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Alternate Title:	MQ Online: The Portal Adventure Series; Chapter One. The Clan Courtyards and Twisted Woods Realms
Console:	IBM PC
Region:
Year:	2010
RFG ID #:	U-016-S-41390-A
Part #:
UPC:	051581603159
Developer:	Cyan Worlds
Publisher:	Creative Kingdoms
Rating:	(ESRB)
Genre:	Action/Adventure
Sub-genre:
Players:
Controller:	Mouse & Keyboard
Media Format:	DVD x1

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An online multiplayer adventure based on the live action game, MagiQuest. Gameplay consisted of exploring the world and using your magic wand to solve puzzles. The entire game could be finished alone, so the multiplayer functionality was purely for social purposes. A player's accounts for the online game and the live action game could be linked so that upon completing Chapter One, the "Silver Dragon" quest would be unlocked at real-life MagiQuest locations.

There were empty portals that presumably would have led to new worlds in future chapters. However, a Chapter Two was never announced, and Creative Kingdoms shut down the game servers on January 2, 2013. Connecting online was required to launch the game, leaving it unplayable today.

I picked up MQ Online after playing the real-life MagiQuest (which is delightfully goofy and lots of fun, by the way), but it sat on my shelf for months until the announcement of its closure. Being a huge Cyan Worlds fan, I had to jump in and see this dying world before it went away forever. So what did I find? Plenty of sparkly magic and some nice scenery, but not much else to write home about.

You play as a brave new Magi, customized to your liking, who is tasked with exploring the newly-discovered digital realms of MagiQuest in order to... complete quests. Well, there was a bigger plot told through cheesy FMV cutscenes, but it basically boiled down to you running around and pointing your wand at things. You must make ten rocks float, or help five flowers to grow - not terribly compelling, but at least a lot of the magic animations were well done and nice to watch.

What made the experience really bizarre for me, though, is the game's striking resemblance to one of my favorite games of all time. MagiQuest Online uses the same engine as Myst Online: Uru Live, so the user interface, controls, and player characters were all very familiar. It was like playing a new, stripped-down Uru game, just with zero references to Myst. Very weird.

Although the puzzles & quests are a bit watered down, Cyan Worlds did bring their trademark world building expertise to the table. It's only Chapter One, so there are just three small levels to run around in, but they do look pretty. Good thing they're the game's most redeeming quality, because they are still explorable via Uru mod tools. The rest of MQ Online - completing quests, earning experience points, and enduring the bizarre final boss battle - is gone. The game servers have been shut down, so really I just put together this mini review for posterity. UNLESS you are:

• prolific in computer hacking and reverse engineering, or
• a source code thief, or
• a time traveler

• beautiful 3D scenery?
• wonderfully cheese-tastic FMV sequences?
• Uru Live?

Console	Reg.	Type	Title	Publisher	Year	Genre
IBM PC		S	Myst Uru: Complete Chronicles	UbiSoft	2004	Adventure
IBM PC		S	Uru: Ages Beyond Myst	UbiSoft	2003	Action/Adventure

• It was developed by Cyan Worlds with their Plasma engine, previously used to build Myst V and Uru.
• Creative Kingdoms announced on October 1, 2012 that the game's servers were to be taken offline on December 31, 2012. The game remained open until January 2, 2013.
• A staff member revealed that the final in-game award was achieved on Jan. 2, 2013 at 4:57:09 PM (ET). It was a Chisel Rune, and it raised the player's total XP to 3575.
• With the use of fan-made mod tools, MagiQuest Online's three levels can be imported into Uru: Complete Chronicles.

Rick Briggs: Executive Producer
Denise Weston: Director of Imagination
Luke McCambell: Game Designer / Project Manager
Phil Hall: Database Architecture Director
Ryan Prins: Database Implementation
Jonathan W. Platt: Database Implementation

Eric A. Anderson: Art Director
Austin Thomas: Artist
Manny Tembley: Concept Designer
Jason C. Baskett: Animator

Mark H. DeForest: CTO
Tye Hooley: Engine & Gameplay Programmer / Audio Implementation
Derek Odell: Gameplay Programmer
Karl Johnson: Gameplay Programmer
Jason M. Calvert: Engine Programmer
Randy Ridgway: Engine Programmer
Aaron DeForest: Server Programmer

Tim Larkin: Sound Design

Victoria L. Almond: Sr. QC Lead / Sr. CS Lead
Lauretta Jenkins: CS Lead
Matt Davis: Project Test Lead
Aaron Biegalski: QC Lead
Jeff Yurkin: QC Tester

Tony Fryman: Fearless Leader
Lloyd Bell: Dir. of QC/CS and Project Manager
Rand Miller: Figurehead
Mark Klammer: CFO

Lokari: Brett Schneider
Willow: Lleyna Hinton
Lady in the Water: Olivia Blissett
Twisted Woods Pixie Voice: Mandi Williford
Man in the Tree Voice: Steve Hafen
White Owl Voice: Howie Hirshfield
Golem Kalo Voice: Jay West
Warrior Morph Kreiger Voice: Steve Dunsford
Trixter Morph Witz Voice: Howie Hirshfield
Majestic Morph Koni Voice: Colleen Malone
Shadow Morph Schatten Voice: Kayla Doeren
Woodsy Morph Sistine Voice: Olivia Blissett
Woodsy Morph Alaina Voice: Mandi Williford
Tutorial Voice: Deb Marlowe

Kim Swanson: Casting Director

Jeff Pickett: Executive Producer
Pam Tester: Producer
Tom Uhlis: Editor
Steve Wimmer: Animator
Casper McElwee: Animator
Carl Braun: Animator
Jim Perry: Animator
Nathan Harris: Animator

Rick Briggs
Rhett Wickham
Larry O' Neal

James Landro

Tom Petri: Director of Photography
Tim Donsback: Audio Engineer
Dan Desloge: Audio Engineer
Henry Abler: Audio Engineer
Bobby Bonds: Teleprompter
Kristin Doll: Teleprompter

Mike Eyermann: Gaffer
Ted Gregg: Key Grip
Rich Kolb: Still Photography

Jack Thomas: Set Design & Construction
Brad Blumenstock: Set Construction & Properties
Zach Pickett: Set Construction & Properties
Gordon Hayman: Set Construction & Properties
Carole Zacek: Lokari Costume Design
Patty Macdonnell-Smith: Willow Costume Design
Cricket Vandover: Seamstress
Carolyn Parker: Make-Up Artists
Jenn Hoffmeyer: Make-Up Artists

Jim Callahan: Music Composition
Preston Jones: Engineers
Rob Rosener: Engineers

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