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Mixed review from a long time adventure gamer

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

At first load I was impressed with ths game. I am used to Dreamcatcher games beging very "hit or miss" (that is, good or vomitously horrible), so I bought this one with more than a little trepidation. The imagery and ambiance of the game immediately swept me away. I loved the feel of Valadilene, filled with automatons and I felt a deep urge to explore every nook and cranny of that town. To enjoy the graphics and scenery of a dreamcatcher game is a true rarity.

I was then disappointed on a number of counts...
(1) the telephone thing was just consistently tedious. It interrupted the flow of the game and the soap opera tale to which we were treated through these phone calls from unbvelievable characters was frankly stupid. I don't use that word casually.
(2) The main character was not very likable to me. For instance, she actually listened to these rude people on her telephone long beyond the point when a rational person would have hung up and gone on with life. Her "development" is shallow at best.
(3) The puzzles are too easy. Ok...I know some of you will shoot me for that. My spouse and I sat in front of the screen for a grand total of 4.25 hours and not once were we stumped or stalled in the solution to any puzzle. The "keys" to verious items are all hidden in obvious places...the solutions to problems are usually pretty simple too. the thing practually solves itself. This makes me yearn for the days of "Lighthouse", "Neverhood" (both out of print), anything from the Myst series or even "Grim Fandango" (still in print--buy this fun classic while you still can!)
(4) The ending was embarassingly Deus ex Machina. It was anticlimactic and unsatisfying, leaving too many untied ends and unanswered questions. Now we find out (oh surprise surprise) that it was intended to have a sequel all along to tie up those ends. (Five'll getcha ten they split it in half after the fact.) Will I give them more money just to find out what mammoths have to do with anything? It will be a weak moment on a dull day, but I probably will.

Will I ever be completely satisfied? Who knows. That quarterback turned out to be a disappointment in the sack the first time... maybe I'll give him one more chance on looks, but hopes are not high.

Over-rated Adventure with few redeeming features

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: October 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I read many glowing reviews on this game, supplied by online sources, but recently found out that a lot of the reviewers didn't actually play the game, and were parroting what someone said. SO the commerical reviews tend to be all very similar. After playing just an hour of this game, it bored me to death but I still ploughed on with it, and at times found myelf falling asleep. The game is very slow, the characters flat, and the story is uninteresting. The writer of this game tried to induce some sympathy for Kates character but in my opinion it makes me hate her even more. Kates character movement is rubbish...she manages to walk and run, but when it comes to going up or down stairs, she moves like a 70 year old. The game is very poor, and should not be compared to The Longest Journey as it falls well short of that.

Syberia - Don't bother

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 13
Date: September 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Syberia might be suitable for the novice adventurer but anyone who has experienced "Grim Fandango", "The Beast Within" or "The Longest Journey" will be sorely disappointed.

While the graphics are beautiful, the game play is tedious, repetitious and, at times, downright boring. Puzzles are absurdly easy - find the missing piece, turn the wheel or pull the lever. Yes, almost all of them are that simple.

And the ending was nothing short of idiotic.
Don't bother with this one.

Boring, frustrating game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 16
Date: March 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game, and was looking very forward to playing it, because I wanted an adventure game that wasn't based on violence. Little did I know that _playing_ this game would drive me to want to kick someone in the kneecaps.

Honestly, this game is NOT worth your time or money. You'll get the same amount of adventure, game play, and entertainment from clicking random points on your computer screen, waiting two to three minutes, and then clicking some other random point.

BEAUTIFUL GRAPHICS AND GREAT CHALLENGES

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a shoot em up kind of game player and I loved this game even though I wasn't going to get it after trying the Demo. The graphics are truly amazing and movement is fairly easy. I like using the mouse to move around and this was very easy. The game only choked on me once and I have XP. The challenges and puzzles were not too terribly hard and they made sense. I was able to get through it fairly good without having to cheat and look at a walkthrough! The constant cell phone calls though from friends was a bit annoying but other than that - GREAT GAME and can't wait for the sequel!

An extraordinary game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

What I like most about this game is that I keep remembering it, thinking about it, wishing for more, waiting impatiently for the sequel. The graphics are stunning and the progression through the game was so logical that I never got frustrated, I just kept playing and playing and playing...all the way to the end. And then, the ultimate compliment, something I've never done before--I immediately played the whole thing again! I don't think adventure games can get any better than Syberia!

Moves at a Snails Pace..................Yawn

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

Some background....
My wife and I have a group of friends who once or twice a month come over to the house and we eat dinner, watch a movie and then crowd our chairs around the computer to play "group adventure games" with everybody contributing strategy while we take turns "driving" the mouse thru the game.

We have played dozens.

Now SYBERIA.

Well I will give them credit for the basic storyline which is interesting.
The environments and graphics are very good and pull you into this make believe world.

Sound good so far.. right ?
So why only 3 stars ?

The game moves at s snail's pace.
Dialogue goes on and on and on forever with 60% of it being meaningless and non-essential to the game.

