Broken Sword:
The Sleeping Dragon is now shipping to impatient gamers everywhere.
We all know the series. One, if not both of the first two games,
appears on everyone’s top 10 list. Not surprising, that considerable
hype built up over a spanking new Broken Sword game. And the noise
wasn’t all cheers. Earlier this year, Charles Cecil achieved sudden
infamy by boldly stating, “point and click is dead, long live
adventure games!!” Adventure game regulars groaned in a collective
fit of angst. Then the series uber fans reacted and it wasn’t
pretty. They seemed ready to storm Revolution if even one little
pixel of their series was disturbed. Now, I had the opportunity to
talk at length with the series’ producer, Steve Ince. After we
chatted, I felt the odds were pretty good that Revolution knew what
it was doing with the game and things sounded great. But as they
say, the proof is in the tasting. So after ripping my copy of Broken
Sword 3 out of a now mangled brown envelope, I installed it in
record time. I confess, that while I was waiting for the game to
load up, I did mutter, “They better NOT have messed this up!!”
OK OK, so I am
a fan too, what can I say?
The game
started up and my first thought was, “this looks sweet! It sure
looks like the other Broken Sword games. No that’s wrong, this looks
better than the other games!”
I was
completely hooked by those first cinematics that flickered across my
screen. The graphics in this game are amazing. If this is the new 3D
- bring it on. It has all the crisp looks of 2D hand rendered
graphics, but with the freedom of movement and exploration that only
comes with 3D. Imagine a view across the rooftops of Paris. At its
heart, you see the sweeping lines of the Eiffel
Tower.
You’ll know it in a heartbeat; it’s on every box of Broken Sword 1.
The storm blackened sky flashes with lightening, as you descend into
some ancient hidden place. The familiar Knights Templar emblems
appear on the walls, dimly lit by flickering torches. A robed figure
emerges from a darkened doorway. He speaks of many things to two
supplicants below, but one thing strikes hard. If they should fail
in their mission, it means Armageddon. Yes, you heard the man,
absolute destruction, end times…goodbye earth, hello oblivion. But
wait a minute, the last time we ran into these guys was in Broken
Sword 1 and they were supposed to have been utterly destroyed.
Whatever is going on, it sure doesn’t bode well for George and Nico.
Speaking of which, where is our fearless doe eyed reporter and what
happened to George? The scene shifts dramatically. With a swirl of
leaves, we are now soaring high above canopy of trees. We find
George sitting in the cockpit of a ramshackle plane, flying deep
into the heart of the Amazon. Why? Well to see a man about a patent,
of course. Where else would a corn fed
Idaho based
attorney see a client? Of course things go from good to bad,
alarmingly fast. George soon finds himself in a smoking plane,
teetering precariously at the edge of a vast precipice. Will our
hero survive? Where is Nico and what do the Templars have to do with
any of this? I am not telling you. But this is the beginning of one
grand adventure and a rollicking fun game.
How
did they make it look so good?
The graphics in
this game are just brilliant. I don’t think a game has looked this
gorgeous since Syberia. The look of the game, the variety of
environments and atmosphere grab you from the start and keep you
going even if you hit a tough spot of two. The colorations are
unmistakably Broken Sword. Revolution knows what works and retained
the bright colors and subtle shadowing that are hallmarks of the
series. Even the ambient lights in a scene, are never white but are
subtle shades of light teal, pink and other jewel tones. The game
looks as lush as you want it to be. You will find yourself entranced
every time you see a new view or a different place. The best thing
is you have complete freedom of movement within the game. And that
is wonderful, because this is a game you really want to roam around
in. Poke around to your hearts content, just like you always wanted
to in the earlier games. Try doors, go over walls, walk around the
place. You can even dig through every pile of alley trash you see.
Now doesn’t that bring back some good memories? Ahhh. In short, if
you are craving fabulous graphics, you won’t be disappointed.
Will George
and Nico ever get it together?
Early on in the
development of this game, Revolution floated a variety of test
renderings for George, Nico and a few other characters. There a
number of styles represented, most of which drew grumpy responses
from gamers. I got my first look at George in the opening cinematics
and the man looks good. Now, I love the cartoon styled graphics of
those earlier games, but George looked a bit too angular at times.
