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Kate Walker, Hans Voralberg and Oscar head for Syberia

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 82 / 85
Date: September 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

It was a story about Benoît Sokal's "Syberia 2" that got me interested in playing the game and so I picked up "Syberia" knowing full well that this was a two-part game. So for me it was pretty much one giant adventure and since the original "Syberia" is available at a reduced price nowadays there is no reason not to go back and start at the beginning. There is a recap of "Syberia" cinematic available at the start of this game, but why anybody would skip the first half of the game and miss out on being introduced to Oscar and the other automatons of Hans Voralberg, the eccentric inventor who longs to see the fabled Syberian mammoths before he dies is beyond me.

At the end of "Syberia" our heroine, Kate Walker, the New York City attorney who was sent to Valdeline to close a deal on the Voralberg Automaton Factory had decided to turn her back on her job and family to join Hans Voralberg on his automaton train heading through a frozen wasteland towards the legendary island of Syberia. The first stop is the town of Romansbourg where Kate will end up acquiring a few more companions for the trip, although not all of them are wanted. Hans' failing health will be a problem throughout this journey, but if Kate does get Hans to Syberia alive then nothing else matters.

Players control Kate Walker through the standard adventure game interface consisting of an inventory screen, a document screen, and Kate's cell phone. Fortunately, since Kate has turned her back on her employer, Marston, and her mother (No more calls from Dan the annoying and cloying now ex-boyfriend!), the cell phone is reduced to a minor part of the game. However from time to time we see a cinematic where we learn that Marston has sent somebody after Kate to find her and bring her to her senses and back home (the last two not necessarily in that order). So we keep waiting for this guy to show up and either cause trouble or give Kate some help (I actually liked the way that element played out).

The strength of this game are the graphics. My nephew, who knows a lot more about what is available in the realm of computer games, assures me that these are cool graphics. There are some nice renderings of water throughout both games and I like the attention to detail here where people walking across snow leave footprints. We even have real time snowfall in this one as well. There are also strange mechanical gadgets at every stop along the way and a lot of things built out of mammoth tusks in the last part of the game. The cinematics are pretty impressive and you have the option of going back and watching them over and over again to your heart's delight. The music is also quite good, especially when you get to the key moments of wonder in the story.

The weakest part of the game is finding some of the hot spots. A couple of times in each game I missed some tiny object on the floor I was supposed to be picking up and several times it took a while to find whatever I needed to find to insert a key or throw a switch. So be prepared for some moments of frustration as you know you are missing something and keep going in circles for a while. But there is almost always a point like that in any of these games (I spent three days ranting and raving while trying to find Brad and give him what he needs in "Phantasmagoria").

As you would also expect the puzzles in "Syberia II" are a standard mix of fairly straightforward efforts in logic (I almost want to say "real world" solutions but we are playing a game looking for living mammoths on a mythical island) and those that require hit and miss trial and error for extended periods of time. A big helpful hint would be to take notes of things you see in terms of diagrams and drawings. Unlike "Syberia" there are not a lot of manuscripts and other things that you can pick up and put in your inventory to read later (however, the few you do have are pretty interesting in terms of the story). So a pattern that you see can be the clue to how things have to be arranged down the road. You will also find the quirky uses for things like a Russian doll (you will carry this one around for a long time before you use it), a fish skeleton and a flask of water.

I really think you have to consider the two games as one big one. "Syberia" was a bit more interesting simply because this is where we find out what is going on and what Kate is doing. In "Syberia" the goal was to find Hans Voralberg, who was pretty much a mythic figure. Then, once we found he was a real person, the goal then became to find Syberia, which is the focus of "Syberia II." But then the whole idea that Kate was undergoing some sort of rite of passage here was never a major part of the story's appeal. Basically the mystery ends with "Syberia," but the adventure continues in "Syberia II." Kate Walker does have a character arc over the entire adventure, but it is Han's quest to find the reality represented by the doll of the mammoth with its rider that is the driving force here.

Final Note: There were a couple of points in the game (outside the monastery and on the back porch of the cabin) where there were lines of color on the screen and the game crashed. Do not panic: all you have to do is go into your options and reduce the detail level to low and everything will be fine.

