syberia review

I just finished playing Syberia and I can honestly say it's been awhile since I've had the pleasure of playing through a game that was so enjoyable and challenging throughout! Syberia is a true classic point-and-click adventure game and I constantly found myself comparing it to what I consider the pinnacle of adventure gaming, the Gabriel Knight series.
Syberia is especially like the second GK title, The Beast Within - both games share the same style of beautifully detailed still background art (one of my favorites from Syberia at right) with active objects that stand out and animated character sprites and cutscenes, plus the gameplay is completely driven by exploration and conversation rather than any kind of fight system. The puzzles in Syberia were often challenging but never impossible, although at times I certainly found myself wandering around trying to figure out how to trigger the next set of events. This is certainly a common phenomenon in adventure games and thankfully for the time-constrained out there there is a wealth of online resources and walkthroughs available to reduce the monotony of clicking through the same screens over and over again trying to find your way.

I wish Nintendo would license more games like this on the DS - and it's funny because Syberia does in fact exist for the DS, but it is a sad, sad minimalized version that in my opinion is unplayable due to how much important information (not to mention full environments and puzzles) they dropped out of the original title. This kind of point-and-click game is ideal for the DS and most of my favorite DS titles are from this genre. Still, it is nice to be able to play this kind of game on the computer and it is a testament to the beautifully drawn artwork that this game from 2002 looks fantastic on my 24" LCD monitor. If you're a fan of the old-school adventure genre and have never tried Syberia, seek it out, it's worth it! I've already moved on the sequel which I hope will be just as good, if not better, than the first.