Syberia

The Good
Syberia begins a fascinating tale of a young lawyer Kate Walker, who must locate a heir for Voralberg automaton factory. The heir, Hans Voralberg has left his home village decades earlier to find the fabled island of Syberia, where mammoths roam the land covered with blue grass.

The graphics in this game are in one world beautiful. The whole game is made with pre-rendered graphics, while the characters are 3d-models themselves. The music and the voice acting are good as well.

Most of the puzzles are pretty logical and in places the game is almost far too easy. From this reason the game doesn't give out much of clues, as if it would, even the not so seasoned adventure gamers would run through the game in a day or two.

From time to time the story goes forward with stunning CGI-animations, which range from the train leaving from the platform to an aging opera singer doing her last appearance in a dying mining town. You can watch these animations later, if you so wish, as they appear in the cinematics menu of the game.

The Bad
Despite the fascinating story some of the dialog is pretty awful. There also is a fair amount of running between places, because the game is full of screens, that are there just to, well, amaze the player of how much time was put in to making those stunning surroundings.

The surroundings of the game, despite are animated, feel rather static, as there really isn't much you can operate. There isn't even your standard look-command, which would allow you to examine the area you are in. The game is very limited in that area, and that is a shame, as it would be nice to get some other stuff out of the surroundings despite just the pretty looks.

The Bottom Line
all in all, Syberia is solid, good adventure with a good storyline behind it. Benoit Sokal has managed to create an atmospheric little gem, which provides good, yet rather solid experience.