Syberia II a stunning completion of Kate and Hansý journey.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 29 / 29
Date: April 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Montréal-based Microïds and artist Benoît Sokal have teamed up once again to bring us the final chapter to Syberia, a mythical island where mammoths still roam. In 2002's Syberia (rated Game of the Year), promising New York lawyer Kate Walker traveled to France to oversee a simple factory buyout. The factory owner, Anna Voralberg, had died, and left a mysterious heir--her brain-damaged brother, Hans, who was somewhere deep in the Russian tundra. Kate journeyed across a Europe recovering from the scars of Communism in order to find the heir and be done with it, but along the way she began to care about Hans and his fantastic mechanical creations. The first Syberia ended with Kate jumping aboard the train in Aralbad, leaving her past and journeying towards an unknown future in Hans' quest to reach Syberia.

Syberia II picks up at that exact point, with Kate and Hans rocketing along in the snowy wilderness towards Syberia. As in the previous game, there are four worlds to discover: the gloomy border town of Romansbourg, the vast Great North Passage, the Youkol Village and the Last Voyage. Kate revisits Valadilene, Hans' birthplace, in a sepia-toned dream sequence (the haunting music here sounds as if it was composed by Danny Elfman, i.e. haunting chimes, bells and soloists).

In addition to Kate, Hans and Oscar (the cowardly automaton train driver), several characters from the first game have cameos here as well. There are multiple new characters to aid Kate on her quest: the spunky orphan Malka, Colonel Emeliov Goupatchev, bartender and surrogate parent Cirkos, a Youkol chief and shaman. There are enemies that threaten to end Kate's quest: the stern Orthodox Patriarch and bumbling villains Igor and Ivan. Animal characters also play an important role in Syberia II: the spirit guardian Harfang, lemmings, man-eating penguins (!), ferocious grizzly bears, and a Youki, a loyal dog-seal hybrid bred by the Youkol people.

There are several notable improvements from the first game, including major graphics improvements: reflections in water and glass, ice textures, and uniform fabric and decals; real time snowfall and footstep marks; dynamic lighting and shadows; animated fog; and better in-game animation. The cutscenes are gorgeous and numerous, and can be replayed at any point. The music is as immersive and beautiful as in the first game, and cycles in and out of gameplay. For much of the time the only sounds are of Kate's footsteps, snow gently thudding off branches and roofs, and nature sounds (birds, wind, wolves howling, ice cracking).

The puzzles are more organic in nature than the first game and there is more of an action element: Kate must rock climb, scale antennae towers, swing across chasms and outwit attackers (human and animal). An interesting (but unnecessary) subplot involves a detective hired by her employer to hunt Kate down and bring her home. Kate's cell phone, a crucial element in the first Syberia, has several brief appearances, but Kate generally hangs up mid-call (If I were her I would have thrown it off the train!).

Syberia II has much more of a spiritual element based on Youkol medicine and shamanism (you must make a Youkol potion, summon a spirit guide, and journey into a spirit world), and the ending ties up storylines from both games. There are several tear-jerker moments in the game.

There are optional subtitles for the hearing-impaired, a "Syberia recap" that neatly packages the major events of the first game into an entertaining trailer for those not familiar with the Syberia universe, and replay option for cinematic cutscenes. Syberia II is visually stunning, thought-provoking and a more than satisfying sequel that lives up to the impossibly high standards of the first Syberia. Bravo!

Quest left me cold

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 40 / 47
Date: July 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I used to be heavily into adventure games. This was back in the heyday of the Commodore 64, when Infocom was king. Those people really knew how to tell a story and make puzzling fun. Then the graphics revolution came, and adventures became more about pretty pictures than actual adventuring. I got tired of paying $40-50 for games that looked lovely but bored me. DOOM came along, I got into first-person shooters and I never looked back.

Well, I might have peeked once or twice. That's how this game caught my eye. It was reasonably priced compared to what I was used to seeing, and I remembered reading positive things about it.

I've found that not much has changed.

In this game, you play a lawyer named Kate Walker (an appropriate surname, since she does an ungodly amount of it) who has left her job to assist an elderly toymaker named Hans Voralberg in realizing his dream: that of reaching a legendary island called Syberia, where mammoths still roam. Basically you are his errand girl, making deliveries, doing maintenance, and retrieving items because he's too infirm to do it himself, and his robot companion Oscar is too timid and absolutely refuses to go out into the cold. Will Hans make it? Will you end up wanting to tell both Hans and Oscar to get lost and hightail it back to New York? I won't spoil it for you.

(I hadn't played the first SYBERIA game, but that was okay because this sequel - or continuation, really - comes with a cinematic recap.)

