Broken Sword 3 - the Sleeping Dragon (2003)

Fantastic game!

Forced arrow keys to move around, not even able to use your mouse.
Unskippable cutscenes, difficult camera angles.
This feels like a total disastrous new route after the first 2 magnificent games.
Skip this one, even on sale.

Considering this game was released back in the early 2000s when everything had to be 3D, it's not as bad as you might think and I have a lot of fond memories playing this game when I was 17. From a graphics and gameplay point, it's probably on the same level as Escape from Monkey Island and Grim Fandango (OG, not the remaster). If you're fine with that, than you're in for a good time, because the writing is as good as you're used to from Broken Sword 1 and 2 and the story fits nicely into the overwall narrative of the series. The tank controls can be a bit tricky, but if you played games in the late 90s / early 2000s your muscle memory will kick in pretty soon. Yes, there are more frustatring situations than in earlier games, but it's still better and more enjoyable than BS4.

I liked this game. It didn't knock my sock off but I had a good time. Whilst it's the 3rd game in the Broken Sword series it's very different control wise with the jump from 2D to 3D - it's a little jank but something I got used to as time went on (if you've played the earlier Telltale games like Wallace and Gromit or Back to the Future it feels a little like that). There's a bunch of references and callbacks to Broken Sword 1, so I'd recommend at least playing that game before this one.

It was fun to play as these characters again and the writing has that Broken Sword charm and humour. The puzzles are a mixed bag, a couple hit that sweet spot of "oh yeah!" when you figure them out, some others were easy and the moving box puzzles were generally a bit brain dead. There are some frustrations like the massive levels that have only a few interactable items, a couple game breaking bugs (they're very rare) and cutscenes not being skippable, but I found these to be small issues - just have multiple saves at the ready.

But overall, I'd recommend it. If you've enjoyed the previous 2 games and are curious about giving it a go, prepare to rein in your standards a little. Grab some hot cocoa and go on a globe-trotting adventure 🌍🤠🐉.

I played this game with an Xbox controller and it worked fine. If you plan to play this game on controller I'd recommend looking at FabledPilgrim's "Windows 10 (with Xbox Controller) Instructions" guide https://steamcommunity.com/app/33610/discussions/0/1643167006302235795/

tl;dr Game engine is an old design, some frustrating game engine choices will turn most modern players off, though lack of game overs make the vexing reflex checks less painful. The story and character writing is solid, but unless you're a gamer who likes late 1990s/early 2000s games this will not be a pleasant experience. You'd better want to game, because while the dialogue and scenes are more like watching a movie, the game elements are intrusive and make you feel like you're playing a game instead of aiding in immersion.

Pros: If you like the story writing of Broken Sword 1 & 2, a lot of character return and the writing is a lot better. Both the dialogue in general, and the jokes felt more clean. Keep in mind this was a 2003 game, but the type of story and the writing felt like Uncharted quality or just a step below. The story pacing was solid, even binging 9 hours in 2 days I didn't feel like I was being tortured. There are very few puzzles that required lateral thinking, and the inventory bloat isn't as bad as in some games from this genre.

Cons: Even a controller this interface would be a mess, but on keyboard it's even less natural. Doubly so if you're not used to WASD (used for actions) plus arrow keys (awkward movement that's camera relative unless the camera changes mid movement... and the camera fights you a lot!). In general it's easy to mix up your action buttons, your inventory controls, and so on, but the game is playable.

Graphics are dated, especially since this had to run on Xbox and PS2 as well. They're generally fine, with objects being identifiable in scenes and faces having enough polygons to be expressive.

Being console games may have affected the design choice - there are a few times where you will have to quickly press an action button or die and it may take a couple attempts to get it right, but the game jumps you right back to the preceding cutscene so retries only take a few seconds.

It may also have led to the decision to have stealth segments - these are fairly lenient but can be annoying. There's only a few in the game, and similarly if you get caught (usually means death) then you're jumped to the beginning of that room, so it's not a long setback.

There's also several tedious crate pushing puzzles, but I would say they only amounted to maybe 30 minutes out of the 9 hours I played, so I don't see them as a huge downside, despite the weird rules they follow.

Finally, yes, I had fun but not enough to recommend this generally, and not enough that I'd want to replay this game.

i can't play this game the controls are a Mess , only £1.69 never mind sad realy the Graphics look nice for an old game

Doesn't work with a mouse and setting up a controller is just too tedious. Shame as loved the first two but this is just flawed to try and control.

