Ratings by Khan4

However, there is too much reliance on items randomly lying somewhere usually with no hint you have to get them or where they can be. Too much blind underwhelming search.

Also, some puzzle are very poorly clued or not clued at all. And some even require external knowledge, which doesn’t have its place in a game that’s not an ARG.

Fortunately, there’s a hint system which is also a walkthrough, but having to rely on that is proof of some bad design.

Still overall enjoyable and a good take on the theme.

Some puzzle are very badly clued, you’ll do some things only because you can and are just trying things out of the blue, not knowing why.
And 2 puzzles can leave you running around for a long time for bad reasons:
“Bring me this I’ll give you that” clearly means what it means but no, you have to guess you need to bring something else, which you’ll eventually guess by trying everything on everything out of desperation, or rightly resorting to a walkthrough.
“No need to talk to that person again” Means no more interaction needed to any gamer. But no, you have to give that person something later, out of a single sentence heard hours ago… It will teach you how to love walkthroughs.

Turns out bringing concentration camps in the story is just for the sake of it. The ultimate drama receipe easy and ready to reuse. Shame to use it like that and not to deeper means.

Any SF fan will loosely guess what the story is about. But what could have been a great mechanic, the visions, are really only used once and otherwise, other than ambiance and visuals, serve no purpose. Apart from making you guess something about the main character early in the game that is revealed at the end with then no surprise.

Worst of all, after explaining the whereabouts of the story to you like you were a retard, the game ends on a cliffhanger, while just a final puzzle sequence could have completed it. The developpers anounced they would be funded for a follow-up, but they didn’t do it, so it remains unfinished. Anyway they would have had a bad time coming up with enough material for an entire new game out of this. Real bad commercial choice.

In the end it’s just a missed opportunity for a great game. I lost my time. No pun, unfortunately.

Overall a pretty good game but to me what keeps it from being great is a little lack of ambition (or work? or resources?) on the sides.

The main puzzles, the “story” ones are good and are a very strong point of the game.

But there are three other types of puzzles that keep repeating themselves (while varying in difficulty/solution) and have a casual feeling.

Some “doors” puzzles : although very simple, there aren’t too much of these, so it doesn’t matter much.

The “bonus boxes” puzzles : they are the only ones not needed to complete the game, so it’s not that bad but many gamers will want to crack them anyway, so their sameness is a bit of an annoyance (their nature too, to me).

The “Simon” puzzles (repeating a series of sound sequences) : those are mandatory to progress and don’t change a bit apart from the patterns they play.

It would have been nice to face different challenges, even simples ones, in place of these repetitions, and the game would have felt more full-fledge. It seems like they didn’t want or couldn’t put in the extra effort to do it.

Those side things could have been so much more and could have added some length and feeling of coherence and realism to the game, as they are supposed to have been created by a mad inventor.

There’s also some unecessary walking through the same paths again and again near the end. A minor flaw but one that reinforce the feeling of unfinished work, whether it is due to time, or resources constraints.

But even like that, the game won’t disappoint those who like puzzles well integrated in a story, and a nice setting.
Totally recommendable.

A return to 2D with gorgeous graphics, great story, great many puzzles, well-felt humour, scenery, travels, characters, etc, etc. I can’t really find something bad to say about this games. Maybe the characters moving a bit too slow for some places? That was even worse in the first one so who cares.

As a last game they made it what it deserved to be, back to the roots in style.
Playing the series to finish it with this one is a reward in itself, and you won’t be disapointed to have done so.
Well done from the developers who could get rid of all past mistakes to offer an experience just as good as the so much praised original.

All the Knights of the Broken Sword kneel and bow in farewell, as we will forever carry this epic journey in our hearts in every single adventure the future holds for us, ever secretly hoping to be called again some day.
And if the time never comes, so be it, as everything was said and done, for The Goat has finally gotten its due.

At the beginning of the game you might feel tempted to skip it totally, as it introduces itself in the worst way possible :
In the first minutes you end up pushing a crate, believing that downfall from the third one is back.
Gamepad control is gone, and don’t mind using the four arrows unless forced to when the mouse pointing can’t get you where you want. Because also, pathfinding is not good and you’ll fight for climbing your first ladder, devoided of action symbol. Hotspots are often too small too.
All of this is encountered in the first part of the game.

