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The thinking man's adventure game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 16
Date: November 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Just so you know where I stand, I hated The Longest Journey. I play for relaxation and I do enjoy a slow paced adventure but I also demand depth and credibility. Spare me the psycho-babbles and silliness about magic and dragons.

Syberia 1&2 is an altogether different level of engagement. It has a well developed plot, life-like characters, and most important ATMOSPHERE. The amount of details is astounding and I would agree the game has a certain feminine charm to it. While it doesn't escape the triple curse of adventure games (linearity, pixel hunting, annoying puzzles), this is probably as good as it gets.

It goes without saying, hyperactive players looking for a rambo-like romp should steer clear of this one.

Good-looking, but short, easy, superficial gameplay

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: April 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The SYBERIA series, which so far comprises of two adventure games from 2002 and '04, is supposedly a big-budget and ambitious endeavor from designer Benoît Sokal, one of the great illustrators in Europe. But if you are a hard-core adventure gamer you may be disappointed. The SYBERIA games are neither groundbreaking nor challenging. Nor can they compare with the great adventure games in the past, such as THE LONGEST JOURNEY or DAY OF THE TENTACLE.

The decent story involves a mysterious toy-maker named Hans Voralberg and his obsession with a lost paradise island called Syberia. You play the main character, Kate Walker, a lawyer from New York who seeks out Voralberg and helps him in his journey. You go to quaint and exotic places, which are all exquisitely rendered in 800x600, highly detailed graphics. You go through danger, mishaps, surprises, but the atmosphere of the game is always peaceful and relaxed. This is a game, like many adventure games, that is still largely influenced by MYST, the best-selling adventure game from 1993, with its laid-back, peaceful, and unthreatening style of play. This game is clearly not intended for the GRAND THEFT AUTO or MAX PAYNE crowd.

And the game is obviously not made for serious gamers either. Gameplay lacks challenge, complexity, and, typical of the adventure genre, originality. You still play the game pretty much the same way you play KING'S QUEST, a 20-year-old game that pioneered the genre: you pick up items (and keep them as your "inventory"), you talk to people you meet, you interact with external items, and you use your inventory items.

The inventory system of the SYBERIA games is one of the most primitive and underused I have ever seen. You rarely have more than 5 usable items in your inventory at any given time. And you cannot combine inventory items. This makes for very simplified gameplay. When you solve puzzles that require using the right inventory items, the paucity of items in your possession often makes the solutions pretty obvious.

If you expect puzzle-solving of the caliber of those MYST games, you will be disappointed. The puzzles in the SYBERIA games are never by a long shot as complex and challenging as in the MYST games. The toughest puzzle in the first SYBERIA game is one that involves mixing a cocktail drink, which had me stumped for half hour. In SYBERIA II, I can't think of one puzzle that can be called challenging. The most difficult puzzle is probably the one where you manipulate a mouse into obtaining an exotic fruit for you.

The lack of depth and complexity is further evidenced by the fact that, unlike a typical traditional adventure game, your character does not say anything about the things you click on the screen. For those unfamiliar about this aspect, adventure games used to be so much more fun to play because whatever you click on the screen, you hear your character comment about it, sometimes humorously, and sometimes helpful to your puzzle-solving. In the SYBERIA games, with no commentary from your character, all the pretty things you see on the screen are often just eye candies. Of course, the lack of commentary greatly reduced the amount of dialogs that needed to be recorded, saving money for the game's designers.

Adventure game fans have been vocal in their support of adventure games. But it is hard for the genre to attract any new fans, partly due to shallow titles like SYBERIA, and partly due to the inherent difficulty for the genre to evolve into better forms. It is the genre that is driving gamers away, not the other way around.

Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Wow!

What a great game! I was totally entertained with both Syberia I and now I have just completed II. Makes me laugh when I see that anyone would say Syberia II was too short. It just goes to show you how delightful both of these games are. I wish it could have gone on and on, but in no way was it too short. One just hates to see it come to an end. I loved them. I cannot say enough good things about them both. Superior in all aspects.

Beautiful

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The game, like the first one was gorgeous. The game sucked me in and didn't let me go until I was done with it. I finished it in one night. This may be a good or a bad thing. It is very short. I wish that the first game and this game had been put together. The puzzles are a little more incoherent than the first game but they're still fun as hell! I would not recommend this game to anybody who has not played the first Syberia. There is a story recap but it's not very thorough. This books feels like a great novel and it leave the same great feeling when you finish it.

