Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon

"Another great entry into the Broken Sword series"

''As I picked myself up, all I could hear was the seaseless drone of traffic. Life went on around me, but the explosion was to change my life forever.'' - George Stobbart (Broken Sword) he certainly wasn't wrong.

Revolution revives the Broken Sword series, George and Nico are back and this time in full 3D. Does the game perform? Read on to find out..

INTRODUCTION

Broken Sword games were traditionaly point and click adventure games, mainly using a mouse for the controller. This game howether has been turned into 3D, which makes pointing and clicking out of the equation because you now have direct control of the character, for this I recommend playing the game through with a controle pad, as mouse is not supported and playing with the keyboard is very awkward.

Fans of the series will wonder about Georges new looks, he isn't so much of a skinny guy anymore but slightly older and defanatly and more built. Don't fear though as you'll get used to him like this. Previous Broken Sword players will be pleased to know that some of the areas in previous games are once again explorable and there are some returning characters too, which is always a good thing right?

STORY

The basic plot of the game revolves around George and co trying to stop a villain named Sussaro from releasing an enourmous power from so called 'dragon lines', an energy which travels throught the planet. This takes them once again around the world to various locales including Glastonbury England to Egypt and of course France (wouldn't be Broken Sword without France eh?) The Knights Templar are once again center of attention and their past sets the stage for our adventurers. There are many references to legends and myths as usual so if you find them interesting, especially the King Arthur stuff, then Broke Sword 3 will put a smile on your face.

GAMEPLAY

The game is very similiar to the previous games in terms of gameplay, you just control the character directly this time. When you get close to an object you will see the buttons in the lower right (corresponding to buttons on your controller) change to reflect what you can do. For example if you stand next to a lever, the classic 'cogs' and if you press that button, you guessed it, you'll pull the lever. In another situation the same button could change into a symbol of 'lips' showing you that you can talk with the person you are next to. It's very simple really. When you walk near an interactable object, a small shiney icon will appear above it, making it pretty obvious in some puzzles what needs to be done. I think the game could of done without them, but maybe Revolution wanted an easier game as to welcome newer players.

Some elements new to this game are the block pushing sections. Quite a lot of the time you'll come across a ledge you can't reach, so you have to move some stone blocks around various obsticles so that you can climb them and reach the ledge. To some they might be pretty tedious as the salution to these puzzles are quite apparent, but you still have to push all these blocks around to get through the area.

There are other gameplay elements which are new to the series, such as stealth. Yup, stealth made it into Broken Sword too. You'll have to evade guards and their dogs on a few occations, but it doesn't proove too difficult as the AI can't generaly see that far infront of them. Some cutscenes will require you to press a button quickly, failing in this often results in death, in which case the game quickly loads the scene again for you to try again. It's quite satisfying getting these first time as the effect kind of wears off once you know what happens.

It should be noted that the game lacks the ability to skip any dialogue though, which can be a pain as some of them just repeat themselves like if you accidently examine the same item twice or talk about the same subject again.

GRAPHICS

The graphics in this game aren't the best you'll ever see, but they're not bad either. The game is very colourful and fits in place with previous Broken Sword games well. Character models are pretty good, George and Nico even sport new outfits when they travel to other countries so you won't get bored of the same 'skin'. Some of the areas in the game look lovely, with great detail implemented, while other times you'll come across bland hallways with dead ends and no decorations or anything. Thankfully these are minimul though and all the important areas are very well thought out.

TECHNICAL

Players should be warned before they start the game that it won't run while you have any refresh rate fix programs running (for Windows 2000 and XP users) ie RefreshForce. A good way to get around this is to set the game to run in a resolution you don't use for other games and have refreshforce or whatever your using, disable the 60hz fix for that resolution. This way you won't have to keep fiddling with the settings and restarting your computer in some cases just to play the game. Also you can enter your DirectX config by clicking Start>Run... then typing in ''dxdiag'' and pressing enter. this will bring up the DirectX config. Click on the far right tab labeled 'More Help' then click the button called 'Override..' enter the overide value of 60 and then you can close this down and play the game. This should be the only trouble you get with the game so you can relax now :)

OVERALL

I came away from Broken Sword 3 a happy man, the game really picks up torwards the later stages and it meets a satisfying end, for which you are rewarded some production art to gaze at. I think the game will be enjoyable mainly by previous Broken Sword players as alot of the time there are references to the past which you'll not understand if you never played Broken Sword 1 or 2. Those of you looking for loads of action and fighting won't find it here, the games all about the plot and puzzle solving, something older gamers will be glad to hear. If you enjoyed the last 2 games, Broken Sword 3 only gets better and you owe it to yourself to try this.

8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/23/03