Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Dec 4, 2013

  Even though Broken Sword 3 departed from the point-and-click 2D adventure, I am trying to be open-minded and not afraid of changes, when it comes to games that I literally grew up with. But in general: + Good story, nice dialogues; + The characters remain faithful to the first two games; + More cut-scenes than the previous 2 games; + You get to play with George and Nico equal time; + The character animations feel quite much human. - They could've made the ending a bit more satisfying; - TOO MUCH FUCKING MILLION-KILOMETERS-OF-CRATE-PUSHING "PUZZLES"! - No, seriously. DO NOT PUT CRATE PUSHING PUZZLES IN YOUR GAME! EVER! If I wanted to play a game that you push crates, that game should not be named "Broken Sword". Anyway, this game is pretty much enjoyable and I recommend it. But only after you finished the first 2 Broken Sword games.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 17, 2014

  Broken Sword 3 is host to some big problems that unfortunately overshadows a lot of the good aspects of the game. Just like the previous Broken Sword games, the story is decent though not special. The dialogue and voice acting is definitely one of the strongest aspects of the series, and BS 3 has that too. Most of the puzzles range from okay to pretty interesting. However, the controls are an unholy collection of awful and rubbish. They suck, they suck in every way possible. Combine the bad controls with the terrible camera and you got a special kind of awful. The camera uses weird angels and it switches them constantly. CONSTANTLY. It jumps back and forth, sometimes as much as five times in a few "meters" of road. It's enough to make you seasick... and it causes you to run the wrong way since what was one direction a second ago is suddenly the opposite direction or sideways. It also prevents you from seeing the things you wish to see. Maybe it is easier to play on a controller, but as far as I can tell there is no way to do so. The move to 3D really did not help this game in any way. The visuals look dated compared to the other two older games. The controls and camera are, as I said, horrific. To the puzzles it has apparently only added crate/block dragging and hidden climb points. The block puzzles are unfortunately uninspired and the hidden climb points are either obvious or frustrating. It has, however, added a bunch of empty space that you have to transverse, filled with an endless supply of locked doors that you can for some reason try to open, look at and listen to. It is a frustrating test of patience. It adds nothing to the puzzles when five endless corridors still only contain one object and one place to use it. It does not make the world feel larger and more alive, it just creates even more space you have to get through with your bad controls and camera. Then we have the fact that you can't skip dialogue or cutscenes. Which is going to be a problem considering BS3, like all adventure games, encourage interacting with objects numerous times... which means that it sure would be nice to be able to skip past having to hear them say they can't open the door for the thousands time until you find the door you ARE supposed to open. Not being able to skip cutscenes is even worse since they had decided to match almost every cutscene with either quick time events or chases... and if you miss you die... and if you die... YOU HAVE TO WATCH THE WHOLE FREAKING CUTSCENE AGAIN... AND AGAIN... AND AGAIN. It's a shame, because underneath it all is a pretty nice adventure game. The problem is that the amount of frustration you have to go through to get to the good parts is just not worth it. The only reason I played to the end is stubborness. There are good moments, but the only way I can recommend this game is if you have a high tolerance for bad controls, bad cameras, watching the same cutscenes over and over again, and just generally feel like the game is wasting your time for no good reason.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 19, 2014

