Syberia

I bought Syberia last week (WalMart, $9.88), and finished it yesterday. The premise of the game: You are New York attorney Kate Walker, and you've been sent to a small town in the French alps to tie up the sale of an old toy factory. Once you arrive, you discover that the owner has passed away, and your adventure of finding the heir begins.

My review (also posted at Amazon) follows:

I hate "find the pixel" type adventure games, where if you don't see the key hidden in the background, you're stuck forever. I encountered this thrice in the game (once in the notary's office, once on the factory platform, and once at the cosmodrome), but online walkthrus helped me out.

This is an absolutely gorgeous flick. I went into this game expecting it to be more of an interactive movie than an adventure game, and I wasn't disappointed. Sure, the premise is a bit thin (but think of all the billable hours her firm's getting!), but once you decide to suspend disbelief and just immerse yourself in the world, it's very entertaining, for about ten hours.

But, Kate Walker, you'll discover, Kate Walker, that your robot engineer becomes really irritating, Kate Walker, really quickly, Kate Walker.

It's definitely a good pickup for $10 or less. I encountered no technical issues on my two-year-old laptop, except that the intense graphics drained the battery in about 45 minutes.