SYBERIA II is easily the most beautiful game I've played to date. The setting, a remote area of Russia, is a veritable winter wonderland, and the attention to detail is superb both in the graphics and sound. Snow slides off roofs to land with a satisfying "floomph," wildlife roams or flies in the background, old structures creak. Kate makes footprints that disappear as more snow falls. It all contributes to an atmosphere so enveloping that I forgot that I was playing it in the middle of summer. There are also some amazing and truly cinematic linking sequences.

The gameplay, however, is another story. The game is heavily scripted, which means you spend at least half the time talking to various characters. Repeatedly. In many cases, several times in a row. It's a very awkward and tedious way of moving the plot along. Why not at least have the conversation continue automatically rather than make the player keep clicking over and over again? As for the puzzles, they aren't so much difficult as simply obscure. At one point, you pick up a cleaning brush. (Why? Because it's there.) It's used to scrub away part of a painting in another room to find a clue. But why would anyone do that, or even think of doing it? There's no indication that the painting is relevant, unless you happen to run your cursor over the hotspot and see it change. That's just one example. A lot of the puzzles require you to pick up random items that seem to be of no significance, and which are very easily overlooked - and then do incongruous things with them. In one scene, you need to know how to operate a HAM radio, and the controls in the cockpit of a small plane. If you're not the game's creator, you're lost. Needless to say, I used an online walkthrough to get through most of it.

When you finally do get to the end of the game, it's so sudden you'll feel like someone pressed stop on a tape. It's a huge disappointment after so much buildup, though the animation is, as always, stunning.

It's a shame that so much obvious care went into the look and sound production and so little into playability. Perhaps SYBERIA II is better looked at as an interactive storybook than a game, though the story does need work. My recommendation is to wait for it to drop to a budget price, find a walkthrough, and enjoy the sights and sounds. Otherwise, it's frustrating.

Great continuation of Syberia

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 22
Date: April 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game has taken some heat from professional reviewers for not being up to the caliber of the original Syberia. In some ways, I agree with those reviews. As a stand-alone game, I don't think Syberia 2 measures up to the first game. HOWEVER, this is a continuation. Playing Syberia 2 without having played Syberia is akin to opening up a 1000 page novel and starting at page 500, and then wondering why you don't care much about the characters. Yes, Syberia 2 picks up exactly where Syberia left off, and for fans of the first game, this is great. It means there's no contrived rehash of events or reintroduction of characters. The story just moves along. In fact, I'd like to see Syberia 1 and 2 bundled as a single, huge game, since that's really what they form.

The beginning of this game is actually a bit better than the beginning of the original. There's more to do from the outset... more characters with whom to interact, more places to go, fewer locked doors. Overall, it's just a more interesting start. Unfortunately, whereas the first game had a great mystery to keep you occupied once things got going, this game doesn't. Your one goal is FIND SYBERIA. Why? Who knows. Just because some old guy wants you to. In that sense, the plot isn't as compelling.

Still, Syberia 2 makes up for its weaker plot in other ways. In the first game, the pacing was almost too structured-- reach a new locale and stay there until you find a way to get your train moving again. Syberia 2 varies this formula a bit. I can't tell you how this is varied without giving away some fun plot twists, but rest assured, the progression from one locale to the next is more interesting.

Overall, Syberia 2 is a very welcome follow-up to a great game. As in the original, this game features a cast of involving characters, phenomenal graphics, fitting music, a great sense of atmosphere, brilliant cut-scenes, and well-integrated puzzles. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that both Syberia games are able to stir up emotions better than almost any computer game out there. This is due in part to the high production values, but more importantly to the sense of story and character development that make the experience of playing Syberia more like watching a really good movie, which just happens to be interactive.

Join Kate Walker on a fun ride.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 20
Date: May 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Yes. Kate Walker is back. And what a ride.

This game has excellent graphics, and good story (although some of the dialog is lame), many different places to go, and a great feel to the game.

Syaberia 2 picks up where Syberia left off (there is a button you can click to refresh your memory about the first Syberia game though if you haven't played it, I would play it first before this one because they are both great). You start off in a small town called Romansburg. You have many different things to do before you can go and it is the same with most every place you go.

Alot of the puzzles are pretty much common sense but there are a 5 or 6 puzzles that are very hard. It can get to be very tedious and frustrating, but it is very satisfying to solve it and move on.

I thought the story was very good and the message that it brings is a good one that most of us should try following. The little cutscenes are well done and the movies are great. There many of these in the game and it is amazing to see them. Especially the last 2. They are pretty incredible. And the sound of the wind blowing and other sounds in the game give it a great feel. When I had my earphones on, I felt like I was actually there. It was great.