A bad port of a bad game. There's no option to play windowed, so unless you're running a 4:3 monitor the game is stretched badly. Better hope you have a controller because this is not meant to be played on keyboard. The camera is a nightmare and seems to be actively fighting you on every map in the game. And you better get used to the box puzzles because for whatever reason the game developers include one every 5 minutes.

After the first two great games which were classic 2D point&click adventures, this sequel is a huge disappointment.
The story is okay, the voice acting decent, the graphics fine.

However, the absolutely awfui and unintuitive controls, horrible forced angles, and tedious "move boxes around" puzzles are a joke. There are almost no puzzles you need to combine items for or any dialogue puzzles or *anything* remotely different from "move this box from A to B." The stealth sections were quite annoying too.

Also there's no way to skip cutscenes or dialogues which can really get on your nerves if there's a cutscene before a sequence in which you could die if you don't press a key fast enough - and you are unprepared for the key pressing so you will die and watch those scenes again 100%.

Unless you're a completist and need to play all games in the Broken Sword series, you should definitely skip this game, it's no fun.

Reviewed on Steam Deck

I recently completed a playthrough on Broken Sword Reforged, a remake of the original 2D game.
The first and second games were previously remastered, of course, but unfortunately this game has been allowed to fester like an unloved red-headed step child kept in the basement under the stairs while works continues on the 6th game in the series.
Which is a shame since there is a lot to love here — Broken Sword 3 received a 9/10 from the prestigious EDGE magazine, I’ll have you know!

The art and graphics were very impressive back in 2003, and while certainly dated now, they still hold up rather well, I feel, on the smaller screen of Valve’s venerable Steam Deck.

Speaking of the Steam Deck, I don’t know why the game is listed as “unknown” in the store page info; it plays perfectly well on the Steam Deck, although you do have to fiddle with the controls a bit to make it happen.
The problem being, you need to start by mapping the “Enter” and “Esc” Keys to the Deck which will then allow you to enter the game’s options menu and reconfigure the controls to your preferences. (I suggest enabling Xbox 360 controls)

The gameplay mechanics are truly terrible, however. You have to remember that this game released on the original Xbox console. By that time 3D gameplay was a mature artform; third person mechanics had been well and truly mastered. We had games like Prince of Persia the Sands of Time which allowed the player to perform death defying feats of gymnastic athleticism around the environment whereas in this game we struggle to just to walk through a doorway at times thanks largely in part to the fixed camera, often placed at obtuse angles preventing a clear understanding of the environment. Even the PS1 had games that allowed the player to switch between fixed camera positions for crying out loud!

Other frustrations come from failing to understand what the game expects from the player. Let me give you an example. (Warning, lite spoilers ahead in the next paragraph)

At one point a character returns to their apartment. They had a contact card in their possession. The logical thing to do is call the number on the card, gain more information, and advance the story.
But no, inexplicably, despite having the mechanics to do just that at your disposal the game won’t allow you to call the number on the card.
Instead, the game wants you to revisit an abandoned apartment.
But why would the player return there?
The only noteworthy thing inside was a safe, but it required a code which you couldn’t find during your previous search.
Besides which, when you do return, you find the apartment door locked anyway.
Perhaps the previous owner's paramour can help you? Perhaps this person frequents the same public place you last saw them? Nope.
So what is the player to do?
Break into the abandoned apartment of course which we know contains no useful information!
And low and behold, the paramour is chilling in the bedroom.

Did anyone playtest this game before release?
What is needed is a hint system.

At the bare minimum, this game needs out-of-the-box controls mapped for the Steam Deck and modern controllers, a hint system, and a way of switching between fixed camera positions, like how you could do on old games like Resident Evil.

I will say that the voice acting is pretty good and the high points for me are when George and Nico are working together and verbally sparring with one another.

Please give this game some love, Charles.🙂

5/10

BS3 was actually a lot of fun when I got over my initial frustrations with the controls. Steam Input has made this game much less of a hassle than when I originally attempted to play it years ago. A few characters are less than enthusiastic about their scene, and the camera was in the way a few times, but you'll have that in older games. All in all it was a fun entry in the series. I didn't come across any game breaking bugs in this entry. The story was fun and the mechanics set new expectations for the series.

This game is good... if you like pushing boxes around. Almost all of the puzzles in the game involve George or Nico grabbing various cube-shaped boxes with different skins (crates, slabs of granite, even a washing machine) and sliding them to stack and be able to climb and enter (or reveal) the next area. By the time you get to the end, you're in for a real treat... stacking THREE levels of boxes. Wow. Good times never cease...

