Syberia II ties up all the loose ends, but it lost some of Syberia's charm along the way.
You reprise your role as Kate Walker, a former New York City lawyer who left her job, in fact the world as she knew it, to follow the childlike old man Hans Voralberg in the pursuit of his dream to find the legendary lost island of Syberia where a live herd of Woolly Mammoths is said to still roam. The plot follows the same formula as before; you are aboard a wondrous clockwork train and at each stop you must solve a series of puzzles in order to get the train moving again. The geographical setting spans the northern parts of eastern Europe, beginning in the fictional dilapidated town of Romansburg situated at the foot of an icy Russian mountain range. As you go along, the plot recaps some of the events in the previous game; Hans' history, his search for the aboriginal Youkol tribe, and their apparent connection to the last Mammoth herd. After some trials and tribulations, you leave Romansburg behind, but not without a few enemies in the process.
The rest of the trip is mostly made up of minor hindrances as you traverse the frozen tundra, such as regaining control of the clockwork train after it is stolen by two half-wits with delusions of grandeur. The gameplay is sometimes broken up by cut scenes with phone conversations taking place in New York as Kate's law firm tries to track her down. While there is good use of the series' established characters, Syberia II's plot is too linear and it's often easy to guess what will happen next. That said, there are still one or two plot twists near the end worth waiting for. The finale itself is suitably touching; a fitting end to the overall story arc, but leaves the player with a few minor unanswered questions.
The voice acting remains good with the cast of Syberia reprising their respective roles. The musical score has less of a classical theme to it this time and makes use of chimes and strings for the winter wastes, tribal drums for the Youkol village, and the rest is often left to looping sound effects like howling winds and crackling ice.
The visual detail is not quite as stunning as it was in the previous game. Not for any lack of art skill, but there are only so many ways you can draw barren tundra. Still, the few areas the artists were able to go into detail with are beautifully rendered and help recapture some of the lost wonder.
The gameplay formula itself remains the same, standard point-and-click adventure fare. However the puzzles are decidedly more difficult this time around. I think this is mainly due to lack of direction, there are not enough visual or verbal cues that tell you what to do next and you end up experimenting with everything until something works. Not the best of formulas to go with, unless you want a player so frustrated with the game that the idea of replay is the last thing on their mind.
Once all is said and done, Syberia II kept enough of the previous game in it to make it a worthwhile game to play and finish.
**DISCLAIMER: This review was originally posted on 1 September 2007 under the user name TheSergeant. I have since closed that account in favour of my current one and re-posted my earlier contributions with minor spelling and informational edits.**