If you played the first one, you definitely have to have this one. And if you like puzzle games and didn't play the first one, I reccommend you get the first one also and play both. Either way, this game is great.

Lovely to Look at - You Need Patience to Play

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 23 / 25
Date: April 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Syberia 2 is out. For those who didn't play Syberia, it involves an intrepid young woman who goes around solving puzzles that seem to crop up along every stage of her journey through frozen tundra.

You can read my Review of Syberia to get a gist of what this series is about, because for better or for worse, Syberia 2 is more of the same.

In essence, you're on a quest to find mammoths. The first Syberia was maddening in that it ended the game without even achieving your quest and without warning you that this was only "part 1 of 2". So it was a big let-down. Also, Syberia 1 had a REALLY annoying sub-story involving your boyfriend having an affair with your supposed best friend and lying to you. I really hated it.

But that all being said, moving through Syberia and Syberia 2 is like walking through a hall of gorgeous paintings. Sure, the snow falls in the background, but your world is a static one. You have one angle that you see a given room at. That's it. You wave your mouse around the room to see if anything highlights to work with. So while the rendering is gorgeous, we're a long way from the days of pre-rendered rooms to wander through. I'd much rather have the room a real, interactive one that you could turn around in.

Also, as much as the puzzles are made to be part of the plot (since you're travelling around with Hans, a puzzle maker), a lot of times they are just maddeningly tedious. Take this example. You discover that in order to cure your sick friend, you need to get a special cloth, put it on his face, and take it to the doctor. This isn't a mental challenge. But it takes you a full FIFTEEN screen moves to get from the location of the cloth to him, never mind walking back again. And each screen move means you sit there watching Kate, the Hero, walk slowly from one side of the screen to another. The hot spots to "move to the next screen" change each time, so you can't even leave the mouse in one spot for the clicking.

Speaking of tedious, some of the inane conversations you have with people go on literally for 10 minutes or more. I fold origami in my spare time, so I kept a pile of origami paper next to the mouse. I could finish sets of cranes in the time it took for Kate to get through talking to a single person. Click. (talk 4 minutes). Click. (talk 3 minutes). Click (talk 6 minutes).

Yes, some of it was cute. But much of it was just filler. Anybody who lives in a cold region knows that people in the cold don't tend to stand around and chat. It's too cold. If they wanted to make this world full of incredibly talkative people, why not base it in the Jamaican Islands? I can easily imagine a pair of people in Montego Bay lounging by the beach, holding 2 hour long conversations about trains and stations. But here Kate is desperately looking for coal and trying to save a dying friend ... and she has time to hang out and chat for 20 minutes with the shopkeep? I don't think so.

On the other hand, if you just zip from start to finish in either of the Syberia games, it's over very quickly. There isn't a lot of "gameplay" involved. So the only way to stretch the game out and make it worth your cash is to treat it like a long graphic novel. Don't try to rush. Pour yourself a glass of wine. Chop up some cheese clices. Put on some cool background music. Then sit back and go through the scenes slowly, enjoying every nuance.

Recommended for puzzle solvers who enjoy painting-watching and who have a lot of patience. I enjoyed this a lot myself, but I can understand those who got frustrated with it and quit part way through!

Well worth the wait

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 18 / 21
Date: April 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Finally, the most anticipated game of the year has arrived, Syberia 2. Syberia 1 was a great game overall, I rated it with 4 stars on Amazon. Pro's were the artwork, atmosphere and storyline, cons where the relative easy puzzles and the absence of a true 3D gaming experience.
When it comes to Syberia 2, it has much of the same pro's and cons, but slightly different. The puzzles in Syberia 2 are a bit harder (you can get stuck at times, there was no such thing in Syberia 1) so that's an improvement. However, the story has more simplicity to it, and that's too bad.
In the graphics department Syberia 2 really excells. But then again, you can say that of almost any game nowadays. I must admit that I have lost my adversity against 2D pre-rendered backgrounds as being cheapish. Okay, it is still very nice to wander around in real 3D (try Beyond Good and Evil!), but with games like Syberia it just doesn't matter that much. Many other games (Black Mirror, Journey to the Centre of the Earth) have taken the hint from Syberia 1, and so in effect we have experienced a 2D boom - who would have thought that a couple of years ago?
What's missing out in Syberia 2 is the sense of wonder and the tristesse you felt in Syberia 1. If you have played Syberia 1, you'll recognise all the automatons immediately, so there's no big surprises to be had in that department. The characters in Syberia 2 are on the whole more gentle. I must admit I liked the sadness of the Russian crew in Syberia 1, but you won't find that much depth of story and character in this sequel. Also the architecture is more of the same, but without the intricate detailing found in the first installment.
That said, Syberia 2 is still a very, very good game. I wonder how it can be sold for just under 30 bucks, when obviously a large team or artists must have worked continiously for the last two years to make this game happen.
The puzzels are much more integrated into the game, and not all of them are inventorybased anymore, as is Syberia 1. Many of the 'closed doors' '('I can not go there' every five minutes) are gone. That's a good thing. There are no foolish puzzles (like using a cat's hair to light a fire, to be able to make some coffee, to give it to someone to get some information... You like those puzzles? Try Conspiracies).
The locales however are lacking a bit in diversity, with a lot of snow, and then some more. But, then again, snow never looked as good is it does in this game.