Worst of all is the number of times you have to re-trace your steps and go back and forth between the same locations 3 or 4 times to get something done.
This must be a way for them to extend the play time but it gets really annoying after several times (ie..... go to train, back to University...back to train...back to university.....back to train...back to university, etc.....).

With a good intriquing adventure game, out group will often get sucked in and not want to stop until we finish.
This may mean going until 3-4 in the morning.
Usually we finish a game in 3 or 4 sessions.

SYBERIA on the otherhand does not create that fascination.
We started playing at Christmas time and still have not finished.
We start playing and after about an hour you can see that the group is getting bored with the slow pace of the game and the attention span is wavering.
Finally the group consensus is.... "Well that's enough for tonight, lets maybe do another hour or so when we meet again".
NOTE: It's been over a month since we last played.

The point is.... Our whole group has pretty much agreed... "While the story was interesting at first, it moves so slow that nobody really cares anymore or even cares to see how it ends"

This is probably the first Adventure Game we wish just had a cinema feature to watch it like a movie, because as a game it simply gets boring.

At this point we may finish it or we may just un-install it and move on to Post-Mortem or another game.

Summary:
GOOD: Wonderfull graphic environment. Good storyline premise.
BAD: Story unfolds so slowly it becomes a boring chore to play.

Mouth-watering wrapping but tastes like an old shoe

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I was wondering why did this game got so high reviews for eminent gaming magazines. Scores like 5 out of 5 and 90% aren't the whole truth. Syberia looks and sounds good but after finishing the game twice I can't help the feeling that it feels hollow. Why? Three major aspects made this game are less than satisfying. Because there are already enough of hailing reviews I won't focus on that but tell you what made me think of this game only worth of three stars.

1) The main quest in the game is to find a missing person in order to sign up the contract. You have pretty little information of whereabouts of the person, just a clue. Instead of rational problem solving methods in order to find the person, you are from head to toe in deep labyrinth of irrelevant tasks, acting against common sense. I felt that most of the problems were out of the focus but also too easy to solve. Sometimes you didn't even knew what you just solved or how solving this problem helps you to accomplish you main mission. So, things just happened following the logic of a dream - and like a dream, I had the feeling that I'm not in control of a things but they just happen and I'm standing and watching the show.

2) Dialogue was based on keywords which is good, but the keywords are exactly the same throughout the game. You will eventually end up hearing the same questions and same answers again and again. There's no information about what you have been asking or speaking about before and what are the new topics and discussion opportunities that have arisen from your previous discussions. Not to mention that you could not change your mood (ie. from gentle to hostile tone) in order to have different conversations. The keywords appear on notepad but none of the discussions are written down for later examination. Finally, the main character has a mobile phone and every time it rings she have to answer! It was really irritating. Can't I decide when to speak?

3) Like in every adventure game, you need to collect everything. Sometimes this made me wonder - why? For example: You arrive to the library filled with thousands of books. The only two books you need to solve the problem are simply on your route - you don't even need to look for them. I began to wonder, why just these books are important. From the problem solving view it's complitely opposite - you have tools and then you need to figure out where to use them. Problems can be solved only one way - no alternative solutions.

+) The game has a lots of oddities, some of the hilarious but most of them frustrating dropping the tempo of the adventure and breaking the mood effectively. For example the main character kept saying "No need to go down there". Like she knows where to go but doesn't bother to tell it to the player.

The game had it's good moments but the things mentioned above are inexcusable. They prevent Syberia for being a good and enjoyable adventure game. The end left so many open questions that I'm keen to play the sequel as well I'm wishing that the developers have learned something from the mistakes they made with this first one. If you are looking for better but similiar adventure game try "The Longest Journey", "Grim Fandango" and "Blade Runner". For older games an absolute gem is "Indiana Jones and The Fate of The Atlantis".

Syberia - An Awesome Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game and was absolutely amazed at how fun this is! The game is tremendous, with beautiful graphics and a lovely score. Also, the main character is unique: she isn't a top secret agent, she isn't a chosen person, she isn't even much of a babe. She's a lawyer who got swept up by circumstances. Oh yeah, and when you complete certain parts, you get to a see a fantastic cutscene. There are some truly fantastic scenes. I loved the game a lot, and would recommend it to anyone who likes puzzle games like Myst.

Evoking a Sense of Wonder

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Few games invoke a sense of wonder and awe like Syberia. The attention to detail is tremendous, and the ability to set a mood is a real strong point. The goal isn't to save the world, but to enable Kate Walker to complete her personal journey of discovery as she seeks to capture what the Germans call "sensucht," or the joy of which C.S. Lewis spoke. How many of us would like to leave the "rat race" and be free like little children again? That's what this story is really about.

The negatives have already been mentioned in previous reviews: some of the voice acting is atrocious (the Russian cosmonaut has a Texas accent!), and most of the dialogue involving Dan and Olivia seems forced and unrealistic.

However, the game is otherwise compelling and well worth the effort. While it stands on its own, I do look forward to the sequel.

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