Syberia

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing adventure
Review: Syberia is a good, solid adventure game and ranks as one of the better ones I've played in the genre. The story concerns a young american lawyer from New York, Kate Walker, who is sent to the small, picturesque town of Valadilene hidden away in the french alps to conclude the sale of an automaton factory. But as ever, things don't go according to plan and soon enough Kate embarks on what turns out to be a mysterious and intriguing adventure. The graphics are among the best I have seen in any game. Beautiful landscapes combined with stunningly designed buildings and intricately detailed interiors are all woven together to create a quaint almost surreal setting. This initial captivating backdrop is in stark contrast to the dark, industrialized tone that lies further into the game, but for the most part you will feel truly immersed by the beauty of the surroundings. The sound is also spot on, whether it be the chirp of a bird off in the distance or the calm flowing of a river or stream it all compliments the relaxed atmosphere of the game. The voice acting on the whole is good and the musical score is in line with the slow paced nature of the proceedings. The control system really is simplicity itself. You can play the entire game with the mouse alone. A simple left click to move Kate around, and right click to access the inventory where all your objects and documents are stored. One of which is a cell phone you have, on which you can make calls but primarily you will be receiving them either from your workplace or loved ones back home all chartering your progress. The puzzles are integrated nicely within the story, the majority of which are fairly simple and just require the right item to be in the right place, although there are one or two which are slightly more complex and require some lateral thinking. It is important to pay attention to what you've been told and to thoroughly examine your surroundings or you might come unstuck once or twice like I did. The one criticism I have is that often you will find yourself having to go back and forth whilst solving some puzzles which gets tiresome but thankfully this is compensated somewhat by the abilty to make Kate break into a leisurely jog because her walking pace is arduous to say the least. There are a diverse roster of characters to be met, most of which it can be said are slightly eccentric but all nonetheless intriguing. None more so than Oscar, the automaton who accompanies Kate as she travels to the five or six different locations within the game. Perhaps most importantly of all, as the game progresses the biggest change of character is actually within Kate herself. You see her become stronger, more single minded, more determined to conclude this adventure she set out on and she becomes more resilient and is undeterred by outside pressure and interference and any obstacle which stands in her way. The game is relatively short and shouldn't take too long to complete, the ending, whilst somewhat brief and inconclusive does leave the door open for a sequel, and I felt a tinge of sadness at having to leave behind these wonderful characters with whom I felt an emotional attatchment. Syberia is a charming, slow paced, relaxing game with a unique atmosphere and setting all of its own and one that I am certainly looking forward to revisiting in the not too distant future.

Rating:
Summary: *GASP!* Character Development?!
Review: What astounded me most about this game was the exceptional amount of character development- you watched the character you play change as a person as the experiences she has affect her throughout the game, and she comes out an almost entirely different person (for the better!) at the end. It was incredibly satisfying to watch, and made the game that much more immersive. I was so pleased to see that the creators of the game had put effort into giving the characters life by having them grow and change.

The game itself is also ingenious- many times, when playing puzzle games such as this, the solutions bother me because I would NEVER do that "if I were really there." (You know what I am talking about, the puzzles that require some bizarre leap of 'logic' that make absolutely no sense.) But in this game, you HAVE to think logically, and remember what you know and what you have. It pleased me greatly not to be punished for THINKING while playing a game, but to be rewarded for it!

This is a fantastic game, with amazing graphics, an immersive and interesting plot-line, and challenging but logical and reasonable puzzles. It is a great deal of fun.

Rating:
Summary: Unfulfilled promises
Review: Well, if I didn't get it, neither did my nine-year-old son who played it with me. We knew, from the clues, that we were going to "Syberia" -- a place that was building up to be a modern Avalon, Valhala, Shangri-La, or Big Rock Candy Mountain -- and there we would meet an eccentric German genius, a legendary tribe of mammoth-tamers, a mysterious ghost-ark, and, of course, the living mammoths themselves. And we would learn the 12,000-year-old-secret -- because if one meets such things at the Arctic edge of the world, there always has to be a Secret.

