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> Results: Broken Sword - The Sleeping Dragon
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A computer hacker is murdered in his Paris apartment. A plane carrying a patent lawyer crashes in the Congo. Strange weather effects are causing havoc around the world.
These seemingly unrelated events come together in ﾓBroken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon,ﾔ the third chapter in the 8-year-old adventure game series. Xbox and PC gamers in the mood for a slower-paced, story-driven game with good puzzles and sharp dialogue should consider this title. ﾓThe Sleeping Dragonﾔ stars two playable protagonists: the aforementioned American lawyer, George Stobbart, and an inquisitive female French reporter, Nico Collard. The two discover an ancient conspiracy that could end life on Earth.  Gamers who havenﾒt clicked through any of the previous ﾓBroken Swordﾔ computer games (1996ﾒs ﾓCircle of Bloodﾔ and 1997ﾒs ﾓThe Smoking Mirrorﾔ) wonﾒt find themselves at a loss in this new tale, but those who have will be familiar with some of the characters and underlying story elements. Puzzle-solving and dialogue make up most of the game-play. With the former, George and Nico can both carry multiple inventory items (e.g. a crumpled bank statement found in a trash can) or can manipulate objects on the spot, such as jimmying a door open with a credit card or shimmying across a ledge. For the first time in this series, the gamer must also solve a few ﾓtimingﾔ puzzles. These challenge the player to quickly perform an action -- if they die trying, the sequence starts again from the beginning. The most noticeable difference from past ﾓBroken Swordﾔ games is the introduction of 3-D graphics. This latest adventure features exceptional high-color visuals, including fluid character animation, realistic facial expressions and a clever ﾓcameraﾔ that pans and zooms like a Hollywood movie. Locations in ﾓThe Sleeping Dragonﾔ take the player to the jungles of the Congo, the city streets of Paris, through large castles in Prague and to a historic English village. The user interface has been completely overhauled, too, making ﾓThe Sleeping Dragonﾔ a very intuitive adventure. In the Windows version, the player simply rests his or her right hand on the four arrow keys to control the characterﾒs movement, while the left hand sits on the W, A, S and D keys to perform a desired action (linked to small onscreen icons such as ﾓtalk toﾔ or ﾓpick upﾔ). Therefore, the gamer does not need to look down at the keyboard for anything, nor is the mouse required. And unlike many adventure games that force the gamer to painstakingly ﾓcombﾔ the environment for important items and clues, ﾓThe Sleeping Dragonﾔ offers two handy hints to make the game-play easier. One is that all accessible items will glisten to let the player know it can be touched, looked at or picked up. Secondly, George or Nicoﾒs head will slightly turn to look at an accessible item rather than walking right past it. ﾓBroken Sword: The Sleeping Dragonﾔ provides a refreshing change from the many ﾓrun and runﾔ action titles available today. Instead, this interactive adventure is a good pick for gamers who prefer a good story, likeable characters and clever puzzles.  Kid Factor Perfect for gamers who have graduated from Nancy Drewﾒs awesome PC adventures, Broken Sword will also please neglected PC adventure parents. Best of all, these kinds of games are great to team up and beat. Siblings, parent and child, whatever combination you like. Thereﾒs murder afoot and a little mayhem, but very little else that you wonﾒt find in most teen-lit. Reviewerﾒs Recommended Ages: 13+ ESRB: T-Teen Platform: PC, Xbox Genre: Adventure Developer: Revolution Software Publisher: The Adventure Company Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Broken Sword - The Sleeping Dragon |
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