Besides this, there are a ton of cutscenes which suddenly give you control back, just in time for you to have to press a button for a reflex save. And these buttons don't always appear when you need them to - they flash up on the screen so quickly that you usually have to play through those cutscenes several times... the first couple times to identify the button needed, and the next few times to spam the button in hopes of catching it at the right time.

Besides this, the game's controls are keyboard only, but an odd version of keys that don't let you access things in a way that makes sense. Thankfully, you can map them to your own choices, but after the previous two games in the series being point-and-click, it definitely feels like a poor design decision.

This also makes the interaction points difficult to interact with, as you have to move your character into JUST the right place to make it happen. And don't even get me started on the HUGE maps filled with multiple ways to go, lined with interaction points on every door... that are all locked. In several areas, there were what felt like DOZENS of doors, only ONE of which actually was useful.

This game is rendered in 3D, and the mostly-fixed point of view means that as you walk through a room, you suddenly change where you are looking from. This is especially upsetting when moving through tunnels, as the "forward" direction can suddenly become "backwards" with no warning, leading you to rush straight back into danger.

I pushed through it as I had done the previous two games and wanted to know the story. However, the story in this one was even more far fetched and lacking than I could have imagined, and several times there were inconsistencies within the same cutscene (George was holding back Nico from doing something, and then suddenly it was Nico holding back George instead, for instance).

I hope the remainder of the series is better than this one!

really disappointed that i cannot finish the game because of bug in wine bottle puzzle. spent hours getting therefor nothing!!!!!! have tried reinstalling but to no avail, am really annoyed

I liked it. I know it's different from the previous games but if you appreciate it for what is, an adventure game, it's pretty decent.

The jump to 3D makes this game not feel as special as the first two, but it wasn't necessarily a flawed jump. Don't let the graphics fool you, they excecuted the jump well, if a little clunky. The major thing that was lost besides the wonderful 2D art of the originals was the amount of dialog. This is still a full fledged broken sword experience in both content, adventure, and time, but it loses a lot of the charm in repetitive dialog used for the limited interactibility of the objects and the environment. The voice acting seems to be a bit worse than in 2 but about on par with 1, but the audio quality is fine in comparison to 1. Music is nothing much, sound effects are lackluster. Storywise, it's a great continuation of where 2 left off. Worth playing the fan made Broken Sword 2.5 if you're coming from 2 wanting a little more 2D action before coming to 3.

This game has aged terribly, but it's still Broken Sword and I love it.
If they ever remake it, I hope they'll re-do it in 2.5D and drop all the box-puzzles.

I preferred the controls of the previous games (all mouse instead of all keyboard) and I don't love all the new emphasis on movement and quick reflexes + all the physical "puzzles" with scaling walls and so on, but the story is fun, it's visually interesting, and I feel immersed in its world. Maybe I am also biased because I had this game as a kid and enjoyed it a bunch back then, so the nostalgia helps, but I still think it's worth a play through

I love the broken sword series in general but compared to the classic art style this one isn't just up to the same standard.

The characters, dialogue and puzzle logic is all still great. The controls, box puzzles, stealth sections and modern conviences are not great. Also probably one of the schlockier stories in the series.

I'd still recommend for fans of the series but definitely a weaker entry.

Not a bad adventure game!
5/10

+ Good voice acting.
+ Not a bad storyline.
+ References to previous parts of the game.
+ Good humor.
+ Memorable protagonists.
+ Not a bad gameplay.

- Bad sequel.
- 3D graphics (bad animation, empty locations with a minimum of objects and characters).
- Annoying controls.
- QTE (Quick Time Events) mechanics.
- Box rearrangement simulator (lots of puzzles involve moving boxes).
- Climbing mechanics.
- Stealth mechanics.
- Unable to skip conversations and cutscenes.
- Still no love line between George and Nico.

"Broken Sword" 1 and 2 are interesting classic adventure games with great 2D graphics, wonderful animation, amazing soundtrack and a great detective-mystical storyline.
"Broken Sword 3" has none of this. Instead, we got 3D graphics with empty locations and bad animation, terrible gameplay mechanics where you constantly have to move boxes, unnecessary climbing mechanics, poorly implemented stealth mechanics, Quick Time Events and annoying controls. All this spoils the impression of the game and kills the atmosphere of a good adventure game.

An unremarkable game!
Only for fans of the classic "Broken Sword" dilogy!

Literally unplayable with these keyboard controls. Marked as Point & Click but there's no cursor?

