Syberia: Adventure Game of the Year

The Good
All New York attorney Kate Walker has to do is have the last Voralberg heir, Anna, sign over the ownership of her family’s toy company so a larger toy company can take it apart. When she arrives in the French Alps, though, Kate witnesses a funeral procession led by a clockwork automaton. The last heir is dead, but was Anna Voralberg really the last heir? What’s really located in her brother’s crypt? And if her brother is still alive, then where is he? These mysteries and more are left for the player to solve as the search for the missing heir runs through France, Germany, and into the heart of Russia.

After a few hours of playing this absolutely gorgeous game and enjoying the beautiful soundtrack and detailed, layered ambient sound effects, I realized that this game would have been an excellent interactive fiction (text adventure) game. I don’t know what this means other than the story must have come first. And what a story it is—not only is Kate changing as she deals with her European adventures and a series of troubling phone calls from home, but she’s seeing the effect the missing Voralberg heir had on a range of people.

Kate travels from landscape to landscape—every area is about twenty years past its prime—meeting wondrous and fascinating characters. Every location is finely detailed with ambient life, realistic water effects, and convincing shadows—from the train depot turned aviary to a rundown seaside hotel. Characters run from a humorous group of deans (who might have been pulled from Unseen University) to the by-the-book Automaton engineer, Oscar.

At its most basic, Syberia is an inventory driven adventure game. Puzzles, usually broken down machines, require the correct combination of parts and tools to work. Kate finds interesting texts on the local flora and fauna, brochures, and subtle advertising for an earlier game. Kate also has a cell phone (with incredible reception) with which she can call people or wait to be called. The cell phone has a dual role as being both a puzzle solving item and a method for the story to advance.

Acting is great and I really wish I knew who voiced Kate Walker. She did an excellent job. The supporting cast is also good with emphasis on convincing acting rather than convincing accents. I had no problem with the controls or the game’s stability.

The Bad
Kate Walker goes through a very personal, very poignant journey. But it’s a journey that the player often observes rather than participates in. Interaction with characters takes place when you click on conversation topics. You understand that choosing “mammoths” will have Kate say something about mammoths, but you won’t know exactly what she’ll say until she says it. Cell phone conversations often remove the player entirely, leaving you to watch Kate to talk to someone rather than being Kate talking to someone.

This is my only quibble. I appreciate the designers wanting the story to play out as written, but have enough faith in the player to write their own parts from time to time.

The Bottom Line
A terrific game that once again shows that adventure gaming isn’t dead. A beautiful gaming experience interwoven with an interesting story. Hopefully the sequel will allow for more interactivity.