Instead, we got caught in a snowstorm in a broken-down Soviet resort on the edge of Arial Sea, in the company of a dim-witted old man and a robot chaperone. We never did get to Syberia; the game simply ended.

Huh?

This game gets kudos for the biggest anticlimactic ending since the Versaille Peace Conference failed in 1919. The real mysteries here are twofold: how did the game makers manage to get away with it, and why had this game gotten such superb reviews? Going over it again, I've reached the following conclusions:

(1) There are times when the atmosphere in this game is strangely sublime. You want to believe that wonderful things are going to occur, and you keep playing to find them. "It's going to be incredible when we reach Syberia," my son kept saying. But we never did, and the "wonderful things" always remained a frame or two out of reach.

(2) The artwork is inconsistant. Some of it is extraordinary, such as the opening sequence with the drummer and the funeral cart. And some of it is pedestrian scrollwork that befits the industrial architecture of early "Doom" or "Duke Nukem" environments -- Komkolzgrad, for example. The landscapes do not have much animated depth, and a sense of three-dimensional parallax is missing as the character moves.

(3) The worst flaw, however (other than the truncated ending), is the writing, particularly the dialogue. Within the structure of the world that is created, there is no overall logic -- the game is alternatively sharply realistic and tragic, and fantastically cute or comical. It's an uneasy and sometimes insensitive mix. The dialogue is laced with malapropisms, awkwardness, and non-sequiters; you don't feel like you're listening to real characters. On the other hand, the actors are quite good.

Two stars, but only because of the excitement we felt when we thought we had learned where we were going.

Rating:
Summary: Syberia - An Awesome Game
Review: I bought this game and was absolutely amazed at how fun this is! The game is tremendous, with beautiful graphics and a lovely score. Also, the main character is unique: she isn't a top secret agent, she isn't a chosen person, she isn't even much of a babe. She's a lawyer who got swept up by circumstances. Oh yeah, and when you complete certain parts, you get to a see a fantastic cutscene. There are some truly fantastic scenes. I loved the game a lot, and would recommend it to anyone who likes puzzle games like Myst.

Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: Since I had not played a game like this since Sierra's Quest Series on an Amiga 500, I was hungry for an adventure game. Ok, this is the best adventure game out there, the graphics are amazing, the plot is unusual and want you to go for more. The only thing is that some solutions may be illogical, at least some where but on the other hand it felt pretty obvious once I figured it out so you have to live in the game to solve the hard puzzles. Syberia 2 is delayed so get your hands on this masterpiece

Rating:
Summary: Mouth-watering wrapping but tastes like an old shoe
Review: I was wondering why did this game got so high reviews for eminent gaming magazines. Scores like 5 out of 5 and 90% aren't the whole truth. Syberia looks and sounds good but after finishing the game twice I can't help the feeling that it feels hollow. Why? Three major aspects made this game are less than satisfying. Because there are already enough of hailing reviews I won't focus on that but tell you what made me think of this game only worth of three stars.

1) The main quest in the game is to find a missing person in order to sign up the contract. You have pretty little information of whereabouts of the person, just a clue. Instead of rational problem solving methods in order to find the person, you are from head to toe in deep labyrinth of irrelevant tasks, acting against common sense. I felt that most of the problems were out of the focus but also too easy to solve. Sometimes you didn't even knew what you just solved or how solving this problem helps you to accomplish you main mission. So, things just happened following the logic of a dream - and like a dream, I had the feeling that I'm not in control of a things but they just happen and I'm standing and watching the show.

2) Dialogue was based on keywords which is good, but the keywords are exactly the same throughout the game. You will eventually end up hearing the same questions and same answers again and again. There's no information about what you have been asking or speaking about before and what are the new topics and discussion opportunities that have arisen from your previous discussions. Not to mention that you could not change your mood (ie. from gentle to hostile tone) in order to have different conversations. The keywords appear on notepad but none of the discussions are written down for later examination. Finally, the main character has a mobile phone and every time it rings she have to answer! It was really irritating. Can't I decide when to speak?

