Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon

The Good
George and Nico make one great couple. The dialogues, coupled with great speech quality and the very well thought of script really get you in the game. The graphics are great, at least for an adventure game. The music is equally well done.

The Bad
As others have already pointed out, there are a few interface issues here and there. They are not really that troublesome; its more of a problem getting used to the new (innovative) interface. Not using a mouse for an adventure game is sort of awkward, but it works nevertheless. The damned crates problem is another story. Just like the jump and hung mechanics, it seems the Revolution team got too excited with the new mechanics they were able to introduce to the game so they put puzzles related to them just about everywhere.

The Bottom Line
The game is nothing short of amazing. Sure, they are are some minor problems here and there, but don't let it stop you. If you like adventure games, you must play this game.

The Good
I personally liked the HUGE ENTHUSIASM before the release of the game! Adventure Gamers from all over the world were expecting this game from the day it was announced that "BROKEN SWORD 3" is in the making. Previews and interviews with the game designers and creators started taking place long before a release date was even announced!!! An so it landed in stores, on a November day in 2003. Even if it was very clearly stated in interviews and previews, that the game wouldn't follow its CLASSIC predecessors in interface, graphics and gameplay, I was anxious to see what did REVOLUTION SOFTWARE create. I had pre-ordered my copy from the "ADVENTURE COMPANY" website and I received the game 2-3 days after the official release date in the US, which was November 17, 2003. When I first got the game, I noticed the nice artwork on the front and inside cover of the game box, not the screenshots, just the artwork. The game is rich in storyline and dialogues, which is always a big plus for any adventure game. Action sequences are spreaded here and there in the game, a very nice touch. The puzzles were rich and reminded me a lot of the puzzles in "GABRIEL KNIGHT 3", but I will talk about the puzzles later. Excellent characters were created by the REVOLUTION SOFTWARE'S team and you get to control two(2) of them, which I think is always a plus to a game, too. And not to mention the graphics! Sometimes stunning and very very graphical presentation of places like the Castle in Prague and the airplane hanging from the edge of the cliff in Congo at the beginning of the game. It was a game full of suspense and overall REVOLUTION STUDIOS presented a UNIQUE, NEW approach to ADVENTURE GAMING and I liked that.

The Bad
Overall, it was a well designed game, with the only blemish I' ll say being the MOVING BOXES PUZZLES!?! In the beginning it was OK, but by the end of the game I think there were at least ten(10) if not more puzzles based on moving boxes/items!!! It looks like the designers run out of ideas and trying to stretch the game by just inserting these puzzles all over the place. It was a considerably irritating experience, especially because it was to EASY!!! And I continue from where I left above, the game in general was very EASY to complete. It took me around 25-30 hours total to finish the game. That is nothing compared to CLASSIC adventure games like "BLACK DAHLIA" (it took me days) "INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE OF ATLANTIS" (it took me weeks) and "GABRIEL KNIGHT 3". Other than that I don't think I found anything else that is bad.

The Bottom Line
It is definitely a MUST HAVE for ADVENTURE GAMERS. I think that with this release REVOLUTION SOFTWARE established itself as a benchmark company for this Game Genre, for the beginning at least of the new millennium!!!

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.