Syberia

When I ran Syberia for the first time and saw all of the interesting sights, I felt that nervous anticipation that starting a new adventure game or a new book always gives me. I saw good things on the horizon, and when I saw the opening video of the funeral procession, I was sold - it was beautiful. Then the game started, and I found myself on a rainy street in a quaint little alpine town, and I made my way into the hotel where I would be staying for the next couple days. Brilliant - I was nervous about starting something new, but certain that it would be worth it and then some. After all, it started off brilliantly and had a fairly good reputation - one that placed it firmly in the "flawed masterpiece" category. The romanticism of that term is such that most of us totally ignore the adjective, or use it as a way of even further elevates the noun; not only do we have brilliant taste to appreciate a masterpiece, but we assume we'll have the forbearance to allow the game to shine through its flaws. Unfortunately, Syberia was a terrific example of why that sort of reasoning falls flat. Story-wise, Syberia really is a rather nice diversion - but painful puzzling, clunky game mechanics, heavy-handed writing, and an almost complete lack of non-visual atmosphere makes it overwhelmingly more "flawed" than "masterpiece". I've got a list of cons to get to here, but allow me to illuminate a couple bright spots first, since they'll be easier and faster to write. Pro - The story had a lot of potential: as a book, it would have been a good read; as a movie, a good way to spend two hours on the couch. Pro - There were two very nice game mechanics: the documents tab in the inventory, where they could be easily reviewed or used as items, was the first. The documents themselves were quite nice as well - always graphically pleasing and generally the best world-building elements in the game. The second thing I liked was the cell phone - I wasn't a huge fan of the calls coming in just because the characters were so poorly-imagined and unlikeable, but the cell-phone-as-game-mechanic was a nice touch. Pro - The visuals were also quite nice. Granted, they weren't that impressive from a 2011 graphical perspective, but they were quite pretty and sometimes impressive or exciting. The automatons were especially nice, both in their general graphic design and the animation that made them move like the clockwork machinations that they were. Now onto the bad... Con - Clunky character movement, including stopping and slowly adjusting for almost every action, makes movement a pain. It wouldn't be so bad if 2/3 of the screens weren't just empty eye candy, causing the irritation of running for two to five minutes just to get to your chosen location. I'll remind you of the oft-cited dialog: Why don't movies show characters going from one place to another? Because it's boring and tedious. Con - Weak puzzle design - The lack of interesting or challenging puzzles was bad enough, but what made them worse was that they were generally just lock-and-key or say-the-right-dialog puzzles with elements separated by several screens, making them not only easy but tedious. In the second half of the game I kept UHS open just so I wouldn't have to waste twenty minutes running around pixel-hunting for some stupid key item every time a new puzzle came up. And not only were they weak, but most of them were pointless - the greatest example being the roundabout way you fix the bandstand - every single step of that extended puzzle was not only inane, but not even reasonably inane - the whole design could have worked if the circumstances were altered to justify the means, but as it stands I don't think I've ever seen a sketchier puzzle chain. Con - The terrible dialog system was extremely limited in its usefulness for creating meaningful and interesting dialogs, and at times it became counterintuitive when certain unlikely options had to be selected to advance the gameplay. The relative scarcity of meaningful conversations bothered me as well. Con - The ever-small inventory system and, notably, the lack of item combination contributed to the easiness and flatness of the game's atmosphere and gameplay. Con - The heavy-handed dialog that turns Kate's circle of friends, colleagues, and relatives into a handful of obnoxious cartoon characters, illegitimizing her own spiritual growth; after all, who wouldn't want out of a life like hers? Con - The demi-post-apocalyptic steampunky setting that contrasts the story's assumption that things are pretty much business as usual elsewhere, and feels like a cop-out because the designers didn't know how to convincingly populate the game world. And the biggest con of them all: The lack of any interactivity outside of game-necessary functions. There are only two useless characters to talk to in the entire game, and one of them just says his shop is closed. There are hundreds if not thousands of spots that should cause Kate to comment, but there's nothing to click on to draw out that comment. If anything can be clicked on, it's used for a puzzle, and if you want to even try something that won't eventually work, no dice. The lack of anything that's not directly related to the story makes the game flat and uninteresting all the way through. In summation, Syberia is a game that shows hints of promise here and there, and properly made could have been a truly great game, but in actuality, it's a total mess. If it weren't for the myriad of shortcomings, I would be willing to concede that it simply failed to live up to its potential, but considering that almost every aspect of its design is a minor or, more often, a major failure, I can't bring myself to be so kind as all that. Syberia is an attempt at greatness made by someone with none of the tools to realize this goal. End Review.