3) Like in every adventure game, you need to collect everything. Sometimes this made me wonder - why? For example: You arrive to the library filled with thousands of books. The only two books you need to solve the problem are simply on your route - you don't even need to look for them. I began to wonder, why just these books are important. From the problem solving view it's complitely opposite - you have tools and then you need to figure out where to use them. Problems can be solved only one way - no alternative solutions.

+) The game has a lots of oddities, some of the hilarious but most of them frustrating dropping the tempo of the adventure and breaking the mood effectively. For example the main character kept saying "No need to go down there". Like she knows where to go but doesn't bother to tell it to the player.

The game had it's good moments but the things mentioned above are inexcusable. They prevent Syberia for being a good and enjoyable adventure game. The end left so many open questions that I'm keen to play the sequel as well I'm wishing that the developers have learned something from the mistakes they made with this first one. If you are looking for better but similiar adventure game try "The Longest Journey", "Grim Fandango" and "Blade Runner". For older games an absolute gem is "Indiana Jones and The Fate of The Atlantis".

Rating:
Summary: Wow, what a game!
Review: I hadn't heard all the hype about this game that the other reviewers keep referring to, so maybe my expectations weren't as high as theirs. I found this game to be astounding, especially in terms of character development and visual effects.

The opening scene set the stage with a parade of robots (excuse me, automotons) marching in a funeral parade. It was like nothing I had ever seen before in a game. All the visuals were excellent; I found myself wanting to go to Valadilene and Barokstadt.

There were things about the main character, Kate Walker, that bugged me. She was a wimp who wouldn't go in the water and was scared of birds. However, she made a huge change by the end of the game and, while she was still a wimp, she wasn't intimidated by other people. I don't think I've ever seen this kind of character development in an adventure game before; usually the character is the same at the end as they were at the beginning. This was more like reading an interactive book, where people grow and change.

The puzzles weren't annoyingly easy or annoyingly hard. They were logical and solvable. Most of them were inventory-based and mechanical. I did get annoyed by the locked doors and dead-end paths (if I can't go through that door, don't put a door there!). Like some of the other reviewers, I found the game to be too short and wasn't expecting the ending to happen when it did. When the credits started rolling, I thought they must be joking! Kate hadn't even reached her destination yet.

The bottom line is that this game is innovative and intriguing, and it's set a new bar for adventure games. I hope the sequel can live up to this one.

Rating:
Summary: Yawn! Get The Longest Journey instead. . .
Review: After reading all the reviews for this game, and seeing all of the awards it has won, I had really high expectations that weren't met. While I agree with other reviewers on the amazing quality of graphics and sound, the puzzles were just boring and way too easy. I don't like impossible puzzles, but come on! A little challenge would have been nice. Also, the pace was too slow. I kept waiting for something exciting to happen, but it never did. The ideas were wonderful, and gorgeously executed--i love the concept of automatons--but I wish they had done more with them.
I played this game shortly after playing The Longest Journey, which was an awesome game on all levels. Syberia just didn't hold a candle to it.

Rating:
Summary: Syberia
Review: Blah...Blah...Blah... 70% talk, 20% walk and 10% game. We will not even mention the fact that when I installed it into my laptop, which by the way has every requirement this game has, it destroyed my hard drive. Be careful with this one. I have it on my three month old multi media desktop now and even this isn't good enough. It keeps blacking out and going back to my main computer screen. Bad, very very bad! Trying to reach creators about the problem with the laptop. Mfg. told me to. Can't get any answers. Wonder why? 8-30-03

Rating:
Summary: what a funny game and hard in the same time
Review: The game was very exiting , theres alot of puzzles that I cant solvet to go to another level ,So can u tell us the code for this game