But push on a little and the gem will reveal itself.
There’s almost no crate pushing anymore, and you get a lot of actual puzzles instead, some of which will make you scratch your head seriously and are of the best ones in the whole series, while totally part of the story. A great story which connects with the first one and goes way further than expected, Broken Sword style.

Bad camera, hands with invisble objects in it and some painful movement can’t hinder that to me, even the abrupt ending which made me wonder if there was a bug can’t.

It was the longest one in the series for me with 18h playtime. It seems they wanted to put more than they could chew in it, so they spent their energy on what really matters : story and puzzles, leaving the rest a bit unfinished. But the core is great and that’s what counts, that’s what we play Broken Sword for.

Fans of the series will see the true value of this game.

So thay had to make use of it… Playing with a gamepad is nice, but the constant platform-like and “push the crates” phases were a bad design choice.
Because of that there’s not much actual puzzles.
But still there’s travelling, good scenery, and some nice environmental puzzles (apart from crates). Even though they’re too easy.

However, the good story is there and you feel once again in a Broken Sword game (unlike the second one), compelled and involved.

In the end it’s totally worth it, the game has a good length, you won’t pass too much time on each individual crate “puzzles”, and I felt the only place where the game drags itself a little is in the castle.
You’ll be rewarded for your efforts, which mosltly consist in running too much because 3D.

The story/storytelling totally makes it up for everything else.

The story never feels as compelling, involving, well-researched and epic as in the first one, just a standard adventure story.

Puzzles are not that bad in themselves, but not hard enough and rarely feel like part of the story (like in the first one…), more like obstacles to its progression. Even the last scene is just a cut scene, when it could have been a puzzle to get you to provoke the end. There’s even a “find the hidden path” one, with no clues whatsoever that you must do so… the kind of annoyance that is not missed at all from old adventure games.

There’s some good jokes, some good inside references, but overall the humour feels forced. It’s omnipresent, especially through George who 90% of the time cannot open his mouth without having to joke about things, even during what should be serious moments. I falls flat too often and just becomes an annoyance and epicness killer.

There was obviously a lot of work put into this game, but still it’s the shortest of the series, about half as long as the others. With its flaws and the fact that you’d better play it if you want to play the whole series, it’s actually better this way.

However, it actually has a background story that leads the game and finds a resolution at the end, and I found this theme quite nice, well integrated and really adding to the game.

The puzzles are of multiple kinds and well designed. Experienced gamers won’t get stuck too often but will find their share in here.

All in all pretty good, with nice graphics…

...but the huge downside is the length. Way too short! The nature of the ending could have provided for new puzzles to follow, and that would have been great, you’ll know why. But it just stops there. Not that the ending is any bad, but it leaves you badly wanting for more. With twice the length I would not have felt kind of cheated.

I still highly recommend this game for puzzles fans, just know about the very short length, so get it on sale.

The differences and good and bad :

+ A few scenes and puzzles added with Nico, which adds nicely to the game
and develop a side of the story that was just vaguely spoken about in the
original.

+ Characters still move slowly, but when quitting a screen you don’t have to
wait for them to reach the border anymore, it’s almost instantaneous.

- A lot of red herrings have been removed, meaning a lot of useless objects
you could (try to ) interact with, meaning a lot of text, ambiance and also
jokes, are gone.

- All puzzles based on timing have been changed not to rely on timing
anymore. There were not a lot of them and they weren’t that hard, no
dexterity required. Which simplifies a lot these puzzles, to the point where
they’re not puzzles anymore or there is no point in making a puzzle there.
(The goat, the towel,...)

- There were very few places where you could die, now you can’t. Adding to
the things you don’t have to figure out anymore. Although it wouldn’t take a
lot of retry to get those right and it added tension and involvement.

- The simple inventory system, mouse up to reveal the inventory, click on
object, then on another one or somewhere on the screen, has been replaced.
Now you have to click on the inventory icon to open a window, then drag an
drop the inventory item. What does drag and drop adds here? And the most
annoying is that the inventory window covers a part of the screen, so often
it covers your target too, and you have to drag the item out of the window
so that it closes, and then back to the target. Change for change, Added
nuisance.

- In the original you could have as many saves as you wanted. Now it’s too
limited, you’ll end up erasing the old ones. Why go backwards?

