Cyberia is an interactive, narrative-dominant adventure game best known for its stunning SGI pre-rendered visuals. When this disc from Xatrix and Interplay first hit the scene on PC about one year ago, it received massive praise for generating a cinematic story with lifelike, polygonal characters. Indeed, the graphical presentation is worthy of such a commendation. Cyberia's prime highlight is its impressive eye candy. At times, it does feel as though you are playing through a Hollywood movie, making splendid use of scenes with entertaining dialogue. The rest of the package is where the whole endeavor falls apart. Its gameplay see-saws between puzzle-solving a la Myst and action sequences composed entirely of Sewer Shark FMV shooting.

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You begin by selecting among three difficulty levels for the two slices of gameplay, then, upon viewing a short introduction, are thrown into the depressing yet fascinating world of Cyberia. Zak is the last hope for a war-torn world, assigned a life-or-death mission to destroy a deadly weapon. The urgency expressed in this plot is, er, not reflected much at all in the game itself. Slowly explore the cavernous complex, interrupted every now and then by a talkative cut-scene or antiquated FMV-fest, and work your way through a linear and rather forgettable storyline with few surprises. A high level of difficulty may equate to some short-term replayability, but, like your average sci-fi flick, there is no real point in rewinding again from the start.

Printed in Issue #35, March 1996