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Not as great as all the hype...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: September 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Syberia is a cool game to be honest and the graphics have no comparison. This game reminded me a lot of The Longest Journey but it lacked the TLJ's wonderful and expanding plot. The main idea in Syberia is to go trapising all around pseudo-Europe in search of the Heir to a toy factory, you being a lawyer are trying to get the signature to sign over the toy company to an even bigger toy company.

The puzzles were a plus, they did require some time and thinking. But overall the game lacked a lot of action *yes, I know it is an Adventure game* I wasn't looking for 'let's blow everyone away action' but I wanted a little, 'ooh that was interesting, what does that mean?' or 'uh-oh looks like some trouble, time for some quick thinking!'.

Syberia, in my opinion lacked a lot of of things that TLJ had and eventually became very dull and tedious. Often you ended up doing misc. quests that seemed to have very little bearing on what happened in the game. Not to mention the ending at the end! I expected a better ending but I figure now that they're setting it up for a sequel. All I have to say is if there is a sequel in the works, please make it interesting!!!

A frustrating waste of time

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: June 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Where do I begin? The graphics are not too terrific, the storyline is extremely boring, the acting is horrific, the puzzles require no more logic than running around helter skelter asking everyone every stupid question on your list only to be overwhelmed by time filling blabber! What else?

So I suppose if you're excited by mind numbing prattle, laundry lists of tasks to perform, and no brain twisting puzzles with logic, go ahead----enjoy. Personally, my time is best served reading a good book or out exercising my real body rather than my virtual one. BTW, if I hear one more clomp clomp clomp or clank clank clank of her steps I'll have to shoot myself!

I will not be purchasing Syberia II.

Lost potential

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: September 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

These are a few limited comments because others have covered the game in detail. The genre of adventure games: manipulate the character to find and use objects to solve 'puzzles' and obstacles in order to continue to reach the next goal. My kind of game.

The most striking thing are the beautiful graphics and attention to detail, as in the very first cut scene, you can see the raindrops splash off the surface of the umbrellas and street. Upon seeing this, with the powerful music playing in the background, I expected an awe-inspiring, challenging, well-designed game.

The graphics do not disappoint, and the music, although it randomly increases in volume, is enjoyable. The one thing that tears into my patience is the incredibly awful, stilted dialogue that come from the out-of-sight characters who call Kate Walker, the main character, as well as from herself.

She is a New York lawyer on an assignment to secure a purchase of a toy factory, yet her boyfriend constantly calls because she's not home and paying attention to him; her boss calls threatening her because she hasn't found the missing heir, and so on!! And the character herself many times doesn't sound like a lawyer at all as she interacts with the assortment of characters.

The puzzles themselves are fine: for me not too easy, not too hard, so that's enjoyable. But there are simply too many ANNOYING and RIDICULOUS dialogues throughout that killed what could have been a great game.

For a similar adventure, also with a lead female character, try 'The Longest Journey', while lacking top-notch graphics, presents April Ryan as a wise-cracking, cynical but sweet, vunerable girl who has to save the world. Much better dialogue, much more enjoyable.

My favorite game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: May 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When I first played the demo I was awestruck by the gorgeous graphics and sound. I bought the full version and could hardly break away from it! You'll grow attached to the characters (you gotta love Oscar!) and will miss them and their lives when the game ends. The story is interesting from start to finish, and hits all the planes of emotion, from love to fear, sadness to laughter. The movement is easy (point and click, running option), and it's not overly complicated, which makes for very enjoyable and relaxing gaming experience and leaves you more brain space to get into the story. Syberia stays with you long after you've finished. I can't wait for a sequel and will buy it the first day it's released.

*GASP!* Character Development?!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: October 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

What astounded me most about this game was the exceptional amount of character development- you watched the character you play change as a person as the experiences she has affect her throughout the game, and she comes out an almost entirely different person (for the better!) at the end. It was incredibly satisfying to watch, and made the game that much more immersive. I was so pleased to see that the creators of the game had put effort into giving the characters life by having them grow and change.

The game itself is also ingenious- many times, when playing puzzle games such as this, the solutions bother me because I would NEVER do that "if I were really there." (You know what I am talking about, the puzzles that require some bizarre leap of 'logic' that make absolutely no sense.) But in this game, you HAVE to think logically, and remember what you know and what you have. It pleased me greatly not to be punished for THINKING while playing a game, but to be rewarded for it!

This is a fantastic game, with amazing graphics, an immersive and interesting plot-line, and challenging but logical and reasonable puzzles. It is a great deal of fun.

Solitude...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: November 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is great. It excels at graphics, particularly backgrounds. The aesthetics are astonishing, the whole automaton concept produced on me a mixed feeling of nostalgy and amazement. The concept couldn't be more original and the story is very well written.