  Just completed the game and actually wanted to vote a "Neutral" rating for the game, but unfortunately, there is no such choice. Went with "Recommended", but [u]only if[/u] you are a fan of the series. I previously played part 1 and 2 of the series, and this game was, IMHO, the poorest of the 3. The game had lesser puzzles! I don't count box pushing as puzzles and there were really too many of them! They also added Quick Time Events (QTEs), some action sequences (usually running away or hiding) and sneaking around. Well, my preference would have that it been more puzzle-oriented. The 3D perspective would have been fine, but the camera angles made it terrible. The camera kept switching and the controls are relative to the angle at that point, and so making it difficult to move the character. For example, I might end up running towards the enemy rather than away. And certain sequences had time constraints, which made it frustrating when I can't move the character to the correct position, and had to keep repeating till I get it right. It is also irritating that I couldn't skip cutscenes when repeating these sequences. For these reasons, I prefer the 2D view in the first 2 games. The shift to 3D was refreshing (reminded me of Uncharted a couple of times), but implementation was really poor. Well, having said all these, I love George and Nico and won't hesistate to buy the next game (was also wondering why The Angel of Death is not on Steam?), though newcomers that start with this game first will probably think otherwise. Will probably get The Serpent's Curse (glad that it went back to the series' 2D roots) on the Playstation Vita once, or if, it releases in the Asian PS Store (probably the region with the worst store updates).
• gamedeal user

  Nov 23, 2018

  I love the Broken Sword series and chapter 3 does not change my frenzy for it :) A good one, I recommend :)
• gamedeal user

  Oct 15, 2022

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• gamedeal user

  Nov 5, 2017

  I'd guess the multitude of negative reviews this game has are connected mostly to the controls. For PC they are abysmal, no doubt. Even after remapping to WASD for movement, the camera shifts and turns so much and at the weirdest points, that you lose reference constantly. You waste a lot of time bumping into things or taking steps to avoid doing so, even when you were moving correctly before the camera turned. That's not so bad, isn't it? After all, this is an adventure game, you can take your time, adjust your position and do what you intended to do in the first place. Right? Well... not so much. For an adventure game there is a huge amount of timed scenes, stealth-based situations and failure points that result in the characters death. When you die, the scene replays often from a much previous point, sometimes forcing you to watch a whole cutscene all over again. The frustration keeps piling up timed event after timed event. I had often found that the savegame I'd just made before attempting a timed scene just "didn't take" and I was forced to replay a difficult part from a previous point I'd done already. I didn't mind much the many crates pushing puzzles, or the climbing onto rocks, scaffoldings, etc. (Tomb Raider style), but yeah, it does present a significant amount of those too. They are okay, unless you're again pressed for time and struggling with the controls. I found myself enduring most of the game, only to reach a part with dialogs, which (it must be said) are great. I love the characters, the voice acting and the writing itself, but unfortunately that's not enough. A game should be enjoyed, not endured, so, sadly, after more than half a playthrough, I uninstalled the game and will be watching a video walkthrough somewhere to know the rest of the story. Such a shame...
• gamedeal user

