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Syberia 2
- Third-person fantasy adventure game trails Kate Walker on her voyage to Syberia
- Lush graphics and settings designed by comics pioneer Benoît Sokal
- Optimized graphics engine with dynamic lighting effects and more fluid animation
- 4 new locations and new and continuing characters from Syberia I
- For 1 player
Avg. Customer Review: 
Well worth the wait
Finally, the most anticipated game of the year has arrived, Syberia 2. Syberia 1 was a great game overall, I rated it with 4 stars on Amazon. Pro's were the artwork, atmosphere and storyline, cons where the relative easy puzzles and the absence of a true 3D gaming experience.
When it comes to Syberia 2, it has much of the same pro's and cons, but slightly different. The puzzles in Syberia 2 are a bit harder (you can get stuck at times, there was no such thing in Syberia 1) so that's an improvement. However, the story has more simplicity to it, and that's too bad.
In the graphics department Syberia 2 really excells. But then again, you can say that of almost any game nowadays. I must admit that I have lost my adversity against 2D pre-rendered backgrounds as being cheapish. Okay, it is still very nice to wander around in real 3D (try Beyond Good and Evil!), but with games like Syberia it just doesn't matter that much. Many other games (Black Mirror, Journey to the Centre of the Earth) have taken the hint from Syberia 1, and so in effect we have experienced a 2D boom - who would have thought that a couple of years ago?
What's missing out in Syberia 2 is the sense of wonder and the tristesse you felt in Syberia 1. If you have played Syberia 1, you'll recognise all the automatons immediately, so there's no big surprises to be had in that department. The characters in Syberia 2 are on the whole more gentle. I must admit I liked the sadness of the Russian crew in Syberia 1, but you won't find that much depth of story and character in this sequel. Also the architecture is more of the same, but without the intricate detailing found in the first installment.
That said, Syberia 2 is still a very, very good game. I wonder how it can be sold for just under 30 bucks, when obviously a large team or artists must have worked continiously for the last two years to make this game happen.
The puzzels are much more integrated into the game, and not all of them are inventorybased anymore, as is Syberia 1. Many of the 'closed doors' '('I can not go there' every five minutes) are gone. That's a good thing. There are no foolish puzzles (like using a cat's hair to light a fire, to be able to make some coffee, to give it to someone to get some information... You like those puzzles? Try Conspiracies).
The locales however are lacking a bit in diversity, with a lot of snow, and then some more. But, then again, snow never looked as good is it does in this game.Do you need to play Syberia 1 before starting out in Syberia 2? No. In fact, to feel and appreciate where this game is coming from, you actually need to start out with Amerzone, Benoit Sokals first game. Then move on to Syberia, then play Syberia 2. That will make for a great gaming experience, and you'll feel like reading a great trilogy.
I will be interesting to see how Syberia 2 holds out against new offerings that are coming our way soon, such as Forever Worlds, Aura and Atlantis 4. I'm confident that Syberia 2 will stay on top of the list this year.
 Good-looking, but short, easy, superficial gameplay
The SYBERIA series, which so far comprises of two adventure games from 2002 and '04, is supposedly a big-budget and ambitious endeavor from designer Benoît Sokal, one of the great illustrators in Europe. But if you are a hard-core adventure gamer you may be disappointed. The SYBERIA games are neither groundbreaking nor challenging. Nor can they compare with the great adventure games in the past, such as THE LONGEST JOURNEY or DAY OF THE TENTACLE. The decent story involves a mysterious toy-maker named Hans Voralberg and his obsession with a lost paradise island called Syberia. You play the main character, Kate Walker, a lawyer from New York who seeks out Voralberg and helps him in his journey. You go to quaint and exotic places, which are all exquisitely rendered in 800x600, highly detailed graphics. You go through danger, mishaps, surprises, but the atmosphere of the game is always peaceful and relaxed. This is a game, like many adventure games, that is still largely influenced by MYST, the best-selling adventure game from 1993, with its laid-back, peaceful, and unthreatening style of play. This game is clearly not intended for the GRAND THEFT AUTO or MAX PAYNE crowd. And the game is obviously not made for serious gamers either. Gameplay lacks challenge, complexity, and, typical of the adventure genre, originality. You still play the game pretty much the same way you play KING'S QUEST, a 20-year-old game that pioneered the genre: you pick up items (and keep them as your "inventory"), you talk to people you meet, you interact with external items, and you use your inventory items. The inventory system of the SYBERIA games is one of the most primitive and underused I have ever seen. You rarely have more than 5 usable items in your inventory at any given time. And you cannot combine inventory items. This makes for very simplified gameplay. When you solve puzzles that require using the right inventory items, the paucity of items in your possession often makes the solutions pretty obvious. If you expect puzzle-solving of the caliber of those MYST games, you will be disappointed. The puzzles in the SYBERIA games are never by a long shot as complex and challenging as in the MYST games. The toughest puzzle in the first SYBERIA game is one that involves mixing a cocktail drink, which had me stumped for half hour. In SYBERIA II, I can't think of one puzzle that can be called challenging. The most difficult puzzle is probably the one where you manipulate a mouse into obtaining an exotic fruit for you. The lack of depth and complexity is further evidenced by the fact that, unlike a typical traditional adventure game, your character does not say anything about the things you click on the screen. For those unfamiliar about this aspect, adventure games used to be so much more fun to play because whatever you click on the screen, you hear your character comment about it, sometimes humorously, and sometimes helpful to your puzzle-solving. In the SYBERIA games, with no commentary from your character, all the pretty things you see on the screen are often just eye candies. Of course, the lack of commentary greatly reduced the amount of dialogs that needed to be recorded, saving money for the game's designers. Adventure game fans have been vocal in their support of adventure games. But it is hard for the genre to attract any new fans, partly due to shallow titles like SYBERIA, and partly due to the inherent difficulty for the genre to evolve into better forms. It is the genre that is driving gamers away, not the other way around.
 Syberia II even better!
Way to go Benoit! I was looking forward to this after playing the first one and I wasn't disappointed! Again, awesome graphics and music. I sure hope this has a part III!
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