Really Fun Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I really enjoyed this game. I liked Syberia too, but I guess by this time, playing Syberia II I was used to all the little quirks that annoyed me in Syberia. The story line is fun (although I have to admit I still don't understand the obsession with the mammoths) the graphics are A+ and puzzles are interesting and related to game play. I don't want to give anything away, but I was actually sad at one part in Youkol Village - you'll know when you get there.

I highly recommend playing Syberia first and then Syberia II but Syberia II is by far the better one.

A Mystical Journey

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

In _Syberia 2_ Kate Walker, having abandoned her former life, is caught up in Hans Voralberg's quest to find the mystical land of Syberia and the last living mammoths. The quest will take her from the last outposts of civilization and through a snowy wilderness; it will also take her into a landscape of dreams, her own and Hans'.

As others have noted, S2 takes up right where Syberia left off. These two games are really one game and the story is one story. So, no, not as much time is spent in character development as in the previous game. I imagine this might make S2 a little hollow to people who haven't played the first Syberia--but why play an obvious sequel without having played the original, I wonder? Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it. Although there is a brief Syberia Recap provided on the main menu, it's more suited to those who HAVE played the game and need a refresher than those who are entirely new to it.

One thing I always look forward to in Benoit Sokal's games is the graphics, and they were not a disappointment. If anything, S2 was even prettier than Syberia, chock full of evocative detail from snow falling off branches to realistic splashing when Kate stepped through puddles. The character movement has also been enhanced with more gestures. I wasn't annoyed with this as some people have been, but I wouldn't have missed it, either.

As in Syberia, most of your puzzles revolve around moving from place to place, and it's interesting to see how many obstacles the developers can come up with and still serve the plot! The puzzles are mainly inventory and conversational, with a few mechanical thrown in for good measure. I found most of the solutions to be pretty obvious, although there was one pretty major pixel hunt and another place where I had to get help because it wasn't clear what I was looking at and I got tired or clicking randomly. All in all, S2 was marginally more challenging than its predecessor.

The thing that REALLY impressed me about this game was the use of dream imagery and dream logic, as well as the attention to detail regarding Shamanic practices. A long dream sequence is beautifully done, and was one of my favourite parts of the game. Some people were bothered by it for reasons ranging from the monochromatic pallette in this section making objects hard to distinguish, to not understanding the sense of the clues provided. I warn anyone who is dogmaticaly logical and looks for that in puzzles to beware.

Something else I liked about this game is that just when you thought is was going to be over, it kept on going, taking the time to tie up several loose ends and bring everything to a satisfying conclusion. A certain part of this extended ending seemed a little contrived, but I was glad the topic was dealt with.

The only part of this game I didn't like was the weird subplot about Kate's former employers trying to track her down. It didn't make any sense, and it had sinister overtones that hinted at some conspiracy that never came to anything. Then, instead of actually accomplishing anything, it just ended with a "Oh well, so much for that!" I think they should have skipped it.

I took about 20 hours to complete Syberia 2. It was one of those games that I had trouble tearing myself away from. If you played Syberia and liked it, this game is a must. If you haven't played Syberia, play it first. You'll want to know more.

A little disappointing...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: April 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Don't get me wrong, I love Syberia I and I even *like* Syberia II. But like a ho-hum second date right after a wonderful first date, Syberia II has left me to sigh and ask myself, "What happened there?" For instance, take this statement by Microids on their site: "Kate Walker has made up her mind. She will fulfill Hans Voralberg's dream - all the while pursuing her own." Kate had her own dream? The game certainly did not shed any light on her aspirations or what her motivations might have been when she decides to help Hans go all the way to Syberia. Yes she's changed we know that, but why? Syberia I posed the question, unfortunately Syberia II failed to answer it. I suppose my main gripe with this game is that it felt incomplete. The game ends with Kate stuck on Syberia for cryin' out loud! And the youki! Is it forever doomed inside that hamster wheel contraption?? Someone get him out now! I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that Sokal meant this as a segway into yet another installment of Syberia.

Another gripe: in Syberia I there was a subplot (deemed annoying by most reviewers) involving Kate's fiancee and her best friend. What happened to those two? A small reference to their fates (like a convenient cell phone call) would have been nice. Yes, Kate drops everything she values in order to help Hans, but did the game have to literally drop them off the face of the earth? The first game could have done without this little soap opera but at the very least the sequel should have wrapped it up... along with the rest of the loose ends. Hans is still as mysterious as ever, I would have loved to hear more about his past... I would have loved to hear him, period. He is awfully silent in Syberia II when he should have been talking Kate's ear off about himself and his obsession with mammoths. Maybe I just got so used to the heaps of dialogue in Syberia I, but one thing I noticed is that Syberia II is definitely more hushed. There is less emphasis on talk and more on silent yet dramatic sequences. Now, that is good and all, but it made the game feel a little rushed and the characters a little lifeless... except for Oscar. He's probably the most memorable character from both games. I love his storyline and it seems he is the only character done right from beginning to end.

