The original Syberia had you playing as heroin Kate Walker. The story began with you as a New York attorney, and by the time it ended you had given all that up to help an old man pursue a dream of finding a distant forgotten land. Syberia II picks up that dream, as you attempt to help Hans Voralberg try to find the land of blue grass, and walking mammoths.
I never played the original Syberia, but from all accounts the game was quite the experience. In discussing the plot, story, and gameplay of the second outing with those who have played the original, it’s become apparent that this title is far more linear in feel. Your goal of getting to Syberia is pretty straight forward, and unless you REALLY like the idea of seeing mammoths eating blue grass, you might not be too interested in getting to the end of the game.
I may never have played the original Syberia, but I at least played through the sequel on the PC. The Xbox version is virtually the same with the main difference being the point and click of your mouse, is replaced with your controller.
On your travels you’ll be followed by 2 companions both of whom were in the original. Oscar the automaton, who continually keeps complaining about everything; and Hans who has a way of getting himself, and by extension you, into plenty of trouble. Hans is old, and he’s prone to the old man wanderings; expect to have to clean up his messes as you make your way through the game.
No game would be complete without villains, and you’ll get 2 sets of them in Syberia II. The first will be your old law firm, (and everyone who seems to want you back at that firm), and the second is a pair of bumbling idiots straight out of a Disney cartoon. Ivan, the ‘brains’ of the operation, and Igor, who’s incredibly slow and hit or miss with his comments: Either Igor makes you laugh, or he makes you wonder who thought up his lines.
These types of games live or die on their puzzles and challenges. Syberia II certainly has its tough times, but those are rare: Mostly you’ll be able to figure out what you need to do after only a few conversations, or clicking on viewable areas of your environment. The puzzles give you just enough challenge so that you feel some kind of accomplishment, but I doubt any of you (especially vets of this genre), will be sitting there slapping yourselves on the back in congratulations for a puzzle well solved. The best evidence of this is the fact I had no trouble at all solving most of the puzzles in Syberia II, and I’m not exactly a fanatic of the Adventure genre, so you can see how anyone accustomed to playing Myst type games would blow through this title in little to no time at all. Don’t let all that talk fool you into thinking there is no challenge at al though – there are a few tough spots in the game, and I mean REAL tough, it just happens that those are few and far between.
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Where this game really blows me away is in the visual department. The backgrounds look gorgeous, the character models are just as nice to look at, and I’m generally impressed with the way things look. I’m sure it’s a by-product of the fact that Adventure games don’t exactly have a whole lot of action going on around them, so you don’t have to worry too much about slow down. Nevertheless the in game graphics, not to mention the cut scenes are very pretty, and will impress even the most jaded graphic whore.
The customary voice over work for games can be found here. Although all the familiar voices are back, there is nothing to write home about in terms of the acting. It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s not Shakespeare either. The main characters are voiced well enough to make you care about them (which is good given you’ll hear quite a bit of them), but everyone else is voiced with a sense of "huh"? And trust me you’ll say that when your main villain has a British accent and his brother sports nothing of the sort. Or when you’re supposedly in the middle of a Russian outpost, and you can count on your hands the number of people sporting accents, or even anything remotely approaching what you’d expect a Russian to sound like. But the so-so voice over work is to be expected in games, and Syberia II more then makes up for it with its score and sound effects. The music is very perfectly suited to the game, adding to it quite a bit, and the background sounds very much like what you’d expect that icy wilderness to sound like. Overall it’s safe to say the sound is a definite plus for the game.
Syberia II is a fine game to play, and should be picked up by anyone who didn’t have the chance to play the original. The game has a great feel to it simply because it’s packaged together so nicely with sound, graphics, and gameplay. Where you may encounter problems is if you’ve already played the original, because this sequel certainly does not live up the lofty height of its predecessor. Syberia II is victim of being a follow up to one of the best adventure titles ever made, but don’t let that stop of you from enjoying a game that is still above most of what’s available in this genre. If I enjoyed this game at all, there’s NO WAY you won’t.
