The 4th installment of the Broken Sword series. Too bad it was only released on PC because console gamers really miss out on this one. The humor and basic story line is the same as in the first 3 releases, but this time they overworked the somewhat broken controls of part 3 and made them much better. The character movement is still dependant on the camera angle (which still isn't a great idea, imo) but I got the feeling that the camera doesn't change directions so often anymore, which really is a relief. You also have the option to "point and click" and George will execute your command to the best of his abilities. He can climb ledges or jump over small gaps with a simple mouse click now, no need to press action buttons anymore. It's a great game and if you liked the first 3 games (or maybe only the first 2?) you will love this one.
Broken Sword 3 is the consequential continuation of the first two parts. Again we get to experience a story full of mystical and historical elements, and again we get to meet some very interesting characters. Some of those are borderline caricatures, but they are never absurd characters. The 3D graphics work good in this game, but they don't look good according to today's standards. Back in the days, when the game was first released, the graphics where pretty good, but the problem with 3D graphics is that they don't age very well. Anyway, the graphics aren't exactly terrible, the animations just look very stiff sometimes. The biggest downer in this game are the "Quick Time Events". They where "the next big thing" back then, but every player hated them even then. Sometimes you get next to no time to react, so you have to rewatch the whole scene you just messed up all over again. Another downer in this game are the crate riddles. You'll be pushing so many crates in this game that it stops being original very soon. However, I do like the new freedom in character movement. Characters can climb ledges now or can shimmy along drainpipes. It really adds some more action to the game play, as you now don't only "Point & Click" anymore. Overall, BS3 is a good sequel and it brings the world of George and Nico from 2D into the 3D world and does a decent job at it, too.
Warning #1 this review contains some spoilers! Warning #2: This isn't really a game in the sense that you can freely roam the world and complete certain objectives. Telltale games are more like interactive movies. If you don't like this kind of entertainment, then this just isn't for you. If you don't care about game mechanics but simply want to experience a well written story line with some nice twists (and, spoiler ahread, a heart breaking end scene) then you should certainly give it a try. I deduct one star, however, as (again, spoiler ahead) none of the choices you make really do have an impact on how the story progesses, even though Telltale still continues to advertise it's games in that way. That is false advertising, but I'm willing to let it slide, since the story writing is just so damn good.
Before I begin my review, I have some bone to pick. I had hughe troubles even getting this one to run, because the installer is broken. It looks for a file that isn't there in the temp folder, so you have to rename one of the extracted files to the actual file name the installer is looking for. Seriously? On with the review: This game is one of the old classics and it shows why Lucas Arts was one of the best developer studios during their time. However, just like the orignal, the remake suffers from some flaws. The 3D environment sometimes makes navigating Agent Calavera a horrible mess. You want him to move to a specific spot but you can't, because something is blocking your path and you cannot figure out what it is. The inventory just wasn't a good choice by the game designers, it's only possible to view one item at a time, so you constantly have to cycle through all the stuff to select the right thing at the right time. Also, Glottis is just annoying as hell, he's way too loud when he's on the screen and does his race car impressions ("VRRRROOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!"), I had to turn on subtitles and turn off the sound every time he was on screen. However, where this game shines is the story and the humor. Even though the story about love interests and corruption isn't exactly new, the presentation surely is. Playing in the Land of the Dead sure is something new and despited the mentioned flaws, this game definitly is worth playing if you are into adventure games.
I loved the original game and played it on PS1 as well as on PC back in the days. I got this one very cheap off GOG (damn them and their sales...), since I hoped the remake would be even better and unlike many others in the review section I really enjoyed the added scenes. We get to play as Nico and it sheds some light on the background story and we get to see scenes that we couldn't see before simply because George wasn't present. But also people who don't like remakes get good value for their money as they can simply chose to play the orignal game. That way, everybody get's happy. Well done, GOG!
Like many others, I played this game when I was a kid, so I was thrilled when I saw this one in the Lucas Arts Package, 10 games for only $16? I couldn't resist. I instantly installed Sam & Max to relive this classic and it was as funny and sometimes crazy as I remembered. However, what I DIDN'T remember was how wacky the interface and how unresponsive the controls where. You can only use right-click to scroll through various actions (look, speak, pick up, etc) or you'd have to use the inventory to select the action you want. That's not very user-friendly and often times I found myself cycling through the actions, because I "overclicked" the action I orignally wanted. Sometimes, transistions from one screen to the next screen is nearly impossible. The final screen of the game is so hard to reach, I spent like 2 minutes clicking like a madman to get Sam to move. If you don't know it's even there you might easily get stuck. Same happens at the Mystic Vortex, getting back to the car is such a pain sometimes, it takes away a lot of the fun. You wonder how this ever got the OK of the beta testers... The reason why I still give 4 out of 5 stars is that the humor is so over the top, that it's hard not to like it (at least for me ;) ). Like, when Sam throws a bomb out of the window and he says "I hope there was no one in that bus" and Max responds "at least no one we know". Wow. :) In the german version we also get the special treat of hearing the voice of Bart Simpson in this game. Sandra Schwittau uses her best Bart Simpson voice to read Max' lines. Neat!
