Reader reviews for Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse page 2

Everyone waited for this moment: Broken Sword returns in a great shape! Die you blocky 3D, no more Sokoban and pseudo platforming, no dragons and dan browns in our Re-Sequeled Kingdom. Shiny, beautiful hand-drawn 2D panoramas and point-n-click gameplay is all we ever wanted. Thank you, Charles Cecil and the team.

There are also ancient mysteries to uncover, British humour to admire, bloody thriller to be afraid of and lots of cameos to hug. Actually, I wouldn’t distance the game from Angel of Death that much. The writing (not storytelling, mind you) is closer to the number 4 rather than the first 2 entries and has Neil Richards written all over it. Which means the game is more goofy, puzzle logic is a bit wild and crazy, and George is almost as impossible as Guybrush or Simon. And I like that.

I would even go as far as to call The Serpent’s Curse the funniest adventure game of the past several years. George feels the need to touch everything he sees and to tell his opinion about all things around, often in a load voice, which results in displeased comments. What really helps is the highly interactive environment. And so does George’s habit to fill his pockets with all kind of junk and then casually suggest it to people. The star of the show is, no doubt, the pet cockroach Trevor.

Nico also returns as a playable character, and let me argue with those reviews stating that she is used only as a sex distraction. Not true at all. Contrariwise, a couple of her attempts fail miserably, and she even ends convincing one of the villains to resign in a philosophical debate! There are many other characters scattered around that stay true to the once chosen style. Only this time they are modeled in 3D. This gives them a Pendulo feel, but I guess it was unavoidable in a high-res adventure. Still there are many, many stunning locations to admire, which I did.

As others mention, the game starts slowly and gives the plot some time to unfold. We learn about Gnosticism and an old picture everyone’s after, and that’s basically it. BS5 is dialogue-heavy and also pretty damn bloody at this point, yet suspiciously light on puzzles. Well, Revolution heard those suspicions and loaded the 2nd part with all sort of obstacles, including a couple of g-g-goat puzzles and a really tricky code cracking. As such, the game ends as a truly fulfilling experience, especially if you play both chapters in a row, one by one. Which I did.

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Time Played: 10-20 hours

For a long time i havent felt so excited by an adventure game as i am now.This game came at just the right time for me,to get me back on track and make me rejuvenated again.
Where should i begin.
First i want to mention the puzzles,i was really engaged into those from the begining.But i particulary liked those in the part 2 of the game,especialy the one with the Ave Maria song and the one when George decoded Tabula Veritatis.Also the one towards the end of the game with the goat was really funny,those are the kind of puzzles that i want to see more in modern adventures.
The music and sounds were very good,they gave me the Broken Sword 1&2 feeling at times,music was very balanced and somehow mysterious ,just the way i like it to be for this kind of game.
Graphics were very nice,i liked the part near the end,the garden of eden,beautifully drawn background scenery of canyons and huge ancient statues were really spicing the overall impression i had of the game.
And the voice acting was ok for me as well,characters in the story were ok,maybe the villains could have been a little bit more ‘lively’,but George and Nico were fun as always.
Game took me maybe 6 hours or so to finish,but it can go faster,i was in no hurry.
Maybe this game cant be quite up to par with first two parts of the Broken Sword games,it certainly pucks a powerful adventurers punch,and shows the way for the other developers how its done in a lot of departments,especially in the puzzles area.

Broken Sword 5:Episode 1 4.5 out of 5
Broken Sword 5:Episode 2 5 out of 5

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Time Played: 5-10 hours
Difficulty: Just Right