I was first introduced to Broken Sword through an app on my phone. It was a special deal, I was intrigued and I'd always liked adventure games. Then I discovered the second game in the series on CD, and thanks to the magic of emulation I was able to enjoy that one on my PC. And then I discovered there's a whole series of 'em. Hurrah! But game number three has been a little disappointing. The storyline and characters are great. I've got to know Nico and George over the last couple of games and their complex relationship continues to entertain here. It was also good to see a few nods to the first game. But the move to 3D has been problematic. This game is now half adventure, half platformer, and it's so easy to miss something because you didn't look in the right corner. Thank heavens for the internet, because I got stuck so many times looking for that one tiny thing I'd missed. Is it behind one of the dozen locked doors in most locations that I can't actually ever open? But my biggest irritation was with the action sequences. Suddenly, you need to do something QUICKLY. Nico got shot dead six times in the first one of these because I had no clue what I was doing, and every time the sequence would restart. No saving allowed here. I was sorely tempted to quit and start again at one point. Then I managed to move on... and missed the next quick button press, and the whole sequence restarted. It really wouldn't hurt the storyline if these were just FMV moments. Then we could get on with the puzzles again. I hope the later instalments in this series have managed to improve on these issues. This is a highly involving story but the controls and the sometimes too well hidden clues can disrupt the immersion.
I remember playing Magic Carpet back in my school/university days and loved the freedom of exploring a 3D world, gathering mana, blasting dragons... this is a rare game in which the sequel is a lot better in many ways, but it all started here. It's been wonderful to find a way to play it again.
