Overall most helpful review

Posted on: January 6, 2009

hansschmucker

Games: 843 Reviews: 3

A classic moves to 3D... and gets many things right (and some things wrong)

Overview Broken Sword 3 - The Sleeping Dragon is an attempt to bring the beautiful world of Broken Sword into the 3D age and to console gamers. On the whole, the attempt was successful, but there are changes to the gameplay that point and click fans might not appreciate. Graphics After the beautifully hand-drawn backgrounds of BS1 and 2, it might seem like a step backwards to try to recreate the atmosphere that made the previous titles so great. But nothing could be further from the truth. BS3 succeeds admirably at recreating that feeling with beautiful environments and perfect lighting. If anything, it adds to it, as previous instalments were limited by the amount of 2D animation that could be put into a game. Those limitations are gone and the animations are wonderfully smooth and lively. Even in comparison to modern games, the environments are stunning, however you can see a few rough edges on the characters when they're too close to the camera and during the cutscenes. Speaking of which. The cutscenes are all done using the ingame engine, sometimes in realtime, sometimes prerendered. While the video quality is very high for such an old title, it means that there is sometimes a change in resolution, that could have been avoided. There are very few customization options: Only resolution and color depth can be set. However, there isn't really any need for anything else as the game will work beautifully even on lower end PCs. Widescreen resolutions are possible and the game automatically adapts to the different aspect ratio. Rating 4.5/5 : Almost perfect. Sound The voice acting is still wonderful. Sometimes, the characters sound a little too calm, as they did in BS 1/2, but the overall experience is great. Likewise, the music is nothing to get excited about, but it sets the scenes up beautifully. Rating 4/5 : Not exciting, but serviceable. Controls BS3 is a pure console game when it comes to controls. Instead of fixed controls, like they are common for PC games, BS3 uses four context-sensitive action buttons. When you are close to an object, the actions for each button will be shown in the lower right of the screen. This also includes generic actions like "climb", "jump" and so on. Generally, this works really well, but it requires you to always check the bottom right before pressing the button. Character movement is done with the arrow keys and directions are relative to the camera. However the typical problems when the camera changes don't appear as keeping a button pressed will retain the direction, even if the camera changes. There are also some scripted sequences when you will have to press a certain button at the correct time. Not very interesting, but you have enough time, so it doesn't get frustrating. Rating: 3/5. A dedicated control scheme would have been more fitting. Gameplay BS3 contains many of the elements that made the previous games so great. Logical object combinations. Useful dialog. An interesting, but still easy to follow story with a good amount of background information. Sadly, there have been some additions that are less welcome... apparently the developers were very fond of Sokoban, and many puzzles center around pushing crates in the correct order. Likewise there are some climbing "puzzles", where the only real task is to find the way that Revolution wanted you to take. Then there are the stealth missions, that try to borrow from Metal Gear Solid, but are a lot less satisfying. All in all, the gameplay is still fine, as the type of task alternates frequently, but without these additions, which apparently were only made to prolong the game, the experience would have been even better. Rating: 3/5 Some parts are perfect, others just get on your nerves. Conclusion Eventhough the gameplay has flaws, BS3 is still one of the best 3D adventures, as Revolution has succeeded in bringing BS1/2's great atmosphere over to this new installment. The only real problem with it is, that it could have been even better. Rating 4/5

