Review: Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon (XBX)

Over a decade ago, LucasArts created the game, Maniac Mansion, and a new genre was realised. Since that day, the point-and-click adventure has developed into one of the most popular forms of gaming available. Titles like Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max made the genre soar to new heights, and although other companies have tried to make their own point-and-click gems, only Sierra's Gabriel Knight: The Sins of the Father could possibly compare with the titles that have thus elevated LucasArts. Then, in 1996 the genre reached its peak; not through another LucasArts-developed work of genius, but through the work of UK-based Revolution Software. The game was Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars, and with its arrival came one of the best plots ever to appear in a videogame.

Broken Sword 3 follows on from the story of Shadow of the Templars, and apart from the occasional aside forgets about the second title in the series, The Smoking Mirror. This time the plot revolves around mystical 'ley lines' and an evil man named Susaro. Throw in a few Neo-Templars, some characters from the previous title, and a strange monk that keeps appearing and electrocuting people, and the stage is set for George and Nico to once again save the world.

In a way, the original Broken Sword both escalated and killed off the point-and-click adventure: after 1996 the genre has struggled to recapture the magic of earlier titles. Clearly, if anything was going to survive, an evolution was needed. Escape from Monkey Island and Grim Fandango both tried new approaches (with a relative degree of success) but basic point-and-click mechanics were still heavily in place; meaning the mainstream public were largely uninterested. Now, after years in waiting, Broken Sword 3 arrives with promises of revolutionary gameplay that will send the genre spiralling into a whole new dimension.

Indeed, the third game in the series bears little resemblance to what has gone before. Everything is now presented in three dimensions, with four action-specific buttons at the bottom-right of the screen used to interact with your surroundings. As our characters move around their environment, anything that can be picked up or interacted with causes one of the buttons to colour-code a small diagram; pressing the corresponding button on the control pad will see either George or Nico carry out the relevant action - so moving a cursor all over the screen looking for a small item that you cannot see properly is now a distant memory. This is commendable.

Along with the new interactive element, the title has a couple of other new tricks up its sleeve. From time to time, Shenmue-style realtime events occur, that require players to press a button in the lower-right of the screen. While these sections are enjoyable and help to make things flow a little faster, they are criminally underused - to a point that when they do happen you really don't expect it, and most of the time aren't even looking for the button to appear. However, when they do arrive they bring something unique to the proceedings.

The lack of realtime events is a touch ironic, when you consider that the other trick employed by the title is a touch overused, to say the least. In order to save the world, George needs to engage in solving a rather large amount of 'crate-shifting' puzzles. This can become tiresome; while the puzzles are relatively simple, it becomes farcical when you turn a corner - in some ancient castle or Egyptian tomb - and walk headlong into several boxes all laid out neatly along the floor. Who left them here? Although nonsensical and overused, they fortunately do not spoil the game.

Crate puzzles and realtime events aside, the rest of the game consists of finding objects, talking to the inhabitants of the Broken Sword overworld and solving puzzles. It is clear right from the start that Broken Sword 3 is not going to appeal to everyone; at times things can become incredibly slow-paced, while other sections can be almost completely based on conversation. However, the scripting of the title is absolutely first-class, at least whenever George is the character. While controlling the American hero of the piece, dialogue is always sharp and full of humour. This contrasts with portions of the game where players take control of Nico; these sections are a lot more serious and do not contain the same comedic verve (a problem that was also evident in Broken Sword 2). As a result, when in charge of Nico, things can begin to drag and become dull.

While the puzzles and situations in the game make for some head-scratching moments, it is only when you have finished the title and think back upon what you have done that you realise there is nothing that lived up to the works of genius that made themselves present in previous titles. There is nothing as memorable or well-constructed as having to get the key for getting in THAT door at the dig in Paris - or getting the guard dog out of the way down on the docks. This of course is not an ideal situation, given the "spiralling" ambition of the series, but it does not seem to spiral negatively out of control.

When all is said and done, Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon is basically an interactive novel. There may be sections which consist of constantly walking back and forth talking to people, the puzzles may not be as great in parts as before, and yes, there are too many block puzzles and not enough realtime events. But Gamestyle seriously can't imagine anyone NOT having a good time with the game; the story is strong, scripting is well-done, characters are likable and the humour is abundant and at times very sarcastic. Truly, there is nothing else quite like it at the moment. If you enjoy a good adventure game or are a fan of the series, this new version should be enough to keep you happy - at least until the next instalment comes out and hopefully completes the genre's evolution

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Gareth Chappell