Broken Sword - The Sleeping Dragon is an adventure game released on Windows, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 in 2003, while in Japan, the PlayStation 2 version (released only in Europe and Japan) was released in September 2004. A Nintendo GameCube version was planned, but was cancelled. It is the third instalment in the Broken Sword series, released six years after the previous instalment, The Smoking Mirror. The Sleeping Dragon moved the series to 3D graphics, and is the only game in the series not to use a point and click interface. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, an American patent lawyer who flies to the Congo to write a patent for a scientist who claims to have found a source of unlimited energy.
The idea was first discussed in 2000. To make the game feel like a film, Revolution brought in a cinematic consultant, Bob Keen, who made sure the game conveyed emotions and atmosphere appropriate for each scene. The game was originally planned to have similar cartoon-quality visuals as its prequels, but the developers decided to aim at a style similar to Japanese animated films. Unlike the first two Broken Sword games, which used the Virtual Theatre engine, The Sleeping Dragon was built with the RenderWare engine. The game's music was composed by Ben McCullough, and Rolf Saxon returned to voice George Stobbart.
PLOT:
George Stobbart, the protagonist, and Harry Gilligan, his friend, are flying to the Congo Basin to meet a scientist. They arrive at the scientist’s lab in time to see him gunned down by a pale, lanky man and his bodyguard. A postcard hidden in the lab prompts George to travel to Glastonbury, England, to search for a man named Bruno. Meanwhile, Nico finds out a hacker named Vernon Blier has decoded the Voynich manuscript, and got killed for it.
GAMEPLAY:
The gameplay in Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon is a departure from previous instalments in the series, using a direct control interface. The player guides George Stobbart's movements with a keyboard or gamepad, while Nicole Collard is also a playable character at certain times. George must collect objects that can be used with other collectible objects, parts of the scenery, or other people in the game world in order to solve puzzles and progress in the game. George can engage in dialogue with other characters through conversation trees to gain hints of what needs to be done to solve the puzzles or to progress the plot. The player has action choices in the bottom right of the screen - there are four circles with anywhere from one to four actions available at any time; the player selects the desired action with the corresponding key. As in the first two Broken Sword games, in The Sleeping Dragon player character death is possible.
MANUFACTURER'S DESCRIPTION:
AN ANCIENT CONSPIRACY
A BROKEN CODE
AN UNSOLVED MURDER
THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE
Broken Sword The Sleeping Dragon represents the next generation in adventure gaming. Once more George and Nico must travel the world, wrestling danger and piecing together the clues that will unravel the secrets of the Sleeping Dragon.
FEATURES:
- Third person perspective.
- 3D graphics
- Cartoon graphics
- Conspiracy & Adventure themes.
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