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Posted on: January 24, 2009

FatalKitsune

Verified owner

Games: 83 Reviews: 9

Broken Sword: Crate Pushing Adventure

Those wary of the point 'n' click adventure genre; do not start here. The first two Broken Sword games were masterpieces, combining an intriguing story, competent voice work and logical puzzles to create memorable adventure games. In the previous two titles (and in this one) you take the role of George Stobbart, a patent lawyer who seems to regularly stick his nose where it doesn't belong and as a result, winds up repeatedly saving the world (or at least France). The previous games, pixel-packed adventures, were great because of their logical puzzles and intriguing story. The third entry makes a leap into 3D and while it's great for the overall presentation, it's bad for the gameplay. While there are still a healthy number of logical item-usage puzzles (though a few of these are rather insane, like jamming elevator doors with a bottle opener [!]) twords the end of the game they seem to be almost entirely replaced by crate pushing. No matter where George ends up going it seems there's a big stack of crates arranged carefully. Intriguing. Fun at first, these puzzles quickly become tiresome. It's especially frustrating considering that two crate puzzles are the last thing you'll do in the game; "Well, we'd better hurry up to that epic final confrontation with our nemisis... but wait! Let's move some crates into position first." I don't understand why there are so many of these. Clearly, the developers were capable of creative thought as there are two other puzzles in the game that are really rather clever, one involving a riddle and another involving reflecting lasers with crystals. The story also seems to have taken a hit. It's hard to discuss without giving away spoilers, but the climax of the game is a fair letdown. While the end is disappointing the majority of the plot will keep you playing through the game - if you can endure the crates. Overall, if you're looking for a good adventure game, head over to Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror, which is shorter but overall a much more satisfying adventure. Only fans of the series should give this one a play.

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Posted on: January 10, 2009

AlexY

Verified owner

Games: 821 Reviews: 7

Good, but not a Revolution :)

The Broken Sword series is probably one of the best adventure series out there. Wonderful atmosphere, memorable characters, beautiful locations, intricate plot and puzzles, puzzles, puzzles. The first Broken Sword was an excellent addition to the adventure genre, and the second lived up to its name and provided more of the same. But how does the third add up? Does adding a third dimension and changing the basic controls enhance or worsen the experience? Well, yes and no. (Word of warning; I might not remember some parts of the game very clearly - I played it through two times on the PC and the PS2, but it was some time ago, so don't go bashing if I spell something wrong or anything. :) ) Let's deal with the 'bad' parts first. Broken Sword is considered an adventure game. Point and click was the preferred method, and it worked as with any adventure game out there, and the decision to describe the topics in dialogue with images, not with words, was both economical and a nice touch. With The Sleeping Dragon, however, Revolution wanted to exchange the vivid 2D with vibrant 3D. At first, it isn't at all bad - the cartoonish look is still kept, and the animations are pretty fluid, and it runs on most low-level CPUs. The real problems start when our protagonist George needs to move. After the (very exciting and humorous) opening cutscene, the player needs to guide George around a plane. A very *tight* plane. It wasn't a problem for me to figure out how to move in a tight space with fixed cameras, but I'm a console gamer, used to Resident Evil schemes, and those used to the PC keyboard might suffer. Strike that, will suffer. Because just when you think that the intro plane sequence is a minor design flaw (shouldn't it be more logical to have a wide open space to familiarize with the controls first?), the second change is apparent. Since the mouse cursor is basically not used, there is no standard point and click interaction - the ways to interact with the environment and items (examine, use, pick up, etc.) are all tied to a certain button at certain times. These buttons are always shown in the lower part of the screen. So, every time you think you need to do something, you need to check the button order to see what you need to press - because it can change (at least I remember so). For example, if you examine a door and notice there's something stuck in it, the examine button might change into 'pick up', or a different option might appear, but you could very well miss that. It's impractical. Another thing that follows you throughout the whole game are boxes. Whole lots of them. There's lots of pulling, pushing, climbing, jumping on, jumping off, jumping over, and all of these actions require a button input, which is easily missed, because you are by default concentrated to the center of the screen. Half of the time I wondered why I was pushing the third box in a row in the last 10 minutes - it just felt completely unnecessary. Have the developers ran out of ideas? Who can say. On a side note, I've heard of some nasty bugs and glitches in the PC version, but I haven't noticed anything that ruined the gameplay for me while I was playing. The PS2 version was laggy and full of loading times, but that is now beside the point. The point is, The Sleeping Dragon sometimes feels as an unfinished product. Thankfully, those times are scarce and not really noticeable for the casual or story-driven gamer. This is where we get to the good stuff. When you disregard the dimension change and the controls, The Sleeping Dragon opens up to you. This is the first game where you play as our favorite French journalist Nicole Collard alongside the series' regular hero, George Stobbart. Mysteries are abound, death, intrigue, twist and turns, secret organizations, traps, you name it, the full adventure process. The story itself isn't completely original, but it doesn't try to be - it's reminiscent of Indiana Jones one time and Monkey Island at the next, mixed up with a familiar, yet somehow more serious attitude. The characters are lifelike and memorable, and the voice acting is consistent. The setting is still the essential Broken Sword mood, and nothing has actually been changed. If you liked the pace and atmosphere of the first two, you'll like this one as well. The dialogue topics are still presented as pictures, and flows well. The inventory has been changed to resemble the dialogue tree and also works. Another addition are semi-interactive cutscenes that kick up the pace a bit and advance the story in a different direction. It's basically pressing the right button at the right moment. It's not too hard, but it might not suit your expectations if you played other games with similar elements (this *is* primarily an adventure game, after all). I like it, but this is one of those elements that are disputable - on a technical basis it's inconsistent with the majority of the game, but it's a nice change of pace after spending some time walking around and trying to figure out a puzzle. Speaking of puzzles, The Sleeping Dragon is well-balanced. Every now and then there's a harder puzzle, but it usually means solving all of the rest of the puzzles scattered around the level, which often results in having the correct item(s) to proceed. Some might be a little bit hard to figure out just because of the tricky camera position or simply missing an element on the screen. (It's stupid to say, but pixel hunting might actually apply here...) All in all, none of them were boring and every puzzle connects certain elements of the current level in surprisingly effective ways. Really, the best compliment an adventure game can get is that it has a great story - and The Sleeping Dragon fulfills that criteria. The rest depends on you - if you can get used to the gamepad controls (as I assume most of you on GOG are mainly PC users) and the sometimes clunky box puzzles, there is an entertaining several hours of gaming for you in this game, maybe even longer if you like to check every nook and cranny. Also, how can you not like the 'lawyer-that-can-never-sit-still-at-home' George and 'femme-fatale-sarcastic-AlloAllloaccent' Nicole? :D

