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Syberia
PC (Steam)
A Mammoth Journey
3.5/5 stars
Although today we are in a midst of a general revival of the adventure genre (what with Telltale games success and even the rise of visual novels), there was a time when the genre was all but written off. Syberia came out in 2002 - a period in which the adventure genre had been dominated by Myst - and similar clones - that presented a lot of puzzles, but little in the way of narrative. Syberia was the rare game that had it's share of puzzles, but also had a story to go along with it. Though the graphics may no longer look ground-breakings, the voice-acting is a bit stiff and the characters a bit weak - it still represents an important step in the genre and stands the test of time as an exemplary example of what an adventure game can achieve.
Presentation: By today's standards, Syberia is rough. But by 2002 standards, it looks pretty amazing. The cut-scenes (the few there are) especially hold up well. The game itself (at least on Steam) was a bit of a mess. While you could make it full screen - if you accidentally went too far off the edge (say, while trying to point to where you wanted to walk) it would close out. It only minimized the game, but re-opening it would often present you with terrible glitches - black screen, pieces of faces missing or the opposite - massively elongated heads that took up the entire screen. I don't know if that was the game or Steam - but it was super annoying.
Likewise, the voice acting (compared to what you find today) was also lacking. Stiff, unemotional and almost robotronic - I was thoroughly unimpressed. The music was a bit better - it fit the mood for the most part. One thing the game does a good job of is giving you a nice mix of settings - from the gloomy clockwork town you start in, to a tropical university to to an industrial factory to a windswept desert resort - at least the game is excellent at giving you memorable locations. Each area has a distinct feel to it. There are puzzles, but unlike the Myst-style games they aren't obtuse nor do they punish you in crazy ways.
Story: Where Syberia stands out is in its story. You play a lawyer with the seemingly simple task of handing over a aging (but highly-regarded) clockwork factory to a major toy company. But just as you arrive you learn the sole owner has just died and, in trying to track down paperwork, find out that she may not have been the sole heir as her brother - long thought dead - is actually still alive. Thus you begin a journey that takes you across the globe - in a story that involves a clockwork train, a strange university, a mad factory owner obsessed with an opera singer and a mechanical savant obsessed with mammoths. It sounds crazy, but the story is surprisingly good - you learn the history of the family, the reason the brother was written off by his family, his influence on his own journey and even a little about your own life through phone calls between your mother, boyfriend and best friend.
As I said, the game takes you through many different areas - and, while the characters may not be that deep - some are memorable. You have the clockwork train engineer who is eager to do his job - but (much like C3PO) fussy to the point of annoyance as he must abide by the rules and never wants to go out (should he rust or whatnot). You have the crazy factory owner who has become obsessed with an opera singer, a drunken cosmonaut who just wants to get into space and the fading opera star who once went to a resort to coalesce and found herself a permanent resident. Things are kept interesting, that is for sure.
Gameplay: Syberia is a standard point-and-click adventure. You interact with a set number of items - can pick some up, combine them to solve puzzles, read a few things here and there, talk with various people - a pretty typical setup for this kind of game. If you've ever played this kind of game before, it will be very familiar.
Replayability: Unless you want to relive the story again, the game doesn't have any branching paths so it's pretty much a one-and-done kind of game.
Overall: An important step in the evolution of the adventure genre - if you are a fan of these type of games at all, it is recommended.
Presentation: 3/5
Story: 4/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Replayability: N/A
Overall (not an average): 3.5/5
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