Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon

The Adventure Company has been churning adventure games out hand over fist these days. Mostly the front man for various developers, the Adventure Company has published titles from many different companies, with definite mixed results. Many of their games released recently have been fairly mediocre, with the exception of Syberia and Post Mortem, but adventure enthusiasts are so happy to see any adventure games on the shelves that sales of these wholly average games have been consistently good. However, with the release of Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, fans may no longer be satisfied with mediocrity, when they see what an adventure game can and should be.

This is the third entry in the continuing saga of Parisian Nico and American George, who first appeared in Broken Sword, back in the mid 90's. A traditional "point-n-click" type adventure in third person, the game featured good dialogue and voice-acting, lots of puzzles, a touch of romance and a compelling story. The humor was a trifle odd at times, but mostly it worked well. With this new game, Nico and George are back, but the gamestyle has changed a bit, mostly for the better.

The first change players will notice is the movement of the characters, which is keyboard driven. This is similar to the movement in Grim Fandango, except that for some reason, the direction keys change when the character changes screens during movement and is often facing a different way, with the keys now opposite what they were before. This is confusing. Aside from this, the movement works well and the characters move smoothly across the screen.

The interface is completely different from any I've seen in a PC game, and looks like it was directly ported from a console version. Multiple actions are assigned to the letters "W, A, S, D", and instead of players memorizing certain actions for certain letters, they must choose the correct action as indicated by a picture icon. These actions are in two basic groups of either looking/listening/talking actions, or jumping/pushing/climbing ones. This takes a bit getting used to, but again, it works well most of the time, except for times when quick action is required at certain designated moments.

Despite being touted as the dreaded "action/adventure" true adventure fans despise, the action elements here simply mean that players get to feel involved in the game in a way that most adventure games don't allow. Nico and George interact with their environment and don't just react to it, thus imparting a feeling of immersion to players. They can climb and jump platforms, and also push and pull boxes. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but it does really add to the experience.

At certain instances, though, quick action is required, and mostly that means Nico/George die the first time, because the action required isn't advertised. Each of these scenes has a "second-chance" (and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, you get the picture) feature that allows endless replay of the scene until successful. This is slightly annoying, and a better design would have been to allow a bit more time to actually figure out the desired action, with several options available that would result in different results, which would be more interesting.

The game looks fabulous. The characters are wonderfully animated, and move very realistically. It's very enjoyable watching them move across the screen. The backgrounds and items are generally good, too, but have a slight shimmer to them at times.

As good as the game looks, it sounds even better! The voice acting is some of the best I've experienced in an adventure game, and the dialogue is interesting and believable for the most part, except for the sometimes odd jokes and humor, which a few times fall flat. However, some of the humor is really funny, especially the send-ups of stock British figures like the Major type, the Irish poetry-spouting/hard-drinking character, and the whole "Cholmondely" name thing. (Kind of like the British St. James moniker). But, stupid jokes are a trademark of many adventure games, think Monkey Island, previous Broken Sword games and the old Quest for Glory.

There is a serious bug with the sound, though, that affects enjoyment somewhat: the sound keeps cutting in and out, requiring constant fiddling with the speakers during important dialogue scenes.

An adventure game is only as good as the story and puzzles, despite the razzle-dazzle of the look and sound. And here the game really shines. Mystery, intrigue and danger are plentiful and the Knight Templars are back, always an interesting element of a mystery game. The basic plot is that a criminal mastermind is determined to harness the power of so-called "lay lines", which are energy points found throughout the earth that were discovered some time ago and plotted on a map, which of course, everyone is now hunting. Somehow the Templars are involved, and Nico and George become involved through different paths: she by being assigned to an interview with a computer hacker, who ends up dead right before the interview, and he by following an inventor to the Congo, only again, to find the inventor dying. Soon, their paths converge in Paris, where it all began for them so many years ago.

The puzzles are integrated nicely into the overall gameplay, more so than usual. These puzzles aren't very difficult, though, except for just a couple logic based ones. Experienced gamers will have no trouble breezing through most of these in no time. And, there are just too many "stack the crate" puzzles, which become boring after awhile. Don't worry, though, the inventory-based and logic puzzles are fun, and will interest most players. The gameplay is totally linear, though, and there is no free exploration of large areas; Nico and George are confined to specific areas until a particular puzzle is solved, then they move to a different area.

This is the type of game that is a joy to recommend for users, and one that will please most adventure gamers. Despite the sound bug, and the few annoying interface issues, this game offers a great time for all. The only drawback is that the ease of most of the puzzle solving means that this game will be a short adventure for some. I have to say that I haven't enjoyed an adventure game this much since I played Escape From Monkey Island several years ago. Syberia was very good, but not as much fun as Broken Sword.

This is also an excellent game to recommend for older teens. Rated "T" for language and mild violence, there are some mild expletives, but they are few in number. This game is much tamer than most of the PG-13 movies out today. It's a great choice for teens because it features characters who are young, good-looking and who dress fashionably yet reasonably modestly, and offers puzzles that are interesting but not horrendously difficult. If your older teens have enjoyed playing the excellent Nancy Drew games, but have outgrown them a little, then this game may be just the ticket.