Syberia II

The Good
This sequel should have been part of the first game .. really! In fact, I had read somewhere that Syberia 1 and 2 were made at the same time and were supposed to be released as one game. But, someone along the way decided to split them ... too long or some such silly reason. Anyway, if you haven't played either game, I would suggest you play them back-to-back.

To reiterate parts of my stellar review of the first game, Syberia II also features ..

The Good
Syberia II continues right from where the first game ended: Kate Walker and Hans Voralberg are traveling through Russia to find the fabled island of Syberia. This is the conclusion of the two parted story created by Benoit Sokal, who also is know of his comic books.

The game continues to stun with its beautiful, pre-rendered graphics, that provide scenery ranging from an old Russian monastery to a humid atmosphere of the finally found island of Syberia.

Again the story is forwarded with well done animations, which are even more plentiful than in the first part of the game.

The Bad
The same cons that applied on the first game apply also in here, but in some cases they are even multiplied. There are even more empty screens just for the show and what is even worse, there are couple of annoying pixel hunting puzzles in the game, as there's a couple of items you need, which you just can't notice from the screen, unless you by accident happen to whip the mouse in exactly right location. There also is a couple of puzzles you just don't get a single clue on, and you mainly have to solve them by trial and error.

The Bottom Line
Despite its flaws Syberia II is a good conclusion to a fascinating story. The game is short, perhaps even shorter than the first one, so it could have been better if the part two would have been a part of the original game, not a separate sequel.

The Good
The graphics and scenery in this game seemed to be much improved, and for the most part, the puzzles were more intuitive and logical than they were in the first game. The cutscenes seem to be even more detailed and beautiful than in the first game too.

The Bad
Sadly, there's a lot I didn't like.

While the puzzles were more logical this time around, there was an annoying amount of "hunt the pixel". Some of the items you're supposed to pick up blend into the background a little too well, and there are a number of "look-at" hotspots that are simply too small and too difficult to see. I had to consult a walkthrough a couple of times - not because the puzzles were confusing, but because I knew that I forgot to pick up some item somewhere.

Also, the voice actors for the main stars of the game remained the same, but the actual dialog was pretty horrendous. Much of Kate's dialog feels like it was recorded as individual lines, completely outside of context. A lot of her comments don't quite seem to logically follow one another, and they give the overall impression that Kate has a rather short memory and attention span. An example:

"I'm Kate Walker! Who are you?" "I'm Anna Voralberg, miss." "Do you know Hans?" "Hans is my brother!" "So you're Anna Voralberg, then?" "That's right!" "Do you have a brother named Hans?"

And so on. You end up exhausting all dialog choices with every character - not because their dialog is actually interesting, but because you need to hammer certain facts into Kate's head, and she can apparently only remember critical bits of information if they're repeated over and over again in different ways.

Also, for some reason, Kate is still carrying around her cellphone, though it's only used rarely, and I think it only ever needs to be used once. Kate's mom and her boss call a couple of times, but they might as well not have. It was already made pretty clear in the first game that Kate had put her old life completely behind her. The cellphone allows you to call Oscar this time around, but that's not particularly useful. It's actually more amusing than anything else, especially if you call him from the next room. "You sound so far away! Come back soon!"

Also, there are certain circumstances in this game where mild language is used, and there's a very brief scene with a half-naked (but strategically covered) Kate. While it doesn't bother me much, I was under the impression that this was essentially a kid's game...

The Bottom Line
Well, it's certainly pretty, and it completes the Syberia story. Other than that, as adventure/puzzle games go, it feels awfully half-hearted.