Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon

The Good
Like the previous titles in the series this game has a solid story underpinning the gameplay. The voice acting is mature and thankfully light on ham. The interaction interface is fairly clunky but doesn't get in the way too much. The presentation is generally neat and tidy.

There are some nice little puzzles in this game. I quite liked the little box puzzles, even though I got the impression they were only there to slow the pace of the game down. They were nowhere near as challenging as Soko-ban, of course, but they did make for an interesting diversion from some of the more tedious areas of the game.

The Bad
This game also has a lot of problems. The most obvious annoyance was the constant and tedious loading screens. Some of the puzzles even had loading sections between two halves of the same puzzle. Coupled with the sudden deaths that occur liberally throughout the game, these annoying multiple minute waits to try and fail another 5 second sequence of gameplay brought me to the brink of giving up on the game altogether. The strong story, characters, and promise of occasionally interesting gameplay elements, were all that kept me going.

There were also graphical glitches. The sound and vocal tracks could rarely keep up with the rest of the game. The characters often flicked in an out of poses making the in game cinematic sequences comical.

The stealth sections of the game, although an interesting idea, were rendered almost unplayable by the ridiculous design decision to couple the control system to the camera - and then cut the camera at the most awkward points sending your player careening around the field like a drunken buffoon.

Several times I found myself guessing the correct solution at first, and yet having that attempt fail for some unknown reason. I'd then try everything else I could possibly imagine until finally, out of exasperation, I'd try the first thing again - only this time the exact same thing would work!

The generic speech also became comical at times. On one memorable occasion, having managed to shut the door on a shotgun toting goon, selecting the key on the door lock gave rise to the rather ironic, "I had no reason to do that," statement from George. This, right before the goon opens the door, without apparently using his hands, and simultaneously gives him both badly animated barrels in the face; shortly followed by an out of sync sound effect.

The Bottom Line
Underneath the stylish gloss, is a buggy game engine. But, under that, is a pretty good game. If you can get past the glitches and the occasional poor design decisions, what remains is certainly enjoyable. However, it's not the best introduction to the series.

The Good
Well, the most important thing about a game, at least in my opinion, is that it's fun to play, and fortunately, Broken Sword 3 possesses this virtue. Another thing of interest to most gamers these days is graphics, and Broken Sword 3 manages to deliver in this area as well. On to the core, the gameplay itself. BS3 has all the ingredients an adventure should have, interesting characters and locations, meaningful conversations, brainteasing riddles ... all this doesn't sound too bad, does it?

The Bad
Well, it isn't. But the game still offers some reasons for complaining. The most painful thing for me, an old adventure game veteran, is the absence of mouse control. Over the course of the development I've read a number of interviews with different chaps from Revolution Software in which they bragged this game was going to reinvent the adventure genre. However, you'll be hardly pressed to actually notice this. Most things have been done before, mainly by the also fully three dimensional Gabriel Knight 3. BS3 is still playable enough, even without a mouse interface, but I missed one more than once and aforementioned GK3 HAD mouse control, so I have to come to the conclusion the reason for it's absence is mere lazyness. That out of the way, the next biggest complaint, FAR less serious from my personal viewpoint, is the weirdo mixture of mythologies featured in BS3. Revolution Software did a great job basing Broken Sword 1 on the myths around the legendary Knights Templar, but the move to mixing in different other mythologies started in BS2 has been brought one step further in BS3, up to a point where it gets somewhat too much. Having a direct connection between artifacts of the Knights Templar, Old-Egyptian temples and the tale of King Arthur is a bit much for my taste. But this is a matter of personal preference, I guess. Finally, there's an abundance of sokoban-style puzzles in Sleeping Dragon, which can get kind of annoying at times.

The Bottom Line
Don't be fooled by the fact that the bad section is twice as big as the good section, despite all downsides BS3 is definitely a game worth playing, it's just not a pure blood adventure and - not uncommon amongst multi-genre adventures - a bit shallow at times. Nonetheless, the sentence I began this review with is still true at it's end.

The Good
If you've read the reviews for other platforms, you're probably wondering about the problems with slow loading they all reported. So the first thing I'm pleased to report is that there is no loading delay in the Windows version. Everything ran seamlessly on my Windows XP system - from the easy installation all the way through to the fabulous finale. That said, let's pick it apart piece by piece.

