Old-school adventure games have always been among my favorites, some of the best being The Longest Journey, Grim Fandango, and the Monkey Island series. This genre belongs almost exclusively to the PC, as precious few titles have surfaced on consoles. Recently, however, the Xbox has hosted several titles such as Still Life, Syberia I & II, and the subject of today's review, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon. If you played adventure titles on the PC, you're probably wondering how such games would translate to a home console. Personally, I can't think of anything less tedious than pixel-hunting with a thumbstick. Sounds even worse than using the little green nipple in the middle of the keyboard on my Pentium I laptop. Thankfully, Broken Sword passes on this option and gives the player full direct control of the characters. The result is a good fit, and how all such adventure games should control on a console. Broken Sword sparks adventure movie memories immediately. George Stobbart, a charismatic and somewhat charmingly goofy patent lawyer playing archaeologist, saddled with his comical side-kick, ends up in a plane crash in the Congo. They survive, so problem-solving and a little exploration ensue. Then control shifts to another charismatic character, Nico, a dangerously curious reporter playing detective. As one may safely assume, these two end up helping each other through all manner of mostly life-threatening situations. The plot is based around our heroes trying to stop a splinter faction of the Knights Templar from harnessing "geomantic energy" for the sole purpose of destroying the world. Fundamentally, the story uses a very familiar formula with a few changes to the ingredients. Conspiracy, exotic locales, traps, puzzles, guards with guns and dogs, they're all here. Basically, the story is solid but not particularly original. But what makes the story stand out is the snappy dialogue, which includes a few sly references to genre staples, such as one of the characters stating that he always feels like a kleptomaniac. The chatter is often funny and prevents adventure-game drowsiness much better than the quaint banter in Syberia. Most adventure games could benefit from a healthy dose of comedy, and Broken Sword has just enough to keep one's interest. Adventure gamers are familiar with economic graphics and should expect the same here, but fans of the Xbox's power will be disappointed. Textures and animation are good enough to get the job done, but much more detail could have been applied, despite the back of the game case reading "stunning graphical presentation". Although “OK” is more appropriate than “stunning”, Broken Sword does feature satisfactory artistry; color schemes and decor are well-chosen, and keep the game's graphics safe from a thorough bludgeoning by the ugly stick. Animations are quite stiff and a bit glitchy but cutscenes do feature some pretty good facial expressions. The audio has its pros and cons. Sound effects are rather sparse; some environmental jungle ambiance, squeaking doors and vehicle engines, but the lack of footsteps makes the game seem rather quiet when exploring. Gunshots are subdued and ineffective, as well. Broken Sword sings a pleasant tune, however, as the score composer shows talent and an ear for atmosphere. The voice acting almost carries the game, with convincing performances that further enliven the story and make each subsequent spoken line worth waiting for. As said before, the control scheme suits consoles, but has one efficient (and surprisingly simple) feature that more games of this nature should copy. Specifically, running involves holding down the right trigger, and your character will run in the direction it's facing whether you move the left thumbstick or not. This may sound odd, but you’ll greatly appreciate it when you’re running down a hallway and you won’t have to readjust your direction after each camera angle shift. Plus you get to keep the benefit of character movement relative to the screen instead of to the character itself (i.e. pushing forward means forward regardless of direction). As your character explores, context sensitive icons will appear on a layout of the controller's face buttons at the bottom of the screen. If you approach a door the buttons will show an ear, a door, or an eye respectively. Pressing the corresponding button will allow you to listen at the door, open it, or simply look at it and comment on its appearance. The efficiency of this scheme works well, and eliminates dreaded pixel-hunting. Unfortunately, this is countered by something new: exit hunting. This game is strewn with selectable doors that cannot be opened. Genre fans expect a door's "use" icon to allow the opening of said door, or to least indicate that it's unlockable. Here we get repeated phrases regarding how a door is "shut fast" or simply "locked", and there are entire corridors filled with these useless things. This would make sense in reality since one would be apt to try every available door, but it's unnecessary work in an adventure game. Trying to leave an area sometimes involves more trial and error than do most of the puzzles. Speaking of which, thankfully, the puzzles were quite consistent in difficulty, and none made me want to strip my scalp bald. Some required logic, some needed thorough searching, and others demanded simple close attention, as they should, but none of the puzzles required the forethought and pattern recognition of a genius who can predict the outcome of a chess game at first glance. Of all the adventure games I’ve played, Broken Sword had me check the net for hints the least number of times. Then again, this could also be due to crate puzzles outnumbering the logical ones. You'll find yourself reorganizing wooden crates in order to proceed through certain areas. This happens with almost frustrating frequency, but each encounter with a crate puzzle is mercifully brief. A longer adventure would have been welcome, but the trip isn’t money wasted. Heck, you can get this game used for ten bucks now. The ending, which shares the same curse as the conclusions to most other games, felt like the developers had a non-negotiable deadline to meet. The story ends with a brief, amusing exchange between the leads and cuts out with no truly satisfying resolution, which is doubly disappointing following the emotional investment in a rather moving plot twist in the previous scene. After that, I expected a whopper of an ending. I got something decidedly less. Nevertheless, the problems with Broken Sword are quite common in adventure games which still manage to retain a certain degree of popularity overseas and still cling to life by their fingernails in the U.S. Broken Sword takes some unique approaches to the genre, which makes it easy to recommend, and is certainly better than many adventure titles. Monkey Island it isn’t (despite George Stobbart’s vague resemblance to Guybrush Threepwood) but you could do a great deal worse.
Other Helpful Reviews for Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon
From a technical standpoint this game doesn't offer anything that you've never seen anywhere else. The graphics were par, the sound was done fairly well, with the only exception being slight sound glitches in the end-gam... Read Full Review
This game is apparently the third in a series; I have not played the other two, but that didn't hamper my experience. You start off having to make your way out of a wrecked plane. You had been investigating a case involv... Read Full Review
