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Major flaws I'm not willing to overlook... First off, I want to establish that I've never played Syberia I -- and judging from the glowing reviews I'm seeing everywhere on the Web for Syberia 2, it may be a good thing. It seems that with every Syberia 2 review I've read so far, the author is carrying over nostalgia from the first installment. While I understand the sentiment, it's a no-no if you want to review something objectively. The best features of Syberia 2 have been well-covered in game reviews, but they bear repeating. The graphics are nothing short of jaw-dropping; artist Benoit Sokal took any constraints he may have had (only so much you can do with snow and ice, you'd think) and somehow created one breathtaking scene after another. Time after time, a new scene would unfold and I'd just shake my head in amazement. Screenshots won't do any justice -- you have to experience these views when they're mixed with environmental effects like snow falling off tree limbs or birds fluttering past the camera. The music also fits the mood of the story perfectly; it's subtle yet thoughtful, exactly what you'd expect from a quaint Russian town in an arctic neverland. Ambience and atmosphere are not a problem with Syberia 2. Even the story itself, though maybe uninteresting on paper, did manage to captivate me. In short, your goal as Kate Walker is to help Hans Vogelberg achieve his lifelong goal of reaching the (fabled?) land of Syberia, quite possibly to verify the existence of wooly mammoths. Again, not your run-of-the-mill adventure formula perhaps, but it does work well in the grand scheme of things. Most of the characters are vivid and interesting; it's hard not to feel sympathetic for Hans, particularly after experiencing a "dream sequence" where you get a glimpse into his childhood. Even if he is bedridden most of the adventure, you get a real sense that he's involved in the story from beginning to end. There are a number of colorful characters that pop in and out of the story as it unfolds, from giggly Youkol villagers (Eskimo wanna-bes if you ask me) to cookie-cutter bad guys. The cinematic sequences are, for the most part, moving and aesthetically pleasing. More often than not, when you solve a puzzle you are rewarded with a nugget in the form of a short movie. A nice feature is the fact that you can easily access these movies at any time once they've been shown the first time. So we have a fairly riveting storyline, interesting characters, and breathtaking graphics. It's a mega-hit, right? Not so fast. True, you will have a difficult time finding any review of Syberia 2 that gives anything less than an A+, even though the authors admit the game has its problems. Well I'm sorry, but my standards dictate that no game deserves an A+ unless it provides what I'd consider a perfect gaming experience. Syberia 2 doesn't even come close. My first complaint is underlined many, many times. Though it may not bother some, I simply could not ignore it. Think about this: when you first meet someone and learn their name, how long would you continue to address them by their first AND last name? Not long, correct? Well, from the very outset, when Hans and Kate (who are supposedly good friends) talk about their upcoming trip to Syberia, Hans finishes nearly EVERY sentence with "Kate Walker." "Yes, Kate Walker. We just need to wind up the train, Kate Walker." At first, I thought it was just an oddity with Hans, but then Oscar the Automaton followed suit, then Malka the little girl, then the patriarch in the monastery, then... and on and on. They ALL kept calling her by her first and last name! It got to the point where I purposely avoided dialog sequences because it grated my nerves so badly (until I realized some dialog was necessary to move the plot along). I find it damn near impossible to believe nobody at Microids noticed how odd the "Kate Walker" thing was during testing. It's frankly inexcusable and distracting. Now, for the puzzles. Some of the brain-teasers were actually quite good, requiring abstract thought and an attentive eye. Others, however, are a hardcore case of trial-and-error (which I personally hate). On a number of occasions you will find yourself pressing buttons or plugging holes in different combinations until magic occurs. Or, even worse, you will find yourself running from Point A to Point B, then back, then again, then back, then again, until you've found the solution that works. But that's not the worst of it. For a few select cases, the answer does not reside in logic at all. There are times when you need to move your mouse cursor over a small area of the screen, effectively hunting for a "hotspot", to perform a specific action. That's all fine and dandy, except many of these "hotspots" blend perfectly into the pristine artwork. You can spend days walking in circles because you failed to scan each and every screen, pixel by pixel, for a hidden hotspot. As a result, the game comes to a screeching halt. My last real problem with Syberia 2 is linearity. Every item that makes it into your inventory will be used at some point. There are absolutely no red herring items, no subplots, no alternate/optional goals along the way. Also, with maybe one or two exceptions, you can only examine or touch those items which will be directly acted upon. While linearity is almost inevitable with adventure games, there are ways to minimize the claustrophobic effect. In Broken Sword 3: Sleeping Dragon, you come across many items you'll never use, and you can examine darn near anything on the screen regardless of its relevance to the story. As a result, you really sense the world is open to possibilities. In Syberia 2, the mindset tends to be, "okay, what specifically does Microids want me to do here." Frustrating puzzles, a finicky interface, and abundant restrictions put a sour flavor on this potentially delicious gem of a game. I regret that I can't join the masses who gush about Syberia 2 and gleefully overlook its major flaws -- I just can't.