Why didn't I find the game so fun? Because there is not much going on the world. I guess Kate Walker is supposed to be a lone wolf adventuring on a barren land, but in my opinion it was too much. No dispensable characters, everybody had a purpose. There are no useless or semi-useless items; everything has a purpose. This made the game really easy, I solved it in three sittings. While I appreciate moderate difficulty in adventures (I don't like "dying" or staring 3 hours at the screen clueless of what's going on), I barely had to think and I found myself puzzled only twice (first with the first puzzle and then finding a readily accessible room towards the end): it was too easy.

In the whole, it was an excellent piece of art, but it lacked the spark of Lucas Arts I grew to love. Something I surprisingly found in Monty Python & The Quest for the Holy Grail.

Beautiful, but disappointing... and a little boring

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: June 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm an adventure gaming fan, so I was thrilled to hear about Syberia as a worthy entry in the genre, with frequent comparisons to The Longest Journey. I bought it ASAP, not expecting a clone of TLJ by any means, just hoping for a good adventure game.

Well, I have yet to finish Syberia and it's been 9 months. The game is breathtakingly beautiful to look at, and obviously designed with care.

But as lovely as the game is to look at, the story is kind of plodding, the voice acting is (frankly) terrible, and the game just has no personality. The player is given little chance to explore environments or make choices -- you simply have to point and click your way through every (often very derivative) puzzle to get to the next point.

One of the things I loved about "Longest Journey," as well as "Sanitarium," "Grim Fandango" "Myst 3" and the "Monkey Island Series," was the sense that we got the chance to contribute to the story or character's choices and personality. Characters like April and Guybrush really sparkle simply because the game doesn't just want to get you from A to Z, but to help you explore a world and feel part of it. So there are those little extras, like clicking on an object or a character just to enjoy the protagonist's responses to it ("I'm not picking that up!") and to learn about the character. There's nothing like this in Syberia.

I wish I'd liked it more, and do hope to finish the game someday (I got about 2/3 through before finally giving up in boredom). But it's ironic that the story is about automatons -- the character of Kate is almost as flat and uninteresting as an automaton herself. I wish I'd liked it more.

Good, but not as good as The Longest Journey

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: October 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I bought this because it has been compared to The Longest Journey. I can see the similarities in the storyline (woman trying to save the world) and the setup. The character in this story, like April in TLJ, walks around talking to people in order to get information for her mission. Where it lost me a little was in the simplicity of the game. In TLJ, once you discovered something new, you had to track down everyone to see if they had more info for you. In Syberia, there were several characters who never added anything to the game. There were also many places that I would've liked to explore a bit.

The graphics were good and the puzzles are decent (even I got most of them, which isn't saying much), but there aren't many to play around with. I finished the game quickly, which was disappointing. Overall, Syberia is an average game, but the closest you'll get to another TLJ. If you can get it on sale, go for it!

Visually stunning yet lacking elsewhere

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Syberia is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful games I have played. The prerendered towns, machines and the patina on them are very artfully done, and the camera angle capturing them creates a truly stunning atmosphere. Visual style is nearly impeccable.

However, it feels like the developers had slacked off in tidying up other areas.

Story line feels unfinished. It is also philosophically shallow (Oh, the tacky existential ending). The game's attempt to have a seemingly strong female character is undermined by a number of "Frailty, thy name is woman" sequences (The main character being physically weak is somewhat excusable, but her refusing to touch a boat oar because it is slimy? Give me a break!).

Support characters are stereotypical. Intolerant towns folk. Rude boss. Cheating boyfriend. Nagging mother. Rude, aristocratic old woman. B-movie butleresque mechanical servants.

There are a number of very annoying and completely unnecessary "run back and forth" routines (Quite a few of which are in Barrockstadt portion of the game accompanied by equally annoying and unnecessary testicle jokes).

And most offensive of them all, the game's rude disregard for us left-handed people. Syberia takes over the mouse and turns it into a right-handed mouse. The game option does not allow re-mapping of mouse buttons.

Check out this game for the visuals, but don't expect a great plot. And if you are left-handed... expect to be annoyed.

Not perfect, but far better than average

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: October 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Okay, so there are some problems with the game. For instance, when will game developers realize that players don't like to spend half their time walking (or running) back and forth to different locations? A "PDA" that would allow you to click on various sites and just go there would be a big improvement.

Some of the other faults have been mentioned in other reviews (although some are nit-picking in my opinion -- I mean, who cares what kind of accent the cosmonaut has? This is a game, not a documentary.) I 'fast forwarded' (right clicked) on almost all the innane dialogue between Kate and her boyfriend and Olivia (another 'who cares' element).

But all in all, it was a lot of fun and absolutely stunning to look at. The graphics are superb and other-worldly. The characterization is good, and the plot is logical. The game also gets extra points for me because it was relatively easy (I'm not a terribly good adventure gamer, I admit). If you are an advanced player, the ease of the puzzles might be a fault rather than a plus for you.

Finally, although I could see it coming, I loved the endgame where Kate .... well, I'll let you come to that point yourself and see if it doesn't make your heart soar.

I am immediately putting in an order for Syberia II and hope they continue the series ad infinitum.

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