This is indeed one of the best Sierra adventure games that they made. It is atmospheric and full of little details that flesh out the plot. A large part of the game is non-linear as you can choose to roam around the museum and pick your puzzles to solve or to go hunting for one of the Ixupi. The puzzles are generally clever, simpler (apart from a small handful of them) and more fun to solve than in many other big name adventure games. As the Ixupi switch locations and the pots and lids are randomly placed in the museum the game allows for some amount of different playing experience whenever you start a new game. The game manual is much more informative than that of some Sierra games, and it even includes a partial walkthrough, an overiew of the puzzles in the game and even a Making Of section. The game's ending could have been more satisfactory, even though I don't mind the plot having some loose ends untied. Highly recommended for young people who like adventure games and are interested to play a good one from your dad or mum's younger days. And definitely worth collecting for old adventure game fans who want to experience the Windelnot Museum all over again.
I really wanted to like this game, but the fact is this game has awful fmv quality, overall worse player control than the wing commander franchise, crippling frame rate during space battles, non-stop meaningless combat, unable to save between jump points, and to make it worse, random crashes after being stuck playing between planets and jump points. It is a mystery how they could ever get this released in the first place. I think the majority of the budget went into the fmv instead of making a game. I tried to give this game a chance, but I am giving up. I think I would settle for watching the cutscenes on fan websites. The only redeeming quality about the game is the fmv. And they had to use terrible video compression that make it near unwatchable.
With the support of ScummVm, gamers who previously had problems getting Riven to work can finally enjoy this game properly!!! While Riven does not have the confusing 360 degree nodes that are present in Myst 3 and Myst 4, and definitely not the 3D engines that is in Myst 5 and URU, Riven is incredibly immersive with photorealistic scenes, camera angles, lighting, sounds, sparingly used haunting music, background animation and the water effects (not found on the mobile version). The spectacular tram rides that remind some of us of the dreadful CD switching and loading time in the initial 1997 multi-CD release is, today a smooth, uninterrupted, seamless experience as you travel across the islands and into a couple of hidden locations off the island. A good plot, well balanced puzzles - I find the sequels way too complicated - the small handful of the main characters, the NPCs and the wildlife all contribute to the illusion of a living, breathing world. Riven is highly recommended for adventure gamers, non-adventure gamers and people who love books and stories. You NEED to play this game to see what a great multimedia experience truly means.
