Broken Sword 3

[tredlow]

Hey, guys. I recently finished Broken Sword 1 and 2, and enjoyed both of them immensely. The story and art were amazing, yet voice acting could have been better.

Anyway, I wanted to ask: Is Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon worth the buy?

[corruptbiggins]

I feel it has a good enough story worth buying for, if you can get it at a reasonable price. The controls can be a bit iffy, and there's an annoying sneaking section and a few reused box pushing puzzles but it's still a good game.

[taumel]

And same is valid for Broken Sword 4. Not as good as Broken Sword 1 anymore but still a enjoyable adventure. It simply has the Broken Sword mood.

[Plunder_Bunny]

Broken Sword 3 was good, but I wouldn't pay more then 10 bucks for it. Not only were the controls iffy, they ran out of puzzle ideas for the game and they they instead inserted these lame box puzzles. One puzzle moving boxes around to get to a certain area is fine. Five puzzles moving boxes around to get to a certain area was annoying.

[SHODANFreeman]

I thought Broken Sword 3 was a great game

[Alf Fly]

It's a decent game, but it was made during a period of indecision for adventure makers. No one was sure how to recapture the interest of people who had gone off point-and-click games, and Revolution had the idea of doing it with action sequences. So, there are a bunch of what would now be called Quick Time Events, and several crate-pushing sections, which just seem at odds with the more cerebral nature of the rest of the game. It does, however, have some great puzzles, some brilliant characters and a really affecting moment which has been known to reduce grown games journalists to tears. Shame the ending's so rubbish, really.

Still worth a buy if you can get it cheap. The storytelling makes it worth it.

[patters]

use a control pad if you get it or get the xbox version.

[Mad Mage]

I love the first two and have held of on the third and forth because I hear they aren't nearly as good. I'll probably play them eventually, if only so I can show NPCs lots of useless items once more.

Good 'ol Games offers Broken Sword 3 for 6 bucks. DRM-free.

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/broke...leeping_dragon

[taumel]

Story related part 4 is better than 3 again. They sell it for 10€ here. Definately more worth than that.

[Marduk]

Broken sword 3 was good for plot, though I don't think they should have revisited the templar theme. The puzzles were a little too easy and they brought out this 'crate pushing' game to make up for it, which re-occurred way too often. A similar idea was introduced in the second game with these 'hacking' puzzles, which were actually better but it some of the excuses for George to hack anything were flimsy at best.

Originally Posted by taumel

And same is valid for Broken Sword 4.

This is not true. The story of the 4th game was so bad the writer (assuming there was one and they didn't come up with the "dialogue" off the cuff... assuming they could afford shirts with cuffs) the dialogue is awful, the acting... Well, the new actors they got to replace old and to play new characters were clearly prostitutes desperate to get into the acting 'biz'.

This game should be played by nobody looking for a decent story and certainly not by anybody with even a slight respect for the [voice] acting or writing professions.

[taumel]

I have different memories to this one.

I remember BS4 as an overall enjoyful adventure. Like BS2 and BS3 it wasn't as good as the original anymore and so had it's personal highs and lows. Third class 3d engine (low detail, stuttering, some camera and steering issues, nice story, this magical Broken Sword mood, quite some good riddles and also some nice jokes, less Sokoban. The beginning isn't this hot but also BS3 had quite a few lame scenes like for instance Glastonbury.

Definately worth buying and playing it, more as it's a budget title today.

[zmally]

I think the problem with BS3/4 is they were outsourced, and not actually by Revolution themselves. 3 and 4 are great games, but nothing on BS1 or 2.

But BS1 and 2 are damn near perfect in my humble opinion, so take from that what you will.

I have all 4 games, and I still regularly play them all. I find 2 is the best, with 1 very close up.

[DPB]

Originally Posted by zmally

I think the problem with BS3/4 is they were outsourced, and not actually by Revolution themselves. 3 and 4 are great games, but nothing on BS1 or 2.

BS3 was done entirely by Revolution, BS4 was a collaboration between them and Sumo Digital, but it was still written by Charles Cecil and Revolution's staff.

[zmally]

Originally Posted by DPB

BS3 was done entirely by Revolution, BS4 was a collaboration between them and Sumo Digital, but it was still written by Charles Cecil and Revolution's staff.

I meant the engine and the control style, not the story and the script. Are you sure 3 was entirely by Revolution? I always thought it was an outside company. And I know Sumo Digital did a lot more work on BS4 than Revolution did

EDIT: To clarify, I thought BS3 was done in the same engine as the GTA3-Vice City-San Andreas games?

And I remember reading an interview with Charles Cecil around the time of BS4, and I'm sure he said they were outsourcing the dev for BS4 to another company and in future they would only be outsourcing because it's much cheaper...

But having said that, I'm also fairly certain Revolution developed BS1: DC internally...

[DPB]

Originally Posted by zmally

EDIT: To clarify, I thought BS3 was done in the same engine as the GTA3-Vice City-San Andreas games?

Yep, it uses RenderWare, but the development of the game was done by Revolution. Many games use third-party engines these days so it never crossed my mind that was what you meant.

[zmally]

Yeah, but normally adventure games are either SCUMM, AGS, GrimE, or sort of custom made, like the earlier Revolution games

Forgive me, I've worked about 50 hours in the space of 3 days, and I'm not used to it, brain cells are spontaneously combusting everywhere!

[youmaycallmemurray]

It's a good game, shouldnt be too expensive now.

[Darth Marsden]

Originally Posted by Mad Mage

Good 'ol Games offers Broken Sword 3 for 6 bucks. DRM-free.

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/broke...leeping_dragon

At that price, I'd recommend it. The controls do take some getting used to and there are too many box puzzles, but the writing's sharp as ever and it's $6. That's less then SoMI:SE. Or a pint of beer. I say go for it.

Broken Sword 4 I have a harder time recommending. If you want it, I recommend paying no more then $15 for it, or you'll end up disappointed. The writing's not as sharp, the characters not as likeable, there's more frustrating stealth sections, and the puzzles don't make as much sense.

On the plus side, I think it was the first adventure to use the 'WASD to move, Mouse to click on stuff' control scheme Telltale's been randomly using as of late and it's pretty much refined to a tee, and the hacking challenges are quite fun, if a little tricky.

It's definitely the weakest of the four (or is that five now?), but for the right price, it's not too bad.

[tredlow]

Well, I got a used copy for less than a dollar. I'm gonna try it out when I get home.

[SHODANFreeman]

Originally Posted by tredlow

Well, I got a used copy for less than a dollar. I'm gonna try it out when I get home.

Haha, wow. I'd say that's <$1 well spent.