In the tradition of Myst and Riven, The Castle is a riddle-solving game with an element of intrigue thrown in to make the story more interesting and to give the player a sense of motivation in finding the hidden clues. As with Myst and other games of this ilk, the game would be no fun if one were able to solve all the riddles in one sitting. The puzzles are clever. I found myself sitting at my Mac, on several occasions, for a couple hours working on one puzzle or another until I cracked it. However, unlike Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series, I was not compelled to spend every free moment with the game. The game is well constructed. The textures are rich and the colors vibrant. The view of the game player is in the first-person. As with Myst, only your mouse is required to move you through the game. The graphics in The Castle are rich and detailed. Items within the castle itself are especially well done. Wooden desks have the appearance of well-polished wood. Sunlight reflections are clear and realistic.  Movements of most of the objects appear natural, such as doors opening, etc. A lot of effort went into creating an immersive atmosphere. Blue Line should be lauded for their work, which according to them was done entirely on a Mac. Score another one for the Mac gaming community! Have your Windows friends come over and take a look at the game. Allow them to take the game for a test drive; and when they ask you where they can buy their copy, tell them they can't. Try it. You'll feel good.There were a few things that have room for improvement. I may be picky, but there were some clickable items on which you had to precisely place the mouse pointer in order for them to work. Also, some of the scene transitions were much slower than others were, even if you had been there before. The addition of a way to move quickly to places you have already been would be a great benefit. The scenery is nice, but after you see it one time, it would be nice to be able to skip past it in order to reach your desired location. At times the sound effects lag behind the movement. One other gripe, I often found myself at an odd angle and it was difficult to tell if one of the three or four directions in view was the one I was leaving behind. I would find myself going back in the same direction before I realized it. As I said, I may be picky, but these are the things that bothered me. All in all, the game was fun to play. If you loved Myst and Riven, you will like The Castle. The Game You are stranded in a strange place with no recollection of how you got there. Your job is to "understand this world before it is too late." In an attempt to play like the game that created this genre Myst, The Castle requires you to discover the clues to solving puzzles within this world. As you progress through the game, you find that some of the puzzles are easily solved though you do may not know their significance immediately. Other puzzles are a bit more perplexing. It is for those puzzles you need to find some clues. Your clues come from finding pages of a destroyed diary kept by one of the game's central characters, Noemi. As you find these missing pages, you glean useful clues to solving the game's many challenging puzzles. Additionally, finding these pages shed some light on some of the mysteries you may have already solved. There is also some dialog between the games three central characters contained in these pages. My first inclination was to skim past this as useless persiflage, but further investigation revealed some other clues to solving some of the puzzles of the game. Some of these puzzles are real posers. For those that love a good riddle, this game should provide much enjoyment.
When you're ready to take a break for another Twinkie, have no fear of saving your spot. Simply quit the game and viola your game is saved. A nice touch, I must say. The Verdict Other than the few gripes I mentioned this game was fun to play. There was some consternation with the complexity of some of the puzzles, but that is what makes games of this type fun and intriguing. It may not be as compelling as Myst was, but if you love that kind of game; you will like The Castle.
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