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Title: Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon (aka Broken Sword III)
Platform: XBox
Genre: Adventure
Complete: Yes
Paid: $12.99 (used)
Would Pay: $24.99
Adventure gaming is not dead. Unlike Leisure Suit Larry, George and Nico made the transition to 3D just fine. Unfortunately, there's no control of the camera, something I've grown to expect in 3D games. The gameplay is largely "point and click" adventuring, with objects automatically getting a cursor when you are near them, and actions and the buttons they map to being shown on the lower right of the screen. This interface actually works quite well, not quite as seamless as Grim Fandango, but very functional.
There are quite a few box puzzles, and this was considered a strike against it in many of the reviews I read when it came out. After Soul Reaver, I barely noticed these puzzles and walked through them like they weren't even there for the most part. The parts that brought the rating down for me was all the sneaking that was required in the last third of the game or so. I am not big on sneakers and that really bugged me. Especially since the "loading" screen after deaths in these sections was much longer than it should've been.
There are also some bugs in this game, which is annoying since console games can't be patched. Fortunately, none of them were permanent gamestoppers. I had one crash, at one point one of the NPCs was simply a black blob, no texturing of any sort applied, he was just a hole in the background, and one problem wasn't solvable until a reboot even though I was taking the correct actions.
<rant>
This was one of those games that I was originally planning to get when it came out, as I have completed Broken Sword II (PC) and have played Broken Sword I (GBA). However, I was thwarted at every turn, all by short sighted publishers.
The PC version has a copy protection from hell, and there was no way I was going to install that on my work computer, and copy protection tends to break compatibility with WINE for no good reason.
OK, so let's get the PS2 version. Whoops, not released in the US and you need a mod chip to run imports. So much for that.
So I finally get the XBox version, used. You listening publishers? Because of your ill thought out protection, you didn't get a single penny from me where you would've gotten full retail. This is far from the only game that I'm not bothering with because of your idiocy *cough*HL2*cough*
</rant>
Edit: Corrected price, added bugs
Platform: XBox
Genre: Adventure
Complete: Yes
Paid: $12.99 (used)
Would Pay: $24.99
Adventure gaming is not dead. Unlike Leisure Suit Larry, George and Nico made the transition to 3D just fine. Unfortunately, there's no control of the camera, something I've grown to expect in 3D games. The gameplay is largely "point and click" adventuring, with objects automatically getting a cursor when you are near them, and actions and the buttons they map to being shown on the lower right of the screen. This interface actually works quite well, not quite as seamless as Grim Fandango, but very functional.
There are quite a few box puzzles, and this was considered a strike against it in many of the reviews I read when it came out. After Soul Reaver, I barely noticed these puzzles and walked through them like they weren't even there for the most part. The parts that brought the rating down for me was all the sneaking that was required in the last third of the game or so. I am not big on sneakers and that really bugged me. Especially since the "loading" screen after deaths in these sections was much longer than it should've been.
There are also some bugs in this game, which is annoying since console games can't be patched. Fortunately, none of them were permanent gamestoppers. I had one crash, at one point one of the NPCs was simply a black blob, no texturing of any sort applied, he was just a hole in the background, and one problem wasn't solvable until a reboot even though I was taking the correct actions.
<rant>
This was one of those games that I was originally planning to get when it came out, as I have completed Broken Sword II (PC) and have played Broken Sword I (GBA). However, I was thwarted at every turn, all by short sighted publishers.
The PC version has a copy protection from hell, and there was no way I was going to install that on my work computer, and copy protection tends to break compatibility with WINE for no good reason.
OK, so let's get the PS2 version. Whoops, not released in the US and you need a mod chip to run imports. So much for that.
So I finally get the XBox version, used. You listening publishers? Because of your ill thought out protection, you didn't get a single penny from me where you would've gotten full retail. This is far from the only game that I'm not bothering with because of your idiocy *cough*HL2*cough*
</rant>
Edit: Corrected price, added bugs