strategy

The SYBERIA series, which so far comprises of two adventure games from 2002 and '04, is supposedly a big-budget and ambitious endeavor from designer Benoît Sokal, one of the great illustrators in Europe. But if you are a hard-core adventure gamer you may be disappointed. The SYBERIA games are neither groundbreaking nor challenging. Nor can they compare with the great adventure games in the past, such as THE LONGEST JOURNEY or DAY OF THE TENTACLE.

The decent story involves a mysterious toy-maker named Hans Voralberg and his obsession with a lost paradise island called Syberia. You play the main character, Kate Walker, a lawyer from New York who seeks out Voralberg and helps him in his journey. You go to quaint and exotic places, which are all exquisitely rendered in 800x600, highly detailed graphics. You go through danger, mishaps, surprises, but the atmosphere of the game is always peaceful and relaxed. This is a game, like many adventure games, that is still largely influenced by MYST, the best-selling adventure game from 1993, with its laid-back, peaceful, and unthreatening style of play. This game is clearly not intended for the GRAND THEFT AUTO or MAX PAYNE crowd.

And the game is obviously not made for serious gamers either. Gameplay lacks challenge, complexity, and, typical of the adventure genre, originality. You still play the game pretty much the same way you play KING'S QUEST, a 20-year-old game that pioneered the genre: you pick up items (and keep them as your "inventory"), you talk to people you meet, you interact with external items, and you use your inventory items.

The inventory system of the SYBERIA games is one of the most primitive and underused I have ever seen. You rarely have more than 5 usable items in your inventory at any given time. And you cannot combine inventory items. This makes for very simplified gameplay. When you solve puzzles that require using the right inventory items, the paucity of items in your possession often makes the solutions pretty obvious.

If you expect puzzle-solving of the caliber of those MYST games, you will be disappointed. The puzzles in the SYBERIA games are never by a long shot as complex and challenging as in the MYST games. The toughest puzzle in the first SYBERIA game is one that involves mixing a cocktail drink, which had me stumped for half hour. In SYBERIA II, I can't think of one puzzle that can be called challenging. The most difficult puzzle is probably the one where you manipulate a mouse into obtaining an exotic fruit for you.

The lack of depth and complexity is further evidenced by the fact that, unlike a typical traditional adventure game, your character does not say anything about the things you click on the screen. For those unfamiliar about this aspect, adventure games used to be so much more fun to play because whatever you click on the screen, you hear your character comment about it, sometimes humorously, and sometimes helpful to your puzzle-solving. In the SYBERIA games, with no commentary from your character, all the pretty things you see on the screen are often just eye candies. Of course, the lack of commentary greatly reduced the amount of dialogs that needed to be recorded, saving money for the game's designers.

Adventure game fans have been vocal in their support of adventure games. But it is hard for the genre to attract any new fans, partly due to shallow titles like SYBERIA, and partly due to the inherent difficulty for the genre to evolve into better forms. It is the genre that is driving gamers away, not the other way around.

.. or should I say "Thank you, Benoit Sokal and the good folks of Microïdes".

The Adventure Gaming world has produced many disappointments in the past year - new games which substituted eye candy for a good story line, sadistically difficult puzzle games, and far too many examples of the 'talk to everyone, click on every pixel' genre. And as for URU, don't get me started.....

I must confess that I was looking forward to Syberia II with mixed feelings - I loved the original, but it's easy to mess up a good idea.

I needn't have worried. Syberia II is excellent in all respects. It's a sequel, in the sense that it continues the original story, but it's every bit as fresh as the original.
The puzzles are good, logical, and don't involve trudging all over the landscape to find the components. We didn't use a walkthrough, and apart from a spot of bother with the cellphone, were able to complete the game fairly easily.

The graphics reflect Benoit Sokal's background in Comic Book Illustration. They're outstanding.

The characterization is very nicely done. Some old friends return, to continue the quest, and we're introduced to a whole new set. I must confess that I tend to enjoy games more if I feel concerned for the protagonists; if I don't care when a character makes the supreme sacrifice, the game has probably failed. Syberia II hasn't failed (I can't say more, without revealing a spoiler).

Buy it.

Without reservations, it's the best game to hit the market in over a year.

Way to go Benoit! I was looking forward to this after playing the first one and I wasn't disappointed! Again, awesome graphics and music. I sure hope this has a part III!