It's probably my favorite Broken Sword? Maybe tied with the first one. Sure, some of the magic in the game is too schlocky, but the puzzles are on point, I love the Indiana Jones feel, the art is beautiful and the controls zre perfect!

Unlike a lot of other reviewers, I've never played any of the other games in this series so I can't compare to them in terms of gameplay or story. I remembered playing this game as a child but never finishing it, so I decided it was finally time.

I remapped the keyboard controls so that I was able to use my controller, which is how the game was originally intended to be played and (more or less) how I remembered playing it years ago. I would recommend trying this as it may give a better experience for some things.

The game does have its good points - the humour is generally pretty good, there are some good puzzles, and it's fun to sneak around and try to find your way into places you shouldn't be/try to solve the mystery.

Unfortunately, a lot of this is ruined by the gameplay itself. There is a fixed camera angle that can change at extremely inconvenient/confusing times, often screwing with the direction your character is moving in the process. The lack of camera movement/control makes it difficult to navigate the 3D space, and there were many times I got stuck simply because I couldn't properly look at my environment and so couldn't understand where I was supposed to go - notably in the last half of the game with the Bible nook and escaping the Armillary. I also kept having to backtrack frequently underneath the theatre as I would be confused about where I was/where I had been/where a turn lead.
I also found a lot of the stealth sections to be frustrating and tedious due to the camera issue and the soldiers' field of vision not being clear. This was also particularly frustrating in the Catacombs, where you must sneak past the guard to a room, then back across to the Bible nook to obtain the code, and then back to the room again, as for some reason being caught after reading the Bible requires you to go back and read it again and then make it to the room without being caught, despite the fact that the code is written in your notepad.
There's often a lack of direction or clear short term goal in the game, which makes puzzles difficult because you don't even understand what you're trying to solve. Sometimes you will be sent to a new location after a very long conversation and not remember what you're doing there and have no way to find out within the game itself, despite both playable characters having a notepad that you can access. Just a simple sentence such as 'I need to find a way underground' would be helpful. Often, the puzzles are counter-intuitive or require a very particular order/method, which is not made clear. Knowing that the rest of the games are point-and-click makes this make more sense, but it's still frustrating.
The depictions of different accents/nationalities in the game are painfully American, ranging from funny (the British characters) to downright racist (Madame Zazie).
There are a lot of puzzles that are interesting, but the clunky controls make them tedious - the box pushing, the tile puzzle in the temple, any puzzle where you have to enter a lot of commands.
There are also sometimes quicktime events during cutscenes, but it's not clear if this will be such a cutscene ahead of time, and the prompt for the quicktime event is in the bottom right corner, where it can be easily missed. Failing these events forces you to sit through the entire cutscene again.
The final 'boss battle' was also frustrating and I found the ending lucklustre.

It's disappointing, since I do have fond memories of this game and I think it has its good points, but the clunkiness of the camera/controls and the general lack of direction make playing such a frustrating and tedious experience that it ruins any investment in the story or joy from puzzle-solving.

€ PRICE / QUALITY

☐"IT'S A TRAP!"(Admiral Ackbar)
☐ "That'll do, pig. That'll do."(James Cromwell)
☑ "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!"(Philip J. Fry)

PC REQUIREMENTS

☑ Minimum
☐Medium
☐High
☐ Extreme

GRAPHICS

☐Cheap
☐Acceptable
☑Masterpiece

GAME TIME (hours)

☐0>2
☐2>5
☑5>15
☐15>30
☐30>50
☐50>75
☐75>100
☐100>?

STORY

☐ None
☐Bad
☐Good
☑Amazing

DIFFICULTY

☑Simple
☐Easy to learn, hard to master
☐Hard
☐Blackhole (FiolaSoft Studio)
☐Impossible

BUGS

☐Game itself is one big BUG
☐Bugs destroying the game
☐Bugs
☐Few little bugs
☑Perfect

Very good action and puzzles. You have to sneak around unnoticed, move crates, climb rooftops like combining the first two parts with Tomb Raider game. A little bit weaker story and charachters than in the first part Shadow of the templars but more action paced. It's a different feeling in 3d but overall a very good experience with all the action added. Also combining roles and playing with George and Nicole works fine. The are also interesting dialogues and Georges traditional jokes and funny comments in different situations. Enjoyable experience and also the story leans on its previous parts in some characters, locations we have met or seen before...quite nostalgic if you have player parts from 1 to 3

Compared to Broken Sword 1 and 2, this is awful, You can't use the mouse and have to use a weird set of keyboard controls. The hint system is completely gone. It feels like there's barely any puzzles in this and it's mainly a talking sim.