Maybe too much like a caricature. In this version he is pretty cute,
a bit rugged with really great hair. Don’t take my word for it –
wait till you see him. I think you’ll be happy. Nico is the same
gorgeous, no nonsense girl we knew before. She is still a reporter,
but hasn’t seen George for a while. It seems they kind of drifted
apart after his return to the states. But they are together again to
save the world one more time. You will run into a rich array of
characters as you follow our heroes through the game. There are so
many, that one review couldn’t possibly mention them all. There are
some new faces in the cast, who really stood out. I was particularly
taken with one lyrical Irish poet, slash/ talk show host. He had
some of the best lines in the game. Glastonbury, a place packed with
new age stores and mystics had a great range of characters. The
Irish wag, a cheeky upper crust flirt and her shotgun-toting papa
were all great characters. In Paris, you meet a testosterone driven
skate boarder, a spooky traffic cop, an embittered retiree and a
nosy neighbor. Well the list goes on. If you thrill over
well-populated games, you will love all the folks in Sleeping
Dragon. But wait there’s more. You will even see some familiar faces
from past games. And there are a few that will really take you by
surprise. With all this good news – there is one sad note. Dwayne
and Pearl ended up on the cutting room floor this time. But, you
can’t have everything. Plus, with all these new and old faces, you
won’t get too lonely. Of course, it is always the voice talent that
truly brings a character to life. In Sleeping Dragon, they were
exceptional. Rolfe Saxon, flawlessly reprises his role as George
Stobbart. Sarah Crooke
shines as the new
Nico. The remaining characters feature a rich diversity of accents
and styles, which just adds another layer to this lush game.
Pretty Pictures, Witty Exchanges and More
Revolution has
always been crafted brilliant dialogue. Even in games that missed
the mark a bit on graphics or some other area – they all had these
jazzy lines and quirky characters. The Sleeping Dragon has some of
the best lines of the bunch. The dialogue is more adult in tone and
has some choice double entendres. I think the writers stepped it up
just a notch more in this game. George still has plenty of those
facetious observations that always make me grin. The classic give
and take between he and Nico was not overlooked. In particular,
there is a running tiff between George and Nico, about whether she
would go blonde. It got me laughing every time. It seems that, Petra
the ultimate bad girl and favorite evil minion to dark overlords
everywhere, really caught George’s eye. I guess you could say she
would be pretty hot, if it weren’t for that little sadistic killer
quirk of hers. Oh well, what can George do – he’s just a guy.
Whether it’s the guards at the proverbial “evil lair” or the
conspiracy obsessed traffic cop, the dialogue bits added so much fun
to this game. To make sure you don’t have to miss a single wisecrack
or snappy exchange, Revolution thoughtfully provided an option for
subtitles.
As for
ambiance, you will love the music in this game. Revolution had new
music composed specifically for Sleeping Dragon, but melodies from
the earlier games were woven in as well. The music never
overwhelmed. It would creep into a scene or swell up during a
cinematic. And the variety was amazing. I do love a game with great
music, so I was a very happy camper indeed. There were the usual
assortment of sound effects, subtle yet well used through out the
game. The sound levels are all adjustable from the options menu. So,
if any are not to your liking, finesse away.
Challenges
Along The Way
The 3D build
not only allows for freedom of movement within the game, it also
allows for some puzzles that are unique to the Broken Sword series.
It is important to make a note of the interface though. One of the
features of the game is that instead of using a smart cursor,
significant items give off a sparkly glow when you come across them
in the game. If there is more than one item to interact with, one
will glow more brightly than the others. Your character will
interact with this one, unless you use the page up/down keys to
cycle to another item. You need to familiarize yourself with this
feature, as it is critical to one of the very first puzzles, as well
as a few others in the game.
In addition to
the standard inventory based puzzles, there are some stand alone and
physical puzzles. The stand alones are fairly unique. I really
enjoyed the few that were in the game, would have enjoyed a few
more. By physical puzzles, I mean ones that you solve by directly
interacting with a challenge in a physical way. For example, in one
place you have to negotiate your way along a series of ledges across
a mountain face. All of the moves are done automatically by choosing
the available action. The puzzle isn’t in the movement, it is in
figuring out where to go next. During your gameplay, you will creep,
sneak, climb, hang, leap across and drop all by using an automatic
action choice. There are some others that require you to direct Nico
in a series of moves or have her assist you. When these moments
occur, she pops up in your inventory. You will need to “select” her,
when you need her help. Others are stealth type puzzles – where you
have to sneak around or past game obstacles such as lights,
patrolling guards and such. There are a few timed puzzles that I
will discuss later in my review within the review section. One type
of interactive puzzle was great – but it got repetitive. I would
call this “one crate too many”. Throughout the game, George or Nico
have to strategically move crates to build stepped ladders of a sort
or move them out of the way to get to an interactive item. The first
4 or 5 times it was fun. But, I was a bit tired of them by the end
of the game. On the other hand, the configurations did get more
complex as the game advanced and they were not stressful. Just could
have used fewer of them in the game.
