Broken Sword 3
(The Sleeping Dragon) - Review 
by zYX/a51


I'm not a big gamer. My patience level has gone down as I've got 
older and I just find most of them frustrating. I can't get my head 
around First Person Shooters and end up getting shot in the back, 
and I can't be arsed reading the instructions to Strategy games and 
just end up clicking icons to see if they do anything. Although I 
will admit to liking the occasional Role Playing Game. 

But... I'm a complete sucker for graphic adventures, so I was intrigued 
to discover a third game to the Broken Sword series was in the pipeline. 
This was certainly a cause for interest even going as far as to letting 
a few moths out of the wallet to buy it! The developers, Revolution, 
have more than a little history in this genre after being responsible 
for Amiga classics such as Lure Of The Temptress and Beneath A Steel 
Sky. And, of course, the first two Broken Sword games more recently 
on the PC and consoles.

Something that did cause me a little concern was the fact this was 
going to be the first Broken Sword in complete 3D. Monkey Island 4 
has previously taken the same path and it ended up as a bit of a 
disaster area. The 3D modelling was shoddy and didn't do justice to 
the 2D artwork of the previous games, especially the stunning Don 
Bluth type animation of the third Monkey Island. The main flaw was 
the storyline and puzzles. You never felt gripped enough to keep 
playing and there was a sense you were just progressing through the 
game as though you had a warped duty to complete it.

Broken Sword 3 doesn't suffer the same problems. The graphics are up 
the high standard you would expect and Revolution use the 3D format, 
along with their already proven skills to tell a story in a movie 
style, with great effect. Carefully thought out camera angles, well 
modelled characters and locations, and cut scenes in just right 
places are the order of the day.

The story continues where Broken Sword 2 left off, give or take a 
couple of years. The two main characters George Stobbart and Nico 
Collard have parted company and are living their everyday lives as 
normal until events cause their fates to be intertwined once again. 
Look, you knew it was going to happen! So expect, as with the previous 
games, you to be controlling either George or Nico depending on which
part of the story you are playing through. I'm not going to give away
any of the plot here as it'll ruin the experience but I will say that 
the Knights Templer turn up again. But that wasn't going to come as a 
surprise to you anyway.

The globetrotting duo take trips to Glastonbury in England, the deepest 
Congo, a castle in Prague and naturally the familiar back streets of 
Paris. Where do they get the air fares from? Saving up Air Miles for 
the last couple of years perhaps!

The script is well written and the voice acting is excellent spiced 
up with humour in just the right areas. A nice touch is Nico's Lara 
Croft attire which she dons in the Congo, but you'll have to play 
the game to see that. The musical scores fill the game with a sense 
of drama, and you can fully believe you are playing inside a movie. 
If 3D rendering was at a stage where we could do photo realistic scenes 
you'd have to keep reminding yourself this was just a game.

Okay, I'm singing this games praises now but there are a few minor flaws.

It's a touch on the easy side. Don't expect too many brain taxing 
puzzles here. Generally any objects you need will be in close reach 
and it will be obvious what you need them for. While this means you 
can continue without being too put off you'll also progress through 
the game very quickly. In fact there doesn't seem to be many puzzles
at all. More could have been done to keep your brain ticking over 
before moving you to the next part of the adventure, and perhaps a 
few red herring objects wouldn't have hurt to throw you off the scent.

My other moan is about the arcade action sequences. At certain 
points in the game you will have to move quickly or jump over a 
few ledges to escape an enemy. While this adds another dimension 
to the gameplay it could have been implemented better. For example 
there is a section of the game which takes place underground below 
a Parisian movie theatre. You have to make a quick exit which involves 
running along a ledge, through a passageway, around a corner and diving 
into a lift. This would be straightforward if not for the fact that as 
you enter the passageway the camera angle suddenly flips and unless 
you push the joypad into the opposite direction at the exact time of 
the flip you'll turn around and run directly into the chasing enemy. 
This is a very frustrating exercise and can take a few attempts to master.

Overall this doesn't ruin the game though. You will complete the game 
relatively quickly due to the lack of puzzles and simple nature of 
them but you'll enjoy the trip every step of the way.

This is definately worth a look if you enjoyed the previous Broken 
Sword and Monkey Island games.


[alan@a51.org.uk - http://www.a51.org.uk]