But don't get the idea that Syberia II sucks. If I had to do it all over again I would still play the game. Let me mention that Syberia II is absolutely gorgeous graphically. This is probably old news to you, but it deserves to be mentioned. And the soundtrack... WOW. 'Nuff said. The best music in my opinion is when Kate is in the Great North Passage, keep your ears open for that. As for the puzzles... they were what you would expect from most adventure games: some were fair and some made me bang my head on the keyboard before I gave up and searched for a walkthrough online. Final thoughts... I still recommend Syberia II even though I might have sounded a bit anal and unforgiving about the game's plot and characters. But how could I not be when the first Syberia absolutely enthralled me? The second Syberia lost its predecessor's spell-binding quality (in terms of the plot and characters) but it still remains a very, very good game if one is willing to overlook some of the game's inconsistencies. And who knows, maybe third time's the charm (please Sokal, make Syberia III and give this poor reviewer some piece of mind).

The story was good, and the graphics were great. However...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was eagerly anticipating this game; I loved Syberia and had definitely hoped for a sequel. I'm going to keep this brief because there are already plenty of lengthy reviews, but I just want to start out by saying that I was fully prepared to love this game.

Now that I've finished it, I can't say I got what I was hoping for. As with the first, a well-developed storyline and stunning graphics make this game a standout, but adventure gamers usually want a lot more than just pretty places and interesting stories.

Puzzle play was thought provoking, and well integrated, but not by any means challenging. There's really not much more to say about the puzzles - which should, in my opinion, really be a big part of a game.

Voice acting, again, was lacking. It's not that they read the lines badly, and the dialogue was well scripted, but... there was just a certain lack of emotion in the acting. Along with this, the "gestures" that were assigned to various characters in the game were usually just absurd, and far too exaggerated. Also, the game's logic for carrying on conversations doesn't seem to be too well thought out; when you go through your dialogue notebook, locically you would go through all the choices available at that point. Unfortunately, the way it was designed just gives you the impression of hearing scripted lines, and not a natural conversation - there's a lot of repetition, and not a lot of correlation between the characters' reactions. I think the dialogue is probably the weakest point of this game.

I am not sorry that I bought the game, but I am disappointed. Even the ending, which I was really looking forward to, left a lot to be desired - and not in the same "But what happens next?" way that Syberia I did. If you bought and played the first game, then I definitely recommend this one, just to finish out the story. But it could have been much better.

The best of what's out there in this genre but a few hitches

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: May 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The graphics are spectacular, the scenery lovely. This is an adventure that doesn't hurry. A little mystery, a little magic and a goodbye. If you loved Syberia 1, you will most likely be a fan.

I am writing this for would be gamers to let them know that there ARE a couple of problem areas that don't seem to be written about. Save often of course. There are places in the game (I found two) where if you make the wrong choice -- forgetting to pick up an item or preforming an action which seems logical but is the WRONG action in the game developer's mind -- you CANNOT, no matter what you try get a second chance to rectify your mistake. You must go back to a previously saved game and do the steps in the "correct" order. This appears to be a programing problem and happend to a friend of mine also so does not appear to be system related.

So, if you figure out what you SHOULD have done (or read some hints) and can't get back to where you can preform the action ("no point in doing that", says Kate), just go back to your last game and repeat the steps.

Yes, it's a pain, but the graphics are worth it.

Good game, but very short

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: August 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just finished Syberia II and overall was pleased with the game. My major complaint is that is it too short. I am an inexperienced gamer and I completed it in a weekend. I spent longer on the first one than this one.

As previous reviewers have mentioned, Syberia II picks up right where Syberia left off. You are on an adventure with Hans. I think that people who have not played Syberia would be missing much by starting with this game. This game is story line driven. The graphics are wonderful. The many of the puzzles seem very difficult, but enjoyable.

[spoilers included] My complaint with the game is that two irrelevant story lines are added. First, her law firm is still trying to bring her back "home." They have hired a PI to look for her, but he never finds her and turns back. Second, a comic relief storyline was added that I thought took away from the game. There are a couple of brothers who want to tag along for their own purposes and end up kidnapping Hans twice.

Overall, it is a game well worth your time and money.

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