Do you need to play Syberia 1 before starting out in Syberia 2? No. In fact, to feel and appreciate where this game is coming from, you actually need to start out with Amerzone, Benoit Sokals first game. Then move on to Syberia, then play Syberia 2. That will make for a great gaming experience, and you'll feel like reading a great trilogy.
I will be interesting to see how Syberia 2 holds out against new offerings that are coming our way soon, such as Forever Worlds, Aura and Atlantis 4. I'm confident that Syberia 2 will stay on top of the list this year.

Major flaws I'm not willing to overlook...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 20 / 27
Date: September 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First off, I want to establish that I've never played Syberia I -- and judging from the glowing reviews I'm seeing everywhere on the Web for Syberia 2, it may be a good thing. It seems that with every Syberia 2 review I've read so far, the author is carrying over nostalgia from the first installment. While I understand the sentiment, it's a no-no if you want to review something objectively.

The best features of Syberia 2 have been well-covered in game reviews, but they bear repeating. The graphics are nothing short of jaw-dropping; artist Benoit Sokal took any constraints he may have had (only so much you can do with snow and ice, you'd think) and somehow created one breathtaking scene after another. Time after time, a new scene would unfold and I'd just shake my head in amazement. Screenshots won't do any justice -- you have to experience these views when they're mixed with environmental effects like snow falling off tree limbs or birds fluttering past the camera. The music also fits the mood of the story perfectly; it's subtle yet thoughtful, exactly what you'd expect from a quaint Russian town in an arctic neverland.

Ambience and atmosphere are not a problem with Syberia 2. Even the story itself, though maybe uninteresting on paper, did manage to captivate me. In short, your goal as Kate Walker is to help Hans Vogelberg achieve his lifelong goal of reaching the (fabled?) land of Syberia, quite possibly to verify the existence of wooly mammoths. Again, not your run-of-the-mill adventure formula perhaps, but it does work well in the grand scheme of things.

Most of the characters are vivid and interesting; it's hard not to feel sympathetic for Hans, particularly after experiencing a "dream sequence" where you get a glimpse into his childhood. Even if he is bedridden most of the adventure, you get a real sense that he's involved in the story from beginning to end. There are a number of colorful characters that pop in and out of the story as it unfolds, from giggly Youkol villagers (Eskimo wanna-bes if you ask me) to cookie-cutter bad guys.

The cinematic sequences are, for the most part, moving and aesthetically pleasing. More often than not, when you solve a puzzle you are rewarded with a nugget in the form of a short movie. A nice feature is the fact that you can easily access these movies at any time once they've been shown the first time.

So we have a fairly riveting storyline, interesting characters, and breathtaking graphics. It's a mega-hit, right? Not so fast. True, you will have a difficult time finding any review of Syberia 2 that gives anything less than an A+, even though the authors admit the game has its problems. Well I'm sorry, but my standards dictate that no game deserves an A+ unless it provides what I'd consider a perfect gaming experience. Syberia 2 doesn't even come close.

My first complaint is underlined many, many times. Though it may not bother some, I simply could not ignore it. Think about this: when you first meet someone and learn their name, how long would you continue to address them by their first AND last name? Not long, correct? Well, from the very outset, when Hans and Kate (who are supposedly good friends) talk about their upcoming trip to Syberia, Hans finishes nearly EVERY sentence with "Kate Walker." "Yes, Kate Walker. We just need to wind up the train, Kate Walker." At first, I thought it was just an oddity with Hans, but then Oscar the Automaton followed suit, then Malka the little girl, then the patriarch in the monastery, then... and on and on. They ALL kept calling her by her first and last name! It got to the point where I purposely avoided dialog sequences because it grated my nerves so badly (until I realized some dialog was necessary to move the plot along). I find it damn near impossible to believe nobody at Microids noticed how odd the "Kate Walker" thing was during testing. It's frankly inexcusable and distracting.

