Good adventure games are like good books; you can dive into the story, identify with the protagonists, care about the characters and reread the book from time to time. The original Broken Sword was just that: The presentation was flawless, the story very consistent and incredibly engrossing, and the characters very likeable and believable. When I played the game, I became George Stobbard, and I developed a crush on Nico Collard that has never gone away. More than that, I kept replaying the game at least once per year, just as I reread some of my favorite books.
The second game of the series, however, was a little disappointing. It offered more of the same, but the storytelling was much weaker. I like to compare the two games to the first two Indiana Jones movies. While the first one was a true adventure, the second was more about action and self-mockery. While the third Indiana Jones movie turned out to be better than the second, I didn't have such hopes for the third game in the Broken Sword series, but I was in for a real surprise...
The adventure begins...
George, now a patent lawyer, flies to meet a client in Congo. His plane gets into a freak storm and crash lands. By the time George gets out of the mess and makes it to his client's cave, he finds only a dying scientist. Meanwhile, Nico is sent to interview a computer nerd who claims that the world is about to end. She finds him dead, and all his data is missing.
This is how the new adventure starts, and it will just get better as the game progresses. The two characters follow their own storylines, which slowly converge until they join in the middle of the adventure. The game is all you could wish for. The story, while lacking the pedantic research of the Gabriel Knight series, is very authentic and believable. Even though you'll be dealing with people shooting electricity from their hands and agents from a secret organization that defends the Earth from a UFO invasion, you'll believe that such things can actually exist.
The main reason why the game feels so authentic is the character development and interaction. It's been six years since the last Broken Sword game, and both George and Nico look and behave like six years went past. They are more mature (less immature, in George's case), and their chemistry is as good as any in adventure gaming. All other protagonists are very well portrayed as well, and, with the exception of one whose motives were never fully explained, they all have rich background stories and personalities. Some characters were recycled from earlier games, and they fit seamlessly into the overall story. Along with some familiar locations and memorabilia from the first two games, these characters made the third game feel very familiar.
While much more linear as that in its two predecessors, the story is well written. It is not as complex as the story in other modern adventures, such as Syberia or The Longest Journey, but it is well fleshed out and so engrossing that you'll have problems putting the game down; a rarity in adventure gaming. The presentation makes it feel like you are in a movie, and I found myself being really concerned for the well being of my characters. And once the game was over, I felt sad. It was the kind of nostalgic sadness I felt only twice before in my gaming career, once when finishing the first Gabriel Knight game and once when finishing the first Broken Sword game. It further proved that this title was something special, one of the best-written and best-presented adventures I've ever experienced.
Space Quest meets Sokoban
Not all that glitters is gold, though. This year was particularly harsh to me, as I've played far too many games of stellar potential but poor execution. Unfortunately, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon falls into this category. As good as the story was, I don't see myself replaying the game, thanks to a poor interface and action sequences. The low quality of some puzzles didn't help, either.
The interface is a step back to the early Sierra games, such as Space Quest. At a time when computer mice weren't too common, adventure games had to use a more primitive interface, which involved using the cursor keys to move a character, and the player typing all commands on a prompt. Broken Sword 3 has adopted much of this interface, and only improved on the written commands. Once again, you have to move the character using the cursor keys, and the available commands will appear when you approach a spot where you can perform an action. All you have to do is to push the appropriate button.
The actions are relatively varied here. In addition to interacting with objects, many puzzles will require the character to jump, climb, crawl, run or push crates. While nearly everything is being done in the leisurely manner of adventure gaming, where you can leave George hanging from a ledge for two hours while you're having dinner, they still require a new way of thinking. Instead of looking for objects, you will now be required to actually assess a room in 3D and consider where and how you can move. In some cases, like when you have to sneak around a large castle, this approach allows for some added realism, and you'll feel like you are in the game. Unfortunately, this is the only innovation the interface offers over the old Space Quest games.
Just like in the old Sierra games, the movement method has its drawbacks. All too often I was reminded of the deadly mazes in the old adventures, where I had to move by half steps, always carefully adjusting my position, so that I didn't step out of my path and die. And just like in the games of old, not all walls are perfectly aligned with the cursor keys, and are instead diagonal. This forced my characters to hug the wall and walk partially into it, as I tried my best to keep them moving.
What really made the movement worse, however, was the automatic camera. Unlike many other games, Broken Sword 3 doesn't allow you to move the camera. Instead, the view changes as you move along, and this creates two serious problems. First, in some cases I wanted to know what the rest of a room looked like without moving around. However, I was at the mercy of the game's camera, and couldn't see anything it didn't show me. In one case, this made me overlook a very important piece of a puzzle, and I was stuck at that point for a long time. The second problem is that whenever the camera angle changes so do your cursor keys. I was bumping into walls way too often because of this, and to make matters worse, one particularly frustrating action sequence required me to run through a winding corridor, while being chased by an assassin. Needless to say, thanks to the changing camera angles I kept dying for nearly an hour.
