Call me a junkie, but I think that, as of the time when this review was written, I have played every single form of Riven except for its PlayStation incarnation.

JA Readers: Yes, Jen! You're a junkie! Go find some new games!

Well, sadly kids, until I get my hands on a copy of the highly anticipated Syberia, I am more content to wander the islands of the Fifth Age than go creeping my way through the vomit-inducing travesty that is Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Final Cut. In fact, I went through the entire game of Riven three more times so I that can now give you the skinny, not only on the game itself, but on the differences between playing it on a PC, Mac, and DVD. Talk about having too much time on your hands, sheesh.

Oh, and for the obligatory pro-Myst, pro-Cyan rant, please read my review for Myst: Masterpiece Edition.

And on with the show!

Like The Empire Strikes Back, this game rocks!

It is a blessing to the world of graphic adventure that Riven did not fall victim to the sophomore slump. Beginning with its earliest conception during a 1994 road trip from Spokane to Seattle, Riven was envisioned by the Miller brothers as a world similar to Myst in its construction and look. But because of a chance meeting with former Industrial Light and Magic staffer and design genius Richard Vander Wende, Riven was given an entirely new look, full of gritty textures and larger-than-life structures to accompany its equally dramatic storyline. You know that hive-like tree that dominates the front of Riven's packaging? Or the eerie Whark Throne Room found beneath the surface of Survey Island? Those came from the mind of Mr. Vander Wende.

At the beginning of Riven, you are returned to D'ni, where you are reunited with Myst's protagonist Atrus. He tells you that he must send you on an important mission to the Age of Riven where you must free his imprisoned wife Catherine and capture his demented father Gehn. (For more background on the story of Riven's creation and Gehn's personal history, please read Myst: The Book of Atrus and Myst: The Book of Ti'ana. Okay, no more commercials!) In return for your success, Atrus might be able to send you "back to the place where you came from." Does he mean home? Or that creepy fissure we were seen falling into at the start of Myst? Only the Shadow knows . . . . bwahahahahaha!

So you are transported to Riven, where you are greeted by a set of steel bars and a guy who looks like John Leguizamo in a bad wig who steals your means of capturing Gehn! Great! What happened to the solitary exploration of the earlier title? Like all good sequels, things have been stepped up, including interaction with people. Man, and here I was feeling anti-social today.

In true Myst style, you are given books to read and clues to decipher from them. But more on the puzzles in a bit.

What is the first thing you think of when I say Cyan?

Why Frisbee golf of course! The next would be graphics: lush, detailed, tactile textures integrated with an eye-popping palette of colors and lighting effects. In my opinion, there has yet to be a game that has come onto the market that equals or surpasses the graphical intensity of Riven (except perhaps its step-brother Myst III: Exile or Dreamcatcher's sci-fi epic Schizm). The attention to detail is such that when I turn off all the lights and turn up my headphones, I feel as if I am actually standing in Gehn's five-walled temple, straining my eyes to see past the grating that is blocking my path to the giant gold dome. Cyan's designers traveled to Sante Fe, New Mexico early on in Riven's development to collect photographs of various organic and inorganic textures to use as templates for creating the surfaces found in the Fifth Age. When I look closely at the outside wall of the giant gold dome, I can see examples of these textures -- in the sun-weathered wood, cracked bricks, and peeling gold paint. My only complaint (and it's minor) is that the clouds do not move across the sky. While in Myst we were treated to different and moody skies, Riven's sky remains a bright, hyper-link blue with puffy white clouds. Go visit Gehn's Age and the Moiety Age for some variations on this.

Riven is also full of living things. Where in Myst we had a few ambient seagulls and butterflies, Riven is literally abuzz with golden beetles, brightly colored toads called Ytrams, and strange creatures known as Wharks and Sunners. The water actually ripples in this Age; it's not frozen as it was in Myst. Everything in Riven looks ancient, well loved, and well abused. And I love it!

FMV is in top form in Riven, even compared to modern eye-candy like Amerzone and The Longest Journey. Coming completely from a first-person POV, we are given opportunities to take some of the wildest rides since the original Journeyman game. My particular favorites are the mine car from Jungle Island to Book Assembly Island and the trapeze-like harness in the Whark Gallows.

Acting is top-notch as well. Rand Miller reprises his role of Atrus, with the same "reluctant hero" quality his character had in Myst. Hey Rand, you're an amazing game developer, but are you sure there isn't a career in theater in there somewhere? John Keston is simply amazing as the power-hungry Gehn. He never once pushes the emotions of the character, and keeps true to the vision of Gehn as a cool, sublimely evil tyrant. Keston is a decent singer as well . . . if you find the Easter egg, you'll know what I'm talking about!

PC: When I first played Riven, all we had in my house was an early generation Pentium 75Mhz computer. Riven ran on a machine slightly better than that, so my family splurged, and we upgraded our processor to a whopping 133Mhz!!! Even at this speed, the game ran slow, with the FMV hanging up in places. However, the game never crashed or completely stopped. Since that computer was a dinosaur compared to the one I'm running now, it's unnecessary to say that, graphically, I had no problem running the game. The scenes looked very nice, although a bit washed-out and flat in places. Adjusting the brightness would help. FMV ran smoothly for the most part, but looked blocky, since the game was developed for 640x480 resolution. However, the FMV is well integrated into the pre-rendered backgrounds with only slight frame seams viewable. (Did you like that term "frame seam"? I made that up all by myself! Sheesh, talented and creative!)

