Beautiful game..
I can really only express the enjoyment I had with Syberia in a few words, so here we go; Oh My God. The game is truly incredible, whether it's the enchanting story, breathtaking graphics, spellbinding musical score, or just the plain old fun factor, there are little to no faults in this game.
In Syberia, you play the role of a young woman named Kate Walker, who is sent to Valideline, France to buy up a family owned toy company. When Kate arrives in France, to her surprise she finds out that the owner of the company has passed on, so she can't get the signature which was needed to sign the company over. She learns that she needs to find the womans brother, who is the heir to the company. So basically, the story follows Kate on an adventure to find Hans, the heir to the company.
The gameplay in Syberia is fairly fresh for an adventure game. You use the mouse to click where Kate moves, and double click for her to run. There are different avatars and symbols for different actions to do using the mouse, which is definitely usefull while doing a puzzle. That brings me into the next part of the gameplay, the puzzles. This is an adventure game, so I'm sure you expected it would have puzzles, correct? Well, it does. The puzzles in Syberia might be the only thing that isn't incredible in the game. don't get me wrong, they are great, and have no problems, but they aren't anything you havn't seen before. It's like, put this key in this hole to access a new room. Or, put this gear in this slot to turn this crank, etc. Fairly common puzzles, but for some reason they aren't all that easy, which is a definite plus. The gameplay in Syberia is nothing but top notch, it totally floors you to see that there is a new adventure game that lives up to the genre.
As for the graphics of Syberia, they are easily the best I have ever seen. I'm pretty sure the backgrounds are pre-rendered, so they are not real time. The character models are great, they really fit the feel of the game. The envoronments are probably the most impressive part of the game, not many games have the atmospheric feel that Syberia does. Definitely, the most astonishing part of the graphics are the cut scenes, or full motion videos if you will. They are literally jaw dropping. I can't think of any game, besides Final Fantasy X and Warcraft III that have better looking cut scenes than Syberia. They totally captivate the moment, and put you right in Kate's shoes.
The soundtrack in the game is also quite incredible, it features a orchestral score, that really captures you and throws you into this mystical setting that Kate goes through. The voice acting in Syberia is very impressive, all the dialogue in the game is done by voice overs, this helps to immerse you into the wonderful story. Kate's voice is particularily impressive, all of her conversations seem very fluid, and not forced at all, which is always a good thing, especially to those of us who have played games with terrible voice overs.
The value of the game is easily it's biggest downfall. Since it is an adventure game, you probably didn't expect it to have any multiplayer aspects, and you were right, it doesn't. But, the fact that the story was so well written, and the gameplay is so addicting, will definitely keep you coming back. I myself, have played it through three times so far, and plan to play it again sometime soon. Not many story driven games keep you coming back for more after you are done, Syberia is an exception.
If you can't tell by now, I really like Syberia. It's an incredible game that absolutely no adventure gamer should miss out, under no circumstances. If your PC can't handle it, get the Xbox version. It's worth it, just trust me on this. Few games are this good, and because it is an adventure game, it is even better. Syberia is truly a work of art, it's as simple as that.