It has great looks, story, dialogs, etc. But it is not like the Longest Journey (or any older adventure game). It feels more like an interactive movie. There are almost no puzzles and no objects to collect and combine. Also the controls are pretty uncomfortable, at least at the beginning. One would say (as often with Syberia) it is more art than a game.
It has all the basic pros of the MM6-8. However, you will miss the old inventory system and, of course, fly spell as there is not as much freedom in movement as its predecessors. You will also probably like the new mouse targeting system which makes the game movement feel like in a normal FPS (including mouse view). On the other hand you will have to use shortcuts to get to menus (as usual in the modern 1st or 3rd person RPGs). Is summary, with the latest unofficial patch the game is quite enjoyable. I have finished the game like 3 times already. So if you getting bored replaying MM6-8 again and again, try this one.
After all these years of playing Duke over LAN with my classmates, I finally decided to give it a try in singleplayer. And suprisingly, I have found where even my favourite Half-Life 1 took inspiration from. The singleplayer gameplay would be as great as Half-Life's if only the mouselook was implemented as it is in modern FPSs and, what is more important, if the missions were not interrupted by loading and mission reviews. The game is great, has its own Duke's style and graphics are still ok (with eDuke32). In summary, one of the best FPSs, matching Quake in its time.
Compared to recent RPGs, this game is very different and feels very fresh. This game does not try to simulate an open world as Fallout and Oblivion tried, yet it feels much more open than the worlds in the said games. Where in an open world invisible walls seems wrong, in dungeons the real walls are ok. And you move through dungeons starting with escape from a prison all the time. The dungeons feel as natural and well designed as the offices in Half-Life 1 do. And the story develops very well. If I should compare it to other games, it would be a combination of Die by the Sword and Might and Magic VI-VIII. The realtime combat with some degree of strategy (just move closer, strike, pull out, etc.), mostly linear way forward and RPG style like Might and Magic VI-VIII. The only thing that I would like to change is the controls. I would be much happier if I were able to collect items by pressing spacebar and having the inventory over the whole screen with the game paused. But yeah, just a minor flaw.
This game gets worse in all weaker parts of the Syberia 1 as Syberia did not have many. The main issue is the need to move from one screen across lots of screens to another screen just to proceed in the game, then move back to the first screen etc. All the screens have wonderful graphics though. However some (lots) are missing any interaction. Especially in the Youkol village. Another issue that is quite common in adventures is the "pixelhunting". Which is quite strange because there aren't many items in the screens. Or maybe I am lazy. Just finished the game and feeling a bit bored (not from the story but from the way you have to progress). 6/10