Mac: This is the platform that Riven was designed for. After nearly five years of playing this game on a PC, I have never seen it look better than it does on a Mac. Making good use of the new addition to my computing family, I replayed Riven from start to finish, constantly picking up my jaw with each step I took. I have never seen these environments come alive like they do under the graphic power of the Mac processor. Contrasts between light and dark are intense and the rocks are so dusty they feel as if I have to wipe my hand off if I touch one. I have a rock from the beach in Nice, France that sits on my computer monitor. The reason why I chose to take this one as my souvenir was that it reminded me of Riven. Today, as I was wandering the Jungle Island, I could swear I saw my rock lying on the ground next to one of the large stumps. That's how amazing the graphics look! In terms of FMV, it is seamless. There is no delay in sound versus action, no hang-ups when the graphics get intense (i.e. mine car ride), and little blockiness.

DVD: Most disappointing lot of the bunch. I had expected great things when I purchased this special edition version of Riven on DVD-Rom. Graphically, there's little difference between the PC/Mac version and this one. Faster transfer rates do speed up some of the FMV problems in the PC version (perhaps speed them up too much), but otherwise, nothing really impressive. Although, I will say that the included documentary is very interesting. And the need NOT to change discs with each movement to a new island was a welcome relief.

Ah, it looks good . . . but how does it sound?

Look no further than Riven for some of the lushest sound effects you will ever encounter. From the buzzing of the beetles to the annoyed honking of the Sunners as you disturb their nap, Riven's soundscape is top-notch. Would you expect anything less from the gang over at Cyan?

The most impressive audio sequence found in Riven is during the Mag-Lev rides between the islands. The ambient buzzing of the electricity changes frequency and pitch as you turn and pass through the arched connectors of the supports. They shift position depending on how the car is turned and move around as though you are actually in the car. Unfortunately, I had my sub-woofer turned up too much during this section, not only disturbing everything on my desk with the intense low frequency of the sound, but also waking up everyone in my house in the process of trying to reach the volume control in vain. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Robyn Miller's musical compositions are equally impressive, having grown in darkness and intensity from his original work on Myst. The instrumentations are subtle, functioning not only to set the mood, but also to enrich the player's overall experience. Unlike the raucousness of the music in Shivers (another one of my all-time favorites), I never felt that Robyn's compositions overpowered any one place in the game. Though these pieces stand on their own as amazing musical compositions, they blend in seamlessly with the gaming experience. Go buy the soundtrack now!

PC/Mac: Amazing sound, no issues with anything sound related on either machine. Now all I need to do is hook up my surround sound system to my Mac and we'll be in business!

DVD: Good, sharp sound. However, there were some places where the actors' voices wouldn't synch with the movies. (Yes, I know that Sheila Goold who played Catherine was dubbed over in postproduction!) I attributed this issue to the higher rate of transfer on the DVD, just as I addressed the FMV problems earlier.

Is at as much of a challenge as Myst?

If you like mind-bending logic puzzles and general excruciating torture, than yes, Riven is much more of a challenge than its predecessor. In all seriousness though, Cyan outdid itself with the quality, quantity, and originality of the puzzles. Some of the solutions will definitely have you scratching your head in wonder (i.e. the Moiety linking cave "how the hell do you get the last animal symbol to open the vault" puzzle). However, one of the most frustrating yet entertaining puzzles has to be the five walled, rotating temple on the first island. Since I've played this game a gazillion times, I have that particular puzzle down to a science. But man, first time around, I was as clueless as a Britney Spears fan watching A Clockwork Orange. My sanity was saved by the fact that there are no mazes in Riven and only one sequence that has the possibility of being called timed. And most significantly of all, you can die in this game. Although this doesn't become an option until near the end, tread lightly folks. Finally, like the aforementioned Schizm, you will have to learn the D'ni numbering system and facets of the Rivenese culture in order to solve many of the puzzles. This aspect of the game functions very nicely to further submerge the player into the game world.

Riven is extremely non-linear. You can progress extensively into the game without completing the early temple puzzle that I just spoke about. This is wonderful for someone who just wants to load the game and wander Riven's lush islands without facing too many of the more difficult puzzles. Taking a Sunday stroll, as I like to think of it.

The ending can never truly be written.

Although Riven's ending is just as ambiguous as Myst, there's a definite finality to it as well. (If you think that I have just contradicted myself, please send all comments to jennifer@justadventure.com.) I won't spoil anything for those of you newbies to gaming, or for the vets that refuse to give in to "the man" and play Riven, but I promise you: you will enjoy this game for one reason or another. It's not only phenomenal gaming, but it's a work of art.

If you simply adored Riven (or even just liked it) then check out the following:

Watch: Return to Oz (just don't let it give your kids nightmares)
Read: From Myst to Riven by Richard Kadrey; all the other Myst novels
Play: Myst and Myst III: Exile; Schizm

System Requirements

PC
· Windows 95 required
· 100MHz Pentium or faster
· 16MB of RAM
· Minimum 75MB hard disk space
· 4X CD-ROM drive or faster
· 640x480 display, High Color
Windows compatible sound device
· Video and sound cards compatible with Direct X

Macintosh
· Mac OS required
· System 7.5 or higher (Classic environment under OS X)
· 90MHz PowerPC or faster
· 9MB RAM
· Minimum 65MB hard disk space
· 4X CD-ROM drive or faster
· 640x480 display, thousands of colors

Windows DVD-ROM
· Windows 95 Required
· 166MHz Pentium or faster
· Minimum 82MB hard disk space
· Generation 2 DVD-ROM drive or newer
· 640x480 display, High Color
· Windows compatible sound device
· Video and sounds cards compatible with DirectX

Macintosh DVD-ROM
· Mac OS required, System 8.1 or higher
· PowerPC G3
· 16MB of RAM required; 9MB free
· Minimum 84MB hard disk space
· Generation 2 DVD-ROM drive or newer
· 640x480 display, thousands of colors