, is still amazing to me. The penalty of the limited disk space, perhaps, is that some of the worlds come to a slightly disappointing and premature end - one of the worlds rewards much problem solving and exploration by the discovery of a not very interesting room at the end of a passage! (Of course, I could have missed something really subtle there... or maybe a future extension will appear...)

Another difference from the previous games is that you are represented by an avatar, whose appearance you can customize in many ways. You can play in a mode where you see what your avatar is doing, or in a first-person mode where you see out of your avatar's eyes, so to speak. Both modes are useful.

The fully modelled worlds (which contain many animations) are still a wonder to me. I spent a long time at the beginning of the game just wandering around the landscape surrounding the cleft in the side of the volcano (and still missed something vital!).

If you want to read more about the game and its technology, look here.

Myst IV: Revelation

This game continues the evolution from Myst III. This is the one I am currently playing, or more accurately, have just started to play. I suspect that I will have to start again once the initial creation of this web site is finished, and/or once I retire!

So far, I can say that the graphical quality is extremely good, but I foresee considerable difficulties ahead...

If you want to read more about the game and its technology, look here.

Myst V: End Of Ages

All I know about this game so far is what you will know if you click the above picture. It looks like great stuff. Have fun!

Monkey Island (Series Of Games)

I have played two games from this LucasArts series, The Curse of Monkey Island and Escape From Monkey Island.

I found the first one to be great fun, with a wonderfully sardonic sense of humour (and an almost infinite supply of in-jokes), as well as some superbly tricky puzzles. The humour is reminiscent of Pirates of The Caribbean - I am not sure where the original source of the humour is, but it's great stuff.

The second one is also a good game, but for some reason I found the humour to be just a little "off".

If you have problems running older games like this one on Windows XP or other modern operating systems (which I haven't tried) then this link might be useful.