Review: Syberia — The Game That Plays Like A Movie.

Posted by: dgoldring on Jan 02 2007

 

Syberia from TetraEdge Games stands out as having one of the most unique heroes (heroines) of any adventure game I have played.  Usually, the hero of the game is an archeologist or adventurer.  In this case, it is a transactional attorney.  And to answer your next question, no the basis of the game is definitely not moving papers from one side of your desk to another (although a notary does play an integral role in the progression of the story).  Read on to find what takes this seemingly unassuming lawyer from the United States to the farthest reaches of Europe and, ultimately, Syberia.

Installation and Registration:  Tetraedge Games has a limited trial version of Syberia available.  You can download the trial from the Tetraedge web site.  Once you purchase the game, however, you will be provided a link to download the full version.  Be forewarned, however, this is a giant file (over 180 megabytes).  Install that file using ActiveSync, input the registration code which they will provide, and you are ready to play.

The Story: Kate Walker thought she was about to have the shortest and easiest trip to France in her life.  A real estate attorney, her only task was to finalize the sale of a factory of automats (robots, but don’t call them that) located in the remote village of Valadilènes, France.  Upon her arrival, however, she learns the owner of the factory has died.  She also learns that the owner’s brother, long thought to be dead, is alive and in hiding…and has been named as the factory’s sole heir.  Thus begins a frantic chase through Europe as Kate attempts to track down the long lost heir, complete the sale and head home.

I found the plot of this game to be amazing when I began playing it.  First, as an attorney, it is rare to find an adventure game in which the main character is an attorney…actually, it has virtually never been done.  Second, I really enjoy games with an intricate plot that unfolds as you discover clues and work toward an ultimate resolution.  

At some point in the game, however, I found that the plot seemed to become secondary to the stunning graphics and mini-puzzles.  In other words, instead of the mini-puzzles advancing the plot of the game, it seemed like the plot became an excuse to send you to the next puzzle.  Although this can be a subtle distinction, I felt this shift was an unfortunate slight in an otherwise fantastic game.

Gameplay: Gameplay is fairly intuitive.  Use your stylus to navigate Kate through the various locations.  If there is an item to use or a puzzle to solve, the screen will zoom in and focus on that item or puzzle.  You can also use the eye icon to look around, when it passes over an area where there is something for you to open, solve, or enter, the eye icon will change shape accordingly. 

I found, however, some of the non-player characters did not interact with you, as much as they frequently just said their lines.  When you meet a character, a notepad appears with the topics you can discuss.  In many games, discussing a certain topic will lead to further discussion or additional information.  In other words, it can create a dialogue.  Too frequently, in Syberia, however, once you click on an item in the notepad, the character gives you all of the information they have.  If you click it a second time, they will simply repeat the same conversation. This gave the game a somewhat stiff or over-scripted feel at times.

Graphics: The three-dimensional animation in this game was simply outstanding.  It is clear that TetraEdge has put an awful lot of time and resources into crafting the highest caliber of graphics for their games, and Syberia certainly fits this mold.  From the intricately drawn background and locations, to the characters whom you encounter, playing this game felt like watching a movie. 

Audio: Another area in which it is clear Tetraedge focused a great deal of resources is the audio.  They offer a complete background score, which really enhances gameplay.  The music sets the tone and mood for each scene of the game.  In a lot of ways, the music is also what tied different sections of the game together, and as an aficionado of movie soundtracks, I would almost like to add this soundtrack to my digital music collection.

Additionally, when each character spoke, that character was given an audio "voice".  I loved the fact that I could hear my character speak and think, as well as the other characters in the story.  The voices were more than just monotone words, as you might find in some games, but showed inflection, tone, and even accents which were all appropriate to the character and the situation.   This truly enhanced my experience with the game. 

Mini-Puzzles: The primary user interface with this game is through the mini-puzzles which are used to guide Kate from one portion of the game to the next.  These mini-puzzles are scattered throughout the game, and may result in opening a door, giving you an item to be used later, or providing you with a key piece of the larger mystery.

These puzzles varied from extremely easy puzzles to impossibly complex puzzles.  There seemed to be no middle ground.  As such, I found myself alternating between becoming bored with the simplicity of a puzzle to becoming frustrated by a puzzle’s complexity.  I think it is fine to have both complex and easy puzzles in a game like this, however, the majority of the games should be closer to a middle ground.  This game had few of those mid-complexity level puzzles.

Saving: Ever since the days of my first Nintendo, one of the first things I ask about a game is how to save it so I can continue playing later (I actually started out on an Atari 2600, but the save feature had not been invented in those early days).  Syberia offered a nice graphical interface for saving your game.  The save and load screen display up to six images which represent your saved games.  The images display your location in the game at the time you saved the game.  You can save it at any time, which is nice.  I found it helpful to save the game immediately before and immediately after a complex puzzle.

Conclusion: I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent playing Syberia.  It was an extremely fun game with breathtaking graphics and an amazing soundtrack.  Despite the fact that the plot became secondary to the graphics and mini-puzzles in the game, I loved the movie-like feel it provided.  I have played a lot of action games like Syberia, but never have I been so amazed by the brilliance of the graphics in a game before.  I enjoyed the unique perspective playing a transactional attorney far from home lent to the action in this game.  Overall, playing Syberia feels a lot more like watching an interactive movie than playing a game.  And that worked just fine for me. 

Vital Statistics:

Name: Syberia

Platform: WM 2003 SE

Also Available: WM5

Developer: Tetraedge

Available From:  Tetraedge                 

Price: $24.95  

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