  Dec 10, 2016

  [b]"A hand was going to come out of the water and catch the sword? Get real, George!" - Nico Collard[/b] From year 2003, the third instalment of the series, [i]Broken Sword 3 - the Sleeping Dragon[/i] makes a radical change of presentation by carrying our beloved protagonists to 3D! Yup, it's the start of the millennium and 3D adventure games are big at the time. Knights Templar, Slavic assassins, medieval conspiracies and much more for us to enjoy in 3D this time. Expectedly, this change comes with a whole new set of game mechanics too. Not to worry though! The setting, the environment and the tone of the game are trademark George & Nico quality, alright! Following the events of the previous game, George goes back to his life as a patent lawyer and finds himself flying to the Congo to meet a scientist who claims that his machine can produce limitless energy. However, the plane crashes during a storm and George barely saves his hide. He takes a walk to meet the scientist, and yet again, finds himself in a conspiracy involving - wait for it - Templars! Meanwhile, Nico, still working for her paper, is called to interview a hacker who claims that he cracked Voynich manuscript and warns hectically about an "end of the world" scenario. Going to meet the guy, Nico finds him dead - of course - and gets attacked by the assassin who was impersonating her! As sure as the careful hands of fate would deem so, they again get together to solve the mystery, save the world and beat some Templar ass while doing so. In this adventure to come, we will meet new faces and encounter some familiar ones from previous games, going on another adventure that would rally us around the globe. That's one thing that I love about Broken Sword games. You get to visit countless different locations with different cultures and get introduced to anecdotes from their local lore. Yet, somehow, all those seemingly irrelevant details come together to paint a bigger picture. Its Indiana Jones meets Dan Brown every time. Humor is spot on also, this time relying on both folklore narrative and sexual innuendo a bit more than usual. One other thing is that we are capable of observing George and Nico's relationship growth based on their mutual history, growing inner jokes and references to previous games. Both George and Nico are just as you remember them: a lovable, smart ass Yankee with a law degree and an ambitious, pretty reporter with a sharp tongue. Let's get to the obvious change then, shall we? Our good old 2D P&C environment is no more. Now we have 3D cartoon renderings of our beloved characters and there is no "clicking" on the literal sense. Yup, mouse is pretty much useless in this instalment. All interactions are controlled from the keyboard, including item selection and movement - which is kinda okay. What would be a real drag is cameras. They change into pretty obscure point of views without warning, and it can become hellishly nasty if you are on a chasing scene. Oh, yes, we are also introduced with QTEs - quick time events - in this game. There will come some cinematic sequences in which you'll be asked to respond in a timely fashion by hitting the right button. Cute, huh? There aren't as many puzzles compared to previous games though, but the ones that we encounter are satisfying enough. Another newly introduced element is Sokoban games - a.k.a. box pushing puzzles. The game is riddled with them. They all are pretty easy, but mostly time consuming. You won't miss them when you finish the game. All things aside, [i]Broken Sword 3 - the Sleeping Dragon[/i] is a neat little adventure game, even though it is slightly subpar in means of mechanics and brain scratching compared to previous titles. Its worthy of an experience for the jokes, the story and character interactions to begin with. Go ahead, play the game. You know you want to. It's George and Nico, and they are at another incredible adventure. It cannot be bad anyhow. Please also check out Lady Storyteller's Curator page [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/ladystoryteller#curation]here[/url] - follow for regular updates on reviews for other games!
• gamedeal user

  Jul 13, 2012

  Too many block pushing puzzles fail to provide any real challenge, off-putting controls make you wish you invested in a proper gamepad, but characters you know and love make you want to see it thorugh the end. Overall, very basic adventure game. 3-D wasn't a way to go.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 17, 2016

  When I first played this game, I hated it. I loved the 2D animation and the point and click interface of the first two Broken Sword games. This was so different that the experience was almost ruined for me. I'm glad I saw it through, because this is a great game. We still have the George and Nico that we have loved from the previous games (same voice actors and a great script) and the story is great, stemming back to the first Broken Sword game. The 3D is decent, with some awesome set pieces, and the rest being average. The controls can take a bit to get used to, and may turn off a lot of people. A point and click adventure has turned into an only use your keyboard adventure. That was difficult for me to swallow at first. For the most part, the puzzles are pretty good.....except....for all...the BOXES!! There were way too many move-the-box puzzles. One here or there isn't a sin, but the amount in here makes them feel like filler, as if the game needed to be longer. I don't think the game would have suffered had they removed some of these tedious box puzzles. A minor complaint is that there are moments in the game in which you have just moments to react, and you have to press the right button to avoid death. It kind of kills when the button doesn't appear till after you die. Luckily, the game loads right back to the perilous situation and you now know what button to push. This doesn't happen often though, so it is a minor annoyance. This game will probably not be considered as good as the first two, but it is definitely still worth playing. There is enough Broken Sword goodness to soften the leap from 2D to 3D adventure.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 29, 2014

  Not as good as 1 & 2 and the controls can be pretty awkward at times. Quite a few box puzzles, which are more time consuming than difficult. The worst parts are the 'sneaking' sections which highlight poor controls and some odd camera angles which often lead to multiple attempts to get past them. Also having moved away from the cartoon graphics of 1 & 2 this one hasn't aged quite as well. I'd still recommend the game if you have played 1 & 2 and liked them. It's still good fun and humorous, enjoyed playing through.