Getting Around The Game
Well Charles
Cecil did tell us point and click was dead. So long, little mouse.
As it is - I had no problem settling in. The action/inventory
interface is the best. Better than the mouse, in my opinion and less
time consuming. With one button push you can pull out an item that
will combine with something else in your inventory. Then cycle
through to the item you want to use it with, one click and its done.
No carrying the item and uh oh is it right click or left click that
combines things. oops it went back into inventory. Grrr have to pick
it up again, Grrr the inventory bar closed on me. Here you use the
arrow keys or the page up/page down to quickly roll through the
inventory. Exceptional feature. The action selection was so easy.
You have action choices in the bottom right of the screen. There are
4 circles with anywhere from one to four actions available at any
time. You select the one you want by choosing the corresponding key
of W, A, S or D. For the many of you who have played all the classic
Lucas Arts games, these keyboard controls will be very familiar.
The arrow keys move you. Space bar brings up inventory or puts it
away. The "shift key makes you run, left control makes you creep. It
is easier than it sounds. Plus, You can also experiment and
re-configure any of the keyboard functions.
One thing was
missing for me in the game though. Since you use the arrow keys to
move and there are only 4 directions to choose from. Precise
movements were hard to achieve, particularly when running or when
camera angles suddenly shifted as you moved into a new scene. A lot
of games give you the mouse to use to turn your character, as you
direct him with the arrows. Gives you just that much more finesse
with the movements. However, I have no idea whether this game engine
allowed for that interface. My thoughts are it probably didn’t. It
didn’t matter that much overall, but there are a few puzzles that
are fairly simple, EXCEPT for the interface. You have a short time
to move and it is very difficult to get George to move exactly where
you need him to go. My sole frustration point in the game came with
such a challenge. I think that a game pad for the PC would have
eliminated this one headache. So if you have one, you might want to
plug it in for this game.
And now we pause for a moment
Remember I said
there was a review within a review? Well here it is. I loved this
game. I did grow to detest, one running challenge in the game. I am
still not sure sure if it was a game glitch with my PC or just ill
conceived. But, there it is. The rest of the game was a blast. BUT,
for those who are traditionalists. Some things need to be noted. I
know that much was made of possible action events. They were in fact
not action at all. You just have to select the right choice when it
pops up in your option circles. In fact, these moments are easier
than similar ones in Broken Sword 1 and 2. Can anyone say, “Dodge
the evil goat”?
However – to me
there are aspects of the game that qualify as action particularly
for more traditional minded adventure gamers. Its easy action by
gaming standards, but it is action. These are also “you die”
moments. Now true you don’t have to re-load the game. But, you have
to move accurately and without much hesitation, or the timer will
run out and you will be killed. The end game also has some dodging
and weaving. It’s not hard at all, but its there. Now comes the
re-assurance part. Many of you will hit these parts and not even
blink. Some others will gripe a little and probably do fine after a
few tries. Then there are the ones that will say “what the!?” They
will decide to ask for and get a save. They’ll get all happy again
with Broken Sword 3 and get back to enjoying this great game. Well
that’s what I did. The story and characters, graphics, settings and
atmosphere are superb. You will forget about that minor headache –
be thrilled with the game overall and life goes on. But if you know
your limits as a gamer and your interests will not sit well with
such a thing in your game. Consider yourself cautioned.
All things must End
What else can I
say? Did the game have some items I think could have been done a bit
better or perhaps differently? Well, sure. I still want them to work
on direct control that has more finesse, I would like a few less
crates and I really miss Dwayne and Pearl. Bottom line – so what. I
can’t think of a better way to spend a day or two or even five than
with this game. The graphics were amazing; the huge variety of
characters and trademark Broken Sword dialogues made my day. And the
story? Well it wraps up all the loose ends from game one and ends
with a fabulous twist on an old tale. Revolution kept Rolf on to
play George and brought in the best Nico yet. Music – I want the CD.
What’s left to say? Nothing except, I love this game, it’s an
instant classic, a heck of a fun romp and a gorgeous contender for
game of the year. Oh and who said it had to be a trilogy? This
can’t be the end for George and Nico. Bring on Broken Sword 4!!
Review Grade:
A
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2004
GameBoomers
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