Syberia

I really enjoyed this game. Even stretched on a 22" 1680 monitor the backgrounds and artwork were amazing. 4 stars because I found a certain series of phone calls to be quite annoying, trite and predictable, but otherwise the game was a masterpiece. I don't have much familiarity with adventure games of this nature. For example, there are no guns, and you cannot die. I have played one or two Nancy Drew games with my niece and I suppose those are similar. If you want action, this game is not for you. It plays more like a mystery - puzzle novel and the pacing is relaxed but interesting. I really enjoyed it.

Syberia, or as it would be called in any sane world "Tedious Backtracking: The Game", is definitely amongst the poorer of the point and click adventure games I've played. Normally I enjoy said games. Normally I enjoy story driven games regardless of genre, but normally the games I enjoy don't have loads of backtracking or NPCs with some of the most absurd motivations you've ever heard of. For instance, one character you meet will overcome your mechanical buddy Oscar (himself extremely annoying) take his hands by cutting them off with shears (and how exactly did he do this without having hands before this? We'll never know!) all to finish making a concert room for his favorite opera singer, when he has no idea where she is and might be dead for all he actually knows (not that he'd tell you that) and it's quite likely she would not know who he was either. I'm not joking. This actually happens in the game. It's also INCREDIBLY easy to miss an item you need because it hides so well in the background. I don't like the shiny "YOU CAN TOTALLY CLICK ON ME" mechanic but surely there's some middle ground? Then the phone calls. Oh gosh the freaking phone calls. During the second act in particular the main character's fiance calls and tries to guilt trip the protagonist about how lonely he is and why doesn't she think of his feelings more often - AND THEN has the nerve to tell her she needs to calm down. Yeah. Then later the "best friend" calls to say that she's spending some time with the fiance, just propping him up while you're gone - GEE I WONDER WHAT DIRECTION THIS MYSTERY IS GOING TO TAKE? The mother is absurdly annoying. So yeah, if you're not backtracking you're on the phone with exasperating, feckless idiots. Or speaking to other exasperating, feckless idiots in person, like the university heads. They want you to fix their bandstand, which was broken for years. All you need is an egg, open the door, pull a lever, fixed. Music's ok. That's about it.

Read my score as 3.5/5 - 4/5 was too much and 3/5 was too little. Syberia is a game I really disliked when I first played it and to be fair, the reasons for this are still there - it's just a matter of forgiving them. For example, the interface is annoying and unnecessarily clunky, the characters you talk to are mostly dull, the backdrops are far too static and cold, the animation is pretty average, etc. You may say "but that's all superficial stuff!" but then I'd say "not for an adventure game". Despite these shortcomings, the game has good puzzles, the main character is quite interesting and the plot does get interesting as well and these things drag the game away from becoming like a classic Cryo disaster. As the game moves on, you learn to forgive its shortcomings but it still falls short of being a classic in all areas. It's just too lifeless and static in its locations (not to mention the 3D design feels cold and too unconvincing). Still, 3.5/5 is not a bad score.

Syberia I and II were supposed to be one game, but developers thought it was too big so they divided it. They were right, it would've been too large a game, however, the first part is full of unnecessary parts (pretty much the last third of the game) that don't add to the story and prolong the agony by making us run from screen to screen, which can be tedious considering animation and not be able to skip/quick run through the screen. The story is interesting, the art design is gorgeous, but that's about it. Side characters are cardboard cutouts, dialogs with friends and family on the mobile phone are horrible, and puzzles are almost nonexistent, which makes Syberia look like an early HOG. It's the art design and story that makes you play it and make it worthwhile your time.

The whole story is just so absurd to me: the moment I found out that an heir was alive somewhere in Siberia, I would have packed my stuff and gone back to New York. But hey, fortunately, that wasn't me. :)