There aren’t a ton of games I’ve played where I thought it was absolutely terrible. Part of it has to do with not being a long time gamer and the other being I’ve based most of my game purchases on reviews and recommendations from trusted friends and family. I did, however, make a newbie mistake in my eagerness to dive straight into the wonderful world of video games.

The one game I made the mistake of purchasing when I was new to the gaming scene and had bought my first portable handheld, the Nintendo DS Lite, was Myst for the DS. The game was originally an adventure puzzle game made for the PC. I heard about the game, but never played it. I never got into PC gaming much. When I was in dire need of a game to play, I looked through the DS section of my local Best Buy, trying to find a game that was fun and affordable.

I saw Myst and read the back of the box. The game has you play as a character who is simply named “Stranger,” who uses a special book to travel to the mysterious island of Myst. You interact with the world to unlock the secrets of the island and its characters. I’m a fan of adventure/fantasy type stories and I thought Myst might be right up my alley. I should have looked up the reviews before purchasing the game.

Fans of the original Myst said their main complaints with the game was the bad transfer from PC to DS. The graphics were smaller, there were too many glitches, and the controls were pretty awkward, considering a lot of the game relies on interacting with the objects you see in the game to gain clues about the mysterious world of Myst.

A lot of the reviewers’ complaints were all correct. While I can’t compare the quality of the graphics between the PC and DS, as I’ve never played the game until the time I purchased it, controlling the game was a nuisance. I didn’t get very far with the game before I left it on my shelf neglected and forgotten. You would think for a point and click PC game, Myst would have translated well for Nintendo’s touch and tap capabilities. It did not.

Reading a book in Myst was annoying. Pages accidentally skipped when I tapped on it, before I had a chance to read the next part of a story or clue. Because the graphics were pretty small, you had to zoom in to read the text in a book. After playing the game for an hour, I didn’t think the world of Myst was as exciting to delve into as I had originally thought. I was instantly bored with the game and stopped playing it after that.

I don’t doubt the original Myst was a better experience on the PC than DS, but I don’t plan on picking up a copy of this game for my computer either. With so many other games to play, I don’t feel inclined to purchase Myst for the PC and play it how it was originally intended to be played––point and click without the graphics being scaled down to fit a small, portable handheld.

I may have wasted about $20 on Myst and have since sold the game back for absolutely nothing, but I did learn a valuable lesson from this experience––always read the reviews before purchasing. Or at least consult trusted friends and family for their recommendations on good games to play.