Syberia – NDS – Review

Syberia has been one of my favorite
point-and-click games since its release in 2002. It’s a surreal, atmospheric
adventure, complete with great writing, memorable characters, and beautiful
environments to explore. So, naturally, when I heard that a version was in the
works for Nintendo’s little two-screened wonder, I got excited about the
prospect of being able to carry this outstanding game in my pocket — the only
x-factor was the quality of the port. Now that it’s here, it’s my sad duty to
report that while the brilliance of the original game shines through in spots,
Syberia on DS is hampered with so many technical flaws as to be nearly
unplayable.

Syberia places players in the role
of Kate Walker, an American lawyer on a business trip to a small town in the
French Alps. Kate’s law firm is brokering the sale of an old clockwork toy
factory to an American corporation, and she’s crossed the Atlantic to secure the
signature of Anna Voralberg, sole heir and owner of the factory. Except that by
the time Kate lands, Anna Voralberg is dead, and a letter she left with her
attorney tells Kate that there is another heir to the factory — Hans Voralberg,
Anna’s brother, long believed to be dead. Now, if Kate wants to finish the deal
and get back home, she’s got to track Hans down — and that means following his
60-year old trail across Eastern Europe, deep into the snowy depths of Syberia,
where Hans traveled in search of the mammoths that supposedly still roam the
countryside.

If Hans Voralberg never really died, then
what will Kate find in his tomb?

Syberia’s story was written by
European comic artist Benoit Sokal, and the great writing is evident in this
version as well. The story’s got many things going for it, like its haunting
tone and a genuinely compelling central mystery, but its strongest element is
its cast of characters. Each is unique and full of personality, especially Kate
herself; as the plot unfolds and Kate uncovers the tale of Hans’ journey across
Europe, she’s forced to re-examine her life in light of her discoveries. The
greatest literary heroes are the ones who have an arc, who grow as the story
takes place; as she gets deeper into the continent, Kate is changed by her
experiences, and these changes really resonate with the player.

Kate will visit many strange and wondrous
locations in her quest.

So Syberia’s story pretty much
survived the porting process. It’s when you get into the actual gameplay that
the problems become apparent. Gameplay in Syberia is pretty standard for the
adventure genre: by using the stylus on the touch screen, you’ll make Kate walk
from place to place, investigate various areas and objects in the environment,
and use the items you collect to solve puzzles in each location. So far, so
good, except that each of these different actions has at least one major flaw
that, when taken together, more or less ruins the experience.

Take simple navigation, for
instance. Touching an area of the level makes Kate walk there — what’s there to
screw up about that? Well, for starters, Kate walks at a glacial pace, and
there’s no way to run. It takes forever just to walk from one side of the screen
to the other, let alone from one end of the map to the other. Kate also seems to
regard your taps as a vague suggestion of where you want her to go — there were
times that I would tap an area to the left of Kate, and she’d turn and start
walking to the right. It’s also tricky navigating through narrow indoor
environments, as Kate tends to get stuck on anything and everything in her path.
Just getting around each area is a frustrating pain.

And once you’ve arrived at your
destination, the frustrations continue. Whenever you find an area that can be
investigated more closely, the game switches from its cinematic area view into a
close-up, first-person perspective look at whatever you’re investigating, and
from here you can pick up, manipulate, and use various items to solve the puzzle
at hand. But on the DS’s small screen, the relevant objects and locations are
almost impossible to see, even in the zoomed-in view. I got stuck on the very
first puzzle in the game — as close to a “freebie” puzzle as the game ever gives
you — by overlooking a tiny clockwork key, essential to solving the puzzle. I
couldn’t see it because it was about six pixels big and almost the exact same
color as the desk it was sitting on. In fact, if I hadn’t played the game before
and known the puzzle’s solution, I might never have made it past the game’s
first area.

You’ll have to comb each screen, pixel by
pixel, to find the items you need to continue.

The problems don’t stop there. The
inventory, a crucial and integral element of any adventure game, is unwieldy.
You’ve actually got two separate inventories — your normal catch-all inventory,
and your field inventory, which supposedly offers quick access to items used to
solve puzzles. Having to manage two separate inventories is confusing enough,
and the confusing way the game makes you go about interacting with it only makes
things worse. For example, you collect plenty of text documents as inventory
items, and reading them is necessary to progress. You’ve got a read button in
your inventory screen, so it should be simple enough to select the paper then
click “Read”, right? Wrong. Instead you’ve got to drag the paper to the empty
box beneath the “Read” button, then click it, a fact that took 15
maddening minutes to figure out. There’s no reason for this to be required; it’s
just an extra, annoying step the game puts in the way of you being able to
advance.

Even relatively simple elements of
the game somehow go wrong here. The PC version of Syberia is full of top-notch
voice acting, and with the DS’s memory I don’t think anyone can fault this
version for forgoing the vocals. But since now all dialog and story elements are
written on screen, is it too much to ask for a clear, readable font? Instead,
all text is written in a blocky, all-caps lettering style that looks like the
default font on a PC from 1983. Every dialog sequence is a strain on the eyes,
to the point that I had a headache before leaving the first town.

At the very least the port team has
done a relatively good job of translating the game’s visual and audio elements
to the DS. The PC original was lauded for its breathtaking pre-rendered
environments, and they survive the DS transition remarkably well. Each area is
gorgeously laid out, with plenty of details to make the game world feel like a
real place you could get lost in. Less impressive are the character models,
which are significantly simpler and blockier than their PC counterparts, but
that’s got more to do with the limitations of the DS hardware, and they probably
look as good as they could have given the DS’s 3D capabilities. The music, a
high point in the original, sounds great here as well, and might be the single
best thing about the game. Every area is accompanied by hauntingly beautiful
orchestral scoring, which along with the environments give the game its
mysterious and evocative atmosphere.

Even on the DS’s tiny screen, the
environments are strikingly beautiful.

I really wanted to like Syberia on
the DS, and I tried to get lost in the game the way I did when I first played it
six years ago. But at the end of the day, the DS version is simply too flawed to
be playable. Sure, Kate’s quest is as compelling as ever, but it’s not worth the
aggravation it would take to follow her across Europe. Syberia remains required
playing for any point-and-click aficionado, but do yourself a favor and track
down the PC original instead.

Gameplay: 5.4
Every element that’s required for a great adventure game — dialog,
puzzle-solving, and exploration — fails here in some fundamental way.
Theoretically you could make your way through to the end, but I can’t imagine
anyone putting up with the headaches (figuratively and literally) of doing so.

Graphics: 7.6
The pre-rendered environments retain most of their beauty and majesty although
some of the details get lost due to the DS’s screen size. The characters are
fairly blocky, but they look about as good as you could reasonably expect on the
DS.

Sound: 8.2
Syberia’s poignant and emotional score still sounds great here. Some tracks are
sweeping and epic, while others are tender and personal, but each fits the mood
and tone of its scene perfectly.

Difficulty: Hard
Syberia was a pretty tough adventure game in its original incarnation, with a
number of tricky puzzles. When you add this version’s frustrating investigation
system and confusing inventory manipulation, even the easy puzzles become tough
to figure out.

Concept: 8.5
While its execution is squarely follows the adventure game formula, Syberia’s
story and scenario are inventive and compelling. The DS seems to be the
point-and-click system of choice at the moment, so at least in concept, this
port made plenty of sense.

Overall: 5.8
Syberia is one of the greatest point-and-click adventure games of all time, but
the DS version is broken at a fundamental level. Avoid this painful port and
track down the PC original instead.