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Posted on: January 12, 2009

cal74

Verified owner

Games: 1254 Reviews: 9

With flaws but... so enjoyable anyway

The Broken Sword serie has always been one of my favourite. I still remember today my first steps in the first episode and its fantastic animated sequences. When I first saw the screenshots for this third episode, I must admit I was quite worry since, at the time (and still today) I didn't find adventure games in full 3D much enjoyable. This third episode has some of the issues which I regularly faces in recent adventure games : simplified puzzles, less detailled graphics compared to 2D adventure games, useless platform passages. Worst of all, the control schemes using the keyboard instead of the mouse and requesting to move near an object to be able to use it is a knightmare. Such great games as Grim Fandango or the third Gabriel Knight have suffered from this. But... By sticking to what made the 2 first episodes such great games (great scenario and atmosphere, characters you get attached to, detailled historical background), it was a real pleasure to go through this adventure. I started with a 3 star rating but if I must admit that I never felt frustrated while playing the game (except for the controls in some specific locations) and, like all great adventure games, I finished it several times just for the pleasure of sharing some addtional time with George and Nico. Anyway, if you like the previous episodes, go for this one without an inch of hesitation (especially at this price) and let me recommend you other games (and let's hope GOG will be able to get its hands on these sooner or later) : The Gabriel Knight serie The first episode is the one with the best reputation but you should really try the second episode which has clearly been underrated at the time of its release. As a whole, this serie has the same qualities that we can find in the Broken Sword games : lovely characters, great puzzles and rich background. The Discworld serie Three games which made me discover one of the best auhtor in the storytelling world. If you know the books and havn't played the games yet, find these asap. If you know the games and havn't read the books, go to the nearest bookstore asap. If you know both, you already know how lucky you are. I could also talk about the Lucasarts games (those nights spent on Monkey Island or Day Of The Tentacle) and other Sierra series, Syberia (I & II) or The Longest Journey but these you probably already know about.

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Posted on: July 11, 2009

Hartvigson

Verified owner

Games: 410 Reviews: 1

A big disappointment

I played the two first games and liked them but this part is not good at all. Graphics is OK but the game was probably made for a console and ported over to the PC. You play the game using two sets of buttons from they keyboard containing four keys each. It is NOT possible to use the mouse. To make things even worse somebody decided to add action sequencies to the game. These can be very/extremely difficult. I suck at playing platform games and anything else that requires good hand/eye coordination making this game (an adventure game....) impossible to finish. I am really sorry to say that my firm recommendation is to avoid this game.

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