Speaking of action sequences, there are two kinds of them: the frustrating and the very frustrating ones. The frustrating action sequences require you to push a certain button within a very small time frame. Don't worry; you'll always die at least once till you figure out that you were supposed to do something. These sudden deaths were just another reminder of Space Quest, but they weren't as funny. Fortunately, the game is very forgiving: it always restarts just before you die and gives you another chance. The bad news is that sometimes you'll have to sit through a two-minutes unskippable movie before you get another chance at hitting the button just in time. Still, this is not as much of a problem as the very frustrating action sequences, where you have to run or jump around. One of them, a chase through a tunnel, took me almost an hour to complete, and I had to play the final fight through a two-day period, because at the end of the first day I wanted to break the computer into pieces.
Fortunately, these action sequences are far and between, and the rest of the game follows the proven adventure formula of puzzles. With one small exception, all puzzles were very logical and intuitive. While others may complain that this has made the game a little too easy, I think that it just added to the authenticity. However, there was one kind of puzzles that was heavily overused: moving crates around and stacking them on top of each other. I wouldn't mind having this puzzle in a game once or twice, but nearly a dozen times was a little too much. Towards the end, I needed only a single look at the screen to know that I had to move crates again, and I also knew which crate was my ultimate goal. If the designers ever released a 3D Sokoban clone with the game's engine, I'd love to buy it. However, I'd hate to have to move crates in the next Broken Sword game.
Technical considerations
While the hardware requirements are rather steep for an adventure game, I found them justified. What really surprised me, though, was the fact that even though my computer had a video card that was much worse than the required card, the game ran flawlessly, without any choppiness or slowdowns. I do have two gripes, though. First, whenever I finished a game session I had to restart the computer before starting the game again. Considering that the copy protection screen prompted me to restart the computer after installing the game, I assume this is just another way to annoy people who actually purchased Broken Sword. Second, the keys that are supposed to switch between hotspots (items you can manipulate) worked only very rarely, even when I re-mapped them. As a consequence, I had to maneuver myself into a position where only one hotspot was within my reach. In one case, this was impossible (the spots were on top of each other), and I had to restart the game (and the computer) several times to get the keys working.
Gameplay - 8
I've rarely experienced such an engrossing and authentic story in a game. The writing is superb, all characters are very believable, and the presentation leaves nothing to be desired. I quickly grew emotionally attached to the characters, as I fully immersed myself into the story. I laughed at jokes, I was sad to see a good guy die, and I was sweating heavily when I had to sneak around. When the game was over, I sat in front of the computer screen for the next ten minutes, feeling as if something really important just ended. I still feel sad and nostalgic that the game is over. The game should be considered an instant classic by anybody even remotely interested into adventure gaming. Unfortunately, due to the primitive interface, frustrating action sequences and some repetitive puzzles, I cannot justify a rating higher than an eight.
Graphics - 9
The graphics are not as clean and smooth as those in Syberia. In fact, many first-person shooters probably boast better graphics than those in this game. Yet, the people look very lifelike, the surroundings are very authentic, and the special effects aren't out of place. I think that this is the first time 3D graphics really worked well in an adventure game. My only gripe is that one of the main protagonists has a beard that tends to sink into everything it touches. It kept freaking me out to see the beard disappear into the man's chest whenever he bowed his head, or to cut his collar whenever he turned.
Sound - 10
The Broken Sword series was always known for its excellent voiceovers, and this game is no different. All voices are very professional, and they all sound very natural, even though some accents are a little too strong. Other developers should take notice: If they want me to rate their games with a ten for sound, this is what they should do.
The music matches the voiceovers. Once again, the soundtrack to each game in the series was very strong, and such is the case here as well. I'm a sucker for good music in games, and I simply love how the score enhances the overall atmosphere and mood of the game.
Replay value - 3
At ten hours of gameplay, the cost of the game matches the cost of a two-hour movie on a per-dollar basis. While this isn't such a problem in the previous two games of the series, because I would be happy to play them again, I'm not willing to go through the frustrating action sequences for a second time. After finishing the game, I removed it from my hard drive, and maybe I'll get back to it in five years or so, but I have no desire to do it anytime sooner. Adventure games are like books: even when you know the story, you value the storytelling and keep rereading the good books, while shelving the bad ones. I keep replaying a lot of adventure games, but despite the great story, Broken Sword 3 won't be among them.
Overall - 7.5
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon is an outstanding adventure game. The story is engrossing and authentic. While quite linear, it is very well told, and it almost feels like you are watching a movie where you play the lead role. Well fleshed-out characters, great voiceovers, music and graphics further enhance the game. I grew emotionally attached to many of the characters, I felt both joy and sadness while playing the game, and I felt very nostalgic once I finished it. However, all this is tainted by an interface that belongs into the early DOS days and action sequences that have no place in an adventure title. I'm very sad to see another potential classic being spoiled by not so stellar execution.
