May 28th, 2009

Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon PC coverBroken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon is the third entry in Revolution Software’s adventure game series. The Sleeping Dragon was released for the PC, Xbox and Playstation 2 (EU/JP) in 2003 and it marked the franchise’s first venture into 3D as opposed to using 2D sprites.

Though the same whimsical spirit familiar to players of the previous entries of the Broken Sword series is present in The Sleeping Dragon, certain gameplay aspects differ greatly when played on PC, mostly due to the fact that it was designed with gamepads in mind. This is not a 2D point-and-click game as the previously-featured Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror is. Rather, players control the 3D incarnations of George Stobbart and Nico Collard using arrow keys for movement and WASD to interact with other characters and the environment; the mouse doesn’t even come into play. Regardless of this deviation from convention, Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon has just as much of what fans have come to love from the series in the way of interesting puzzles, quirky characters, humorous dialogue and a great cast of voice actors. Except Beatrice; she’s fired.
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May 9th, 2009

If you ever wanted to know how to completely kill the sales potential of the PC version of your game in an entire region by encouraging piracy… well, this is how. Thanks for the lesson, Sony.

It’s still pretty cool to see that people are paying attention to Broken Sword again. I get sad when I hear people older than me say the Wii and DS Director’s Cuts of The Shadow of the Templars is the first time they’ve heard of the series. Just cast Tim Robbins as George Stobbart and Audrey Tautou (shh! no, that similarly themed movie that she was just in… yeah, that didn’t really happen) as Nico Collard and I’m on board.

Overgrowth’s dev tools are pretty impressive and all (seriously, go watch some of their other videos on GameTrailers), but this video in particular is great because it brings the funny. This video’s worth a look whether you’re interested in the tools or not. Bonus, if you are!

That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!

February 27th, 2009

Broken Sword II Cover ArtBroken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror is a classic, point-and-click adventure game created by Revolution Software. As the 1997 sequel to the 1996 hit Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (Circle of Blood in the US), Broken Sword II is the last of the series’ four games that would use 2D sprites.

Broken Sword II tasks players with guiding the series’ main character, patent lawyer George Stobbart, through his adventures with his journalist girlfriend, Nico Collard. Though almost twelve years have passed since the game’s original release, Broken Sword II is still one of the finest adventure games available today. This is due in no small part to its outstanding voice work, scripting, and direction coupled with plenty of humor, mystery, and intrigue throughout the story. Player frustration and bewilderment is kept to a minimum by way of accessible and satisfying puzzles. There are a few brain teasers and situations where players will need to think and act quickly lest they end up on the business end of a gun, but there’s nothing as obtuse as duct-taping cell phones to cats or quicktime events.
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