The lawyer Kate Walker has been entrusted by the Universal Toy Company to negotiate the takeover of an old toy and automaton (wind up robots) factory. They've been in business for centuries but recent money problems have made owner Anna Voralberg decide to sell the factory. But it won't be that easy to buy the factory. The day that Kate Walker arrives, Anna Voralberg is being buried. Even worse, there is in fact an heir to the factory, Anna's brother Hans. The sale cannot go through unless Hans approves it. But Hans has been missing for decades. He left in the 1930's and was even presumed to be dead. However, a letter written by Anna in the days leading up to her death reveals that Hans is well and alive and living somewhere in Siberia (Syberia). You, the player, will have to take on the role of the heroine, Kate Walker, as she sets out on her long journey to find Hans.
And so begins the game. Syberia is an adventure game that most will compare to Myst or other classic adventure titles. While older games like Myst were first person, Syberia is not. Syberia is a 3rd-person 'point and click' adventure. Basically if you want to go somewhere, let's say inside a house, you go up to the house and an icon will appear -- you then press A to make Kate walk into the house.
Syberia is a game that depends on the story and well placed puzzles. There are tons of them, each varying in difficulty -- some being fun and others being nothing more than time consumers.
Through out the game you will find items that will aid you on your quest. Also, by talking to the people around you, Kate can learn valuable information that can make progressing throughout the game a little easier.
Controls in Syberia are pretty straight-forward. You move Kate with the Left Thumbstick. The A button is the action button used to activate items. B is to cancel. Y brings up your inventory while X is used to run. While viewing documents you can 'turn the pages' by pressing the Black and White buttons. Sometimes documents aren't readable, so you have to zoom in. To do that you use the Left and Right Triggers.
Visually, Syberia uses pre-rendered 3D backgrounds that are impressive but nothing revolutionary. Sure they are nice but nothing that hasn't been done before -- impressive none-the-least. Characters are average in quality with average animations. The game could have used some more background activity. Most of the backgrounds are static.
Sound wise; Syberia does a great job of engrossing the player in the game. Great orchestrated music fades in and out at just the right time. Every kind of material that Kate walks on makes a completely different sound, whether its grass, cement, wood, etc... Voice acting is adequate enough. Nothing that will win them an award but definitely not as bad as other games. Just fine.
All in all, Syberia is a great game for the price (it launched below typical Xbox MSRP for games). Not everyone will enjoy it, but those that like the old point and click gameplay of years gone by will get a nice trip down memory lane. For the younger crowd, you may not be feeling what this game is laying down.
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