Continuity
Because it's been quite a few years since Broken Sword 2 was released, I think the developers did a wonderful job bringing the player up to speed. From the main menu you can read background information about George and Nico's two previous adventures. This helps those new to the series get acquainted with them quickly. Inside the game, they will fondly remember past experiences by looking at mementos and talking between themselves. Several older characters make a reappearance in this game, and both George and Nico remember them.
5 stars for Continuity. Story
The "save the world" story doesn't jump out at you all at once. In fact, you have no idea exactly where the adventure is going for about one-third of the game. The plot line evolves very gradually. Playing George and then Nico in separate scenarios keeps you mighty busy - until all at once they're in the same place at the same time (Paris, naturally) - and working towards the same goals. Once they get together, it's magic. There are quite a few times when you must use both characters to solve a puzzle. Because of the ancient artifacts and exotic locations, it felt almost like I was playing Indiana Jones with a female side-kick. But, I don't remember Indy ever having a relationship like George and Nico's. Theirs is a deep friendship, but nothing romantic. As you play, you know solidly how they feel (or don't feel) about each other from their playful sarcasm and dry humor. And the ending is great!
5 stars for Story. Graphics
I give high marks for the characters, scenery, objects and general look overall of Sleeping Dragon. Both Nico and George are very attractive people and their surroundings are realistic and appealing. All of the artwork is cleanly depicted in natural, vibrant colors. Objects are well integrated into the surroundings, but they're not difficult to find. Those with "hot spots" do not jump off the screen at you, so you do need to do the normal amount of exploring. You find those objects by walking near them, so there's really no pixel hunting. It is difficult to match speech with lip movement, but the developers did an impeccable job here. In fact, I can't think of any other game that accomplished it better - or even equally well. In only one spot did I notice a glitch in the graphics. This came at a critical time during what some people call the "tile puzzle". Part of the scenery stretched unnaturally out to the middle of the floor! But, quitting and loading again and it was gone. I can't help but feel that it was my equipment and not the game. But I'll subtract half of a point for that.
4.5 stars for Graphics. Sound & Music
Sound effects add to the realism of a game, and the ones you'll hear in this game are really good. The most memorable ones are of George grunting as he moves yet another box into place, or the "oof" heard if one of them runs into a wall. You'll also hear soft footsteps, the sounds of doors opening or closing, keys going into locks etc. All of them sounded appropriate to the action being performed. I commend the actors and actresses who voiced the characters in the English version. All accents sounded authentic, inflections and tones were accurate for what they were saying, and dialog interchange was entertaining. Kudos, too, to the script writers for giving them great things to say. The music was mood enhancing, especially when something was about to happen or when you accomplished something important.
5 stars for Sound & Music. Gameplay & Puzzles
Some adventurers have complained about the "keyboard only" interface. Well, it did take a bit of getting used to. The arrow keys are used for movement with the Shift key used to make your character run. The space bar brings up the inventory, which is arranged in a circular manner. The Control key lets you crouch and creep (while walking) and the Escape key takes you to the menu. The main keys for interaction are all together on the keyboard (the group W, A, S, D) and their use changes depending upon what you are doing. While I wasn't sure how I'd like going without a traditional mouse, I did get accustomed to it and fared okay. The hard part was during the action segments when reacting quickly enough when the action icons appeared became a gruesome experience. Luckily the game restored you automatically to the beginning of that portion again. Walking straight in one direction caused no problems, but some of the scenes required a diagonal direction, so that became interesting. Although I didn't particularly care for the keyboard gameplay, I can't imagine what it would have been like as a point and click Windows game. There are only a few puzzles, in the true sense of the word. One involves pulling some wine bottles in the correct order (reminiscent of the old classic Countdown). Another is the recreation of a very familiar riddle. Most of the other puzzles are interaction or inventory based - including the infamous moving crates problems. (As a side note, moving crates around to reach inaccessible areas was also common in Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, which I finished a few months ago.) The only time I can remember having that many puzzles of the same type was a multitude of those tedious slider puzzles (and I can't recall which game at the moment). When you do the same thing over and over again, it becomes tiresome - although you do get better at them as you go along.
So, 3 stars for Gameplay.

**The Bad**
There aren't very many things that didn't like ... really. I've included most of them in the above section. A small nuisance involves loading saved games. Instead of getting the Load Game selection on the menu, you must first select Exit and choose whether to save again or not .. and then you'll find yourself at the Main Menu where you can load a game. Why make it so hard to find it? I also wished I could have named my own saved games instead of their "auto-naming" with the place and time. Body language is nice, yes, but Nico acted bored sometimes - reaching her arms up and stretching - even in the middle of an interesting dialog session. What's up with that? And .. who came up with that bogus front cover? Nico and George don't look anything like those people!

**The Bottom Line**
Can you tell I really, really liked this game? My average is 4.5 stars - a pretty high mark for any adventure game these days, I must say. It really surprised me. In addition to my opinions above, BS3 is nice and long .. and did I mention that the ending is great? I highly recommend Sleeping Dragon and sincerely hope there will be a BS4.