Now, for the puzzles. Some of the brain-teasers were actually quite good, requiring abstract thought and an attentive eye. Others, however, are a hardcore case of trial-and-error (which I personally hate). On a number of occasions you will find yourself pressing buttons or plugging holes in different combinations until magic occurs. Or, even worse, you will find yourself running from Point A to Point B, then back, then again, then back, then again, until you've found the solution that works.

But that's not the worst of it. For a few select cases, the answer does not reside in logic at all. There are times when you need to move your mouse cursor over a small area of the screen, effectively hunting for a "hotspot", to perform a specific action. That's all fine and dandy, except many of these "hotspots" blend perfectly into the pristine artwork. You can spend days walking in circles because you failed to scan each and every screen, pixel by pixel, for a hidden hotspot. As a result, the game comes to a screeching halt.

My last real problem with Syberia 2 is linearity. Every item that makes it into your inventory will be used at some point. There are absolutely no red herring items, no subplots, no alternate/optional goals along the way. Also, with maybe one or two exceptions, you can only examine or touch those items which will be directly acted upon.

While linearity is almost inevitable with adventure games, there are ways to minimize the claustrophobic effect. In Broken Sword 3: Sleeping Dragon, you come across many items you'll never use, and you can examine darn near anything on the screen regardless of its relevance to the story. As a result, you really sense the world is open to possibilities. In Syberia 2, the mindset tends to be, "okay, what specifically does Microids want me to do here."

Frustrating puzzles, a finicky interface, and abundant restrictions put a sour flavor on this potentially delicious gem of a game. I regret that I can't join the masses who gush about Syberia 2 and gleefully overlook its major flaws -- I just can't.

Great story, great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: May 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is definitely not for those who like "Hack n' slash" or shooter type games. However, if you liked Myst, you'll probably enjoy this one.

It is more of an interactive novel than a game, really. The plot is non-cliche', although they could've done without the side plot of the detective, which I too felt was unrealistic. I mean, come on. In the real world, if you go AWOL from your job without calling in sick, that's generally seen as quitting. The company would probably just have replaced her and not bothered with the detective at all, especially after finding out she was alive via her cell phone.

But still, the main plot was pretty good. I do wish they'd have explained Kate's reasons better though. Yeah, she has a good heart, but even the most kind-hearted souls probably wouldn't follow someone to the ends of the earth without strong motivation. And what exactly was her dream, anyway? To get away from her boss and annoying mother?

I have to say this is the only computer game that ever brought tears to my eyes at the end. I really hope they do a sequel. It could be Syberia III: Return to New York.

Good sequal - same old style

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: October 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Impressive scenery; great storyline; funny lines; same story and game. That pretty much summons it all up. If you have Syberia you'll need Syberia II to get a conclussion - dispite there's no conclussion on what our heroine Kate Walker will do - a little disappointing ending. Maybe there's a sequeal in the works?

The sequal picks up from excatly where the other ended. Kate is on the train with Hans, trying to help Hans fulfill his dream. She's being pursued by the old firm back in New York - why really doesn't make much sense - this super powerful layer firm is being preasured by Kate's mom? Well, that's beside the point - they send an investigator after kate. Kate stops in 4 places where you have lots of puzzles to solve (she has at least 6 or 7 stops in Syberia I - depending on how you count). As always, keep your eyes and ears open - one of the great things about Syberia is because the graphics are so life like you sometimes ignore the obvious hidden in the details.

Oscar as always is his whimpy self. Not as much as in #1 - and by the end, you'll get a completely new impression of what/who Oscar is. He indeed is a nobel automatron. In the end he proves to be more human than most of us (*sniff*).

Syberia II is shorter (too short) than the original. It can successfully be completed in 4-5 hours. Once you know the idea behind the puzzles and the hidden hot-spots, the game doesn't have too much brainyack stuff to offer. In comparison, Syberia I takes at least 6-8 hours to complete with the same level of knowlege.

It seems rather a cheat that this wasn't included in the original game. Basicly you get "fooled" into buying the game twice. For that, I took away one star. Well - and the fact that the faith of Kate Walker remains unknown by the end of the game also played into my decission. Do not confuse this with not enjoying the game. Syberia I and II is a wonderful game, visual, audio and thought wise.

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