Uru: The Path of the Shell

It's mysterious and satisfying. It fulfills its promise of delivering an immersive, unforgettable journey. It even delivers a few great surprises for old-school Myst nuts. It's an adventure gamer's wet dream.

It's beautiful, hard, smart, and alarmingly engrossing. [Sept 2004, p.116]

Offers about seven hours of solid gameplay--give or take an hour--though it suffers from the same problem as Uru: There's no replay value for your $20 once you've completed the game, aside from revisiting your favorite ages and soaking up the scenery again.

Interface problems, relatively brief and inconclusive gameplay, repetitive backtracking, and uneven puzzles detract from your enjoyment.

Still uses the same sucky navigation system/interface. No real surprise. Ubisoft was obviously trying to recoup their expenses from Uru Online and didn't want to spend any more time on development then they had to.

Solving The Path of the Shell without a walkthrough will require endless patience and the ability to brainstorm in four dimensions. [Nov 2004, p.88]

Adds two new main areas for adventurers to explore. But the puzzles found in each are sadistically hard and way too obscure. [Oct 2004, p.84]