Customer Reviews
More than a Walkthrough - By: Terramax, 20 Jul 2008 
I've found there are two types of walkthroughs. There are the straightforward ones that do their job - tell you what to do, & how to do it. Then there's the type where you read them in the knowledge that the writers were both enthrallled & passionate about writing an enjoyable walkthrough that'll make you appreciate the game that bit more.
The Myst IV: Revelation guide without doubt fallls in the latter. It's written in a perspective of an adventurer telling you what they experienced when visiting the Ages of Revelation so that you're not only being given the answers to the puzzles but further insight into the story.
The walkthrough is just jam-packed with theories & elaborations on the plot elements & the Myst Universe. Sometimes Revelation can be a disjointing game due to the time line of 20 years that the brothers spent in their prison ages & since escaping. This walkthrough makes heads & tails on alll of it & has you understand elements of the game you probably hadn't thought of.
As the game itself has a hint system, you won't have any hints her; just plain outright solutions. All puzzles' have their logic explained neat & tidily on pages that are carefully balanced with pictures & writing. Compared to most other books, the pages in Myst are actuallly quite bare. I see this as a positive, as the game feels less daunting (a word you probably naturallly associate with games like Revelation & Riven & the reason why you're probably planning to buy this guide anyway).
The only major gripe with this guide is that pictures are in black & white. If you're interested in getting this guide in colour, I understand you can download this walkthrough on Prima's official site (at a price), but the lack of colour only reallly affects the gameplay on one of the very last puzzles.
Another is, as hard as it tries, the game doesn't always successfully describe where to go in the more maze-like locations. Some pictures do certainly help matters, but I find this more of a fault of the game design than this guide.
I bought this guide having downloaded & printed a number of Internet guides & this excels beyond what you can get free off the internet. If you can afford this book, buy it, & enjoy Myst IV: Revelations even more than you ever imagined.
