Now, with an intro like that, you'd think Myst III:Exile was the worst game ever made, however, it's really not. It's actually an ok game, it just doesn't translate to action oriented console gaming.

The backstory for Myst III is simple, you're tracking down a magical book that was stolen from you. Simple enough, and completely irrelevant to the game. Myst III is one of those odd games that just doesn't need a backstory, since it has no effect on you or your actions.

Gameplay

Myst III is nothing more than a long series of puzzles, some stand-alone and some you must complete to obtain clues/pieces that will help you complete other puzzles. So basically, you've got these fantastically challenging (and man, they do get hard) puzzles that you must solve in order to finish the game. To solve a puzzle, you point-and-click on people and objects. When you click on a person, they'll talk to you, giving you valuable verbal clues. Objects will activate when they are clicked on. A book, when clicked on, will open up to the first page, inviting you into the long process of having to read it. You actually click through each and every page of the book. Click, the page turns, click, turn the next page, etc. etc. All this clicking makes you realize that this game was definitely ported from the mouse-oriented PC world.

Actually, it's not just solving puzzles that requires pointing and clicking, it's everything, right down to basic movement. If you want to walk between areas, you click on a point in the distance and the game shuffles in a new image. That's another thing you should know about this game:  the gameplay feels like you're being walked through an extended Powerpoint presentation. Whenever you click, the game pauses and loads up a new scene. There's no flow or smooth transition, it's just a new slide appearing in one long Powerpoint mis-adventure.

But, to be honest, Myst isn't about the gameplay, as weird as that sounds. It's all about solving puzzles and being sucked into a  a fantasy world. Which, as far as those two points are concerned, it does pretty well. As I've said, the puzzles are tough, and get tougher as the game goes on. All the puzzle junkies out there will easilty get their fix here.

Graphics

In order to pull you into its fantasy world, Myst III relies on lush background images and full motion video sequences. Here it really shines on the Xbox. Utilizing the Xbox's powerful graphics capabilities, Myst III presents you with plenty of beautiful, although static, scenery to look at while you solve puzzles.

Along with the background imagery, there's the full motion video. During the game, you will be presented with short video clips that offer up clues or tasks. These videos are quite good quality, and serve to pass along needed clues or tasks to help you complete the game.

Sound

The sound in Myst III is very good, with an excellent audio soundtrack. The only problem I had is with the voices, which can often be too low to hear over the music. When you desperately need to hear the clue being spoken to you, it's almost assured you won't be able to because the game's musical score will be too loud. Adjust the settings as you will, but the voices are still somewhat mushy and lacking enough quality to be heard properly.

Replayability

Let's be honest, shall we ? There is no replayability in this game. When you're done, you're done. You can't make a puzzle harder than it already is, and there are no secrets or "unlockables" hiding here. You just solve the puzzles and put this game up on your shelf of "never going to play that again" titles. It's really not the kind of game that lends itself to being replayed, even if the developers had tried to make it replayable.

So, to wrap it up, Myst III isn't a bad game, it just doesn't make any sense to have ported it to the Xbox, or any other console for that matter. It was, and always will be, a title designed for the point-and-click world of the PC, where players are willing to spend hours trying to find one clue to solve a puzzle. If you really must see what they've done to Myst by porting it to a console, then I suggest you rent it. That way, when you finish all the puzzles, you won't be stuck with $50 in dead game.