Customer Reviews

Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't really consider myself to be a gamer. I enjoy playing video games and having grown up with a joystick and playing Atari games, I've gotten decent at using the multifunctional controller. Still I am anything but an expert. Also, I enjoy playing games that have a storyline that goes with them (even in video games, story is all). Therefore, from the perspective of an amatuer video game player who enjoys playing games that have a good story, I found BROKEN SWORD: THE SLEEPING DRAGON to be quite enjoyable and entertaining.

The plot of the game revolves around a conspiracy that is collecting ancient artifacts to release an evil power in which they hope to control the world. The two main characters of the game are George Stobbart and Nico Collard (apparently they have appeared together in two previous installations of this series). George is kind of an adventurer/archeologist and Nico is a reporter. In attempting to unravel the mystery surrounding the "Voynich Manuscript" the game takes the pair from the jungles of the Congo, to castles in Prague, to the streets of Paris, and the historic English village of Glastonbury. Along the way they meet several interesting characters that both help and hinder their progress to keep the Sleeping Dragon from awakening.

BROKEN SWORD: THE SLEEPING DRAGON is an easy game to play. The game is very user friendly. It contains several puzzles that one must solve, but with a little bit of common sense and some extra thought, most are quite easily solved. I was able to beat the game in a couple of evenings.

The only major drawbacks of the game is that it takes an incredibly long time to load up between scenes. Also, unlike some adventure games, once you've beaten this game, there isn't anything to go back and play again.

Expert gamers might find this game rather dull and could probably beat the game in a few hours. However, for those who haven't played many video games and like a good story, this is a game that they might enjoy.

I'm a sucker for these types of adventure games with clues and dialog and stuff so I love it.

This is the 3rd title in the Broken Sword series and the first Xbox offering in the batch.

There is much discussion about the value of directed gaming vs a completely open environment. Each has it's plusses. While the open environments may be more fun for exploring, the games are usually much much harder as it can be more difficult to figure out what happens next and how to acheive it.

In this title -- at least on the xbox -- you are locked into a chapter until you solve the puzzle. For the common guy who who isn't a rocket surgeon and likes an occasional adventure game, this is a good thing.

Also different for this title are the reaction events. There are a number of scenes based on reaction time. This was a nice addition to the standard adventure game framework.

The camera moves are definitely cinematic which is fun as is the dramatic music that plays at critical points in each chapter. The dialogue is generally amusing and well (voice) acted.

Small warts:
- long chapter load times
- camera location changes between scenes which makes movement a little strange.
- no replay value

I don't think this title is worth the higher "new release" price. IMHO: buy used or wait for the price to come down to the common 2nd tier title price range.

This is a decent little adventure game. The only thing I didn't like about it is a bug that would pop up from time to time where my XBox would freeze right at the end of loading up the game from the opening menu. I figured out that going through all of the background story in the extras menu would solve the problem. My guess is that some needed subroutine loads up while you're going through the background story and picture gallery. It may just be a problem with my XBox since nobody here seems to have the same problem.

I ordered this game and it has a good story to it but overall a good game.

This game blew me away in how it has everything that one expects from a game: a strong plot, interesting protagonists/antagonists, FANTASTIC voice overs ( the best I've seen, save in Beyond Good and Evil), and general greart gameplay.
Please ignore the morons who wrote bad reviews about Broken Sword. The game will captivate you. I look forward to a continuation in thew series.

If you found this game through a search you must be an adventure gamer, and don't listen to the other reviewers who give it a bad review due to techinal difficulties. This game has everything an adventure game should have; an engrosing plot that once it grabs you dosen't let you go, puzzles that will have your head scratching, humor, and great voice-acting and music. Certain parts of the game will leave you scared to be alone, while other parts will keep you laid back as you crack jokes with near by NPCs, this game has a great mix of suspense and humor such as acquiring someone's underwear to be used in a puzzle later on, yet running for your life while a psyco women chases you with a gun. While this game will slip through the cracks of the mainstream media, true adventure fans should not look past it. This is a great game and one of the only new adventure games out. Voice acting is spot on and the characters actually match their voices and their lips actually move with the words. While some puzzles may keep you guessing for a long stretch of time, when solved you can't help but feel proud to figure it out on your own. With a great mix of humor and suspense, my only negative is the lack of locals you travel to, you seem to find yourself visiting the same areas looking for new clues. If you enjoy puzzle/adventure games don't hesitate to buy this game.

Guess I'll never know if I like this game or not because it would not install on my computer which meets or exceeds the system requirements. I have checked the game website forums for tech help and find that this is a very common problem. Contacts with tech assistance only produced a canned response. Save your money unless you enjoy fiddling around with techie fixes.