Syberia

Playing this game is like embarking into a fantastic journey to extraordinary places. Syberia emplifies the point-and click genre. You'll be sad it's all over when you'll finish the game.

I don't normally play point and click games, but this one was quite entertaining. The story starts out slow and picks up later, and it's a nice change from typical game stories - it is more like a novel. The puzzles are mostly logical, as long as you remember to use the phone and revisit areas and people. It should be said that the game *does* run on modern computers, maybe other people had problems with specific hardware or drivers. The game crashed only once for me and otherwise worked "out of the box". Save often to avoid losing progress.

Very cool story, interesting characters with somewhat unusual goals. I was unsure whether to award it 4 or 5 stars, because some decisions you have to make in the game are just redundant (like hit a specific dialog option when everything's set up right before Kate's eyes) or just plain stupid (yeah, I'm talking to you, Barrockstadt flow terminal control). The story's too good to let it at just four stars, so there you have it. Kudos for the voice actors, especially for those incredibly upsetting phone calls when you got your hands full and just need to scram.

This is a really good example of a classic point-and-click adventure. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and the plot is excellent. But to enjoy it, you need to relax and play it slowly, and not be too quick to reach for a walkthrough, otherwise it becomes an exercise in frustration. A couple of days off sick on the sofa is best as it only needs a mouse to use, and is far more fun than watching daytime TV. However, it also has the worst problems of pixel hunting and hard-to-spot objects I've seen for a long time. I had to resort to two walkthroughs to find a book on a table that I was meant to be able to see. Perhaps playing it on a bigger screen would help, but it could also be solved by clickable things being a bit more highlighted. If you only play one game from this era, play The Longest Journey instead. But this is also worth your time.

The long journey of the the beige jacket woman with the same capacity of Eta Beta's shorts. But 20 years after its release, is this work from the mourned Sokal still valid? Yes, as its strengths (plot, characters, ost, immersiveness, very original setting, dubbing, interlude sequences, sound effects) still resist, as unfortunately its weaknesses (some objects are really difficult to see, so it is often necessary to brush each area of the screen with the pointer, non-skipable animations to move from one area to another). Luckily the objects that we have to take to solve the puzzle "errands" are usually found in the same area. In any case, if stuck, don't be afraid to look at a guide, because that's how it was possible to complete graphical adventures in difficult moments. Syberia alternates moments in which it everything runs smoothly and others with headaches due to not very visible explorable points (from this point of view there would be good to have a mod to increase the resolution of 2D textures backdrops) and a very important clue which must be paid attention about halfway through the adventure and remember it several moments later near the end (fortunately the soundtrack comes to the rescue a few times, indicating that we have done the right thing). There are backdrop points where it is intuitive to understand this is an interactive area, as well as others that are well hidden. Fortunately, the tools needed to complete the task are always found in the area where we station. To work on modern systems it needs dgVoodoo2, which however allows it to be played easily in 16:9. If 20 years ago this adventure was highly recommended for newbies, it is not longer now (unless a well-done Full Throttle-style remaster). However, it remains a small pearl of graphic adventures swan song era recommended more to fans of the genre with its unique setting.