Cyberia 2: Resurrection

The Good
Back around 1995 a 3D was fairly new ground and achieving something visually beautiful in more polygons than the CPU could handle in real-time was only through the pre-rendered cinematic. Cyberia presented a fine nicely crafted cinematic experience where you could learn every combat level by heart, knowing where, when and which type of enemy will attack you. All that backed with a dynamic music that made each scene that much more memorable. Leaving us with a cliffhanger by the time we saw the credits, it was up to this game to fill in those shoes with at least same amount of entertainment, if not more. Was it successful? Well, while it didn't beat the legend, it sure was something to play through.

Cyberia 2 continues the story of Zak, a computer hacker with a knack for trouble. After merging with Cyberia, a ship-like weapon, he was destroyed and not likely to survive... but he did. Three years have passed since he was rescued and "separated" from Cyberia, and once again, another power-hungry person of influence sought to utilize the power of that weapon. And once again, you're about to go up against a huge number of enemies trying to mess up his plans.

But this time you're not alone. Right from the start, you're rescued by a short-haired girl with military attitude, wanting to use you, or rather your skills, to stop "evil" Dr, Corbin. You don't get much of a choice as all hell breaks lose when you were rescued. While original Cyberia had several strong flying action-packed missions and focused more on puzzles during your footwork, this game puts everything on the action, and it does it quite well.

You'll be fighting your way on foot, from vehicles and aircrafts. All much alike in the first game, with interesting levels and much more versatile enemy than in the predecessor. Missions are also much easier than before and constant dialog with your driver or a pilot prevents you from feeling alone against the world.

The Bad
Zak becoming bald isn't such a bad thing, but losing his cool glasses which were quite useful at disarming various traps was amiss.

This game features various terminals which can be a nice thing to enjoy some pre-rendered cinematics, but can be troublesome when you have to find something in order to progress the game. Cyberia 2 was bold enough to tamper with a lot of elements of its predecessor, no doubt in trying to make this game even better, and it was pretty fun most of the time with a few nice surprises up its sleeve. Some changes, however, didn't look too good. One of them being new walking control during non-action game elements.

The Bottom Line
If this game tried to be bigger than the original it sure succeeded. And I'm not referring to the fact it comes on 2 CDs instead of one. The level of action is increased to several different vehicles and various locations. Puzzles, the few that it has, were quite intriguing to solve, and the fact it has much more dialog is a definite plus.

Action levels have similar style new music that is almost as good, and cinematic feel is equally well achieved. While it feels bigger in almost everything, the game could probably be finished sooner than the original Cyberia.

It also experimented while trying to improve many elements we like in the first game, some more successfully than other. While original Cyberia felt pretty serious game, this one takes a slight turn toward the humorous version every now and then. Seeing Zak having gas problem in an elevator just as he is going to face the soldiers on the roof was a very original thing to see in the game, and nicely directed, just enough to let you think if what you just witness actually happened or was it something else.

A bold move for the franchise, too bad it stopped it. We could've seen one more before the pre-rendered rail shooter became obsolete due to increase in graphics power.