- Appart from the new Nico’s parts, some puzzles have been slightly altered
towards easiness, a few very much simplified to a ridiculous point, and a
very few have been “enhanced” but without really bringing more challenge or
interest. Simple pattern-matching or painstakingly copying what’s in the log
book doesn’t enhance anything. (Chess, Tomb,...)

All in all, I think they should have added the + up here and let everything
else as it was. the rest seems like amputation, change for change or poor
compensations for these amputations.
It’s still a good game but only because the original was great. This one
thinks people are dumber, so much dumber that you get a hint system on top
of all the simplification.

I’ll never repeat it enough :

Play the original first.

But I was very disappointed in the puzzles : the off-game ones (special screens) are very easy and are nothing new, and the in-game ones (inventory things) are not hard either. Actually, the only times I found myself stuck were because I missed something just laying on the floor somewhere, wihtout any other indication. This is 3d “pixel hunting”, and that’s the worst annoyment an adventure game can provide. So you begin to thoroughly search every place you get in and that’s no fun.

Too bad, it had everything to draw you in, and it does for a few hours, before the gaming itself becomes boring and draws you out.

Inventory is a pain.

Having to prepare your horse back and forth every time you go riding and come back is annoying.

Ranch chores already have no interest, but doing it three times in the game…

This repetitiveness makes you loose your interest for puzzles, you don’t want to take notes anymore, just finish the damn thing. Then a walkthrough becomes more than tempting. Too bad because the whole message following thing was quite nice.

On the “game” side, one could argue with the camera (which is sometimes a pain but not too often) and the inventory, but the major problems to me are some puzzles which are very hard to figure out, due to zero, or very thin and unadapted clues.

There are things I would never have figured out if it wasn’t by luck or by trying everything with everything after running out of idea. I’m thinking about the gold beverage one (not even something to use on something, you have to guess this one right, or be very lucky that you’ve done the right thing at the right moment), or the grinder one (how to know what was supposed to go in there? You are practically advised against it everytime you manipulate the thing). Or some puzzles bound to going to a certain place you have no clue you have to go to. All in all, things are not always logical and I don’t really like that kind of puzzles, even if it therefore ends being fun.

So be warned : you’ll get stuck. But still, even with a walkthrough, this game is worth playing, for its humour that will actually makes you laugh, and its one of a kind original and fun setting which may be cartoony but actually not goofy.

- More puzzle and more variety in it, makes it for the easiness to me.
- A few great ideas like reprograming an arcade machine and of course Miles The Magnificent Memory Machine!
- Now you have a cell phone enabling you to make your calls from everywhere (a relief).

Even if it was a pretty quick game, it felt good not to get stuck for once!

From the same period please play The Longest Journey, and you’ll see what a real good game was at that time, with real imagination inside. Not this over-hyped imagination-lacking unfinished thing. (Because, yes, you’ll have to play the second one to finish the story…)

Moreover, the real puzzles are not many and are often easy or uninteresting. And picking up insects or taking pictures of birds doesn’t count as a puzzle, and those will take you much time.

The travelling sequence has to be done too frequently and cannot be passed. I get something, I travel to talk, I travel back, I get something else, I then must travel again to talk and then back, etc, etc, etc…

I had my share of these flaws near the end when this happened :

I travel by boat to talk to somebody to get a phone number (after already many back and forth for not much). So I travel back to make the phone call. Which forces me to travel once again to give something and get something back… the next day! So I come back, and return the next day. Ok, I get my thing so I travel back, AGAIN, run through a certain labyrinth, do a certain thing and ho! It was not enough to go further, the pda tells me to phone the first number again… So I go back through the labyrinth, I phone (no pun), I get info, I run through the labyrinth AGAIN… this time I pass and.. boom! The flashlight runs out just when I need it and I’ve never used it before! So I have to walk back the labyrinth, travel and there I’m told to fix something in order to get batteries… Haaa finally, a puzzle? No, just some pieces to be arranged according to a plan I’m given, which is boring AND annoying because I have to switch back and forth between the puzzle and the plan, which seems to be the only difficulty of the thing. And then only, at last, it’s ok, I get to travel back (AGAIIIIIIN), walk the labyrinth AGAIIIIIIN, and continue… (to some real puzzles I’ve lost my interest in at that point. Anyway, I was practically given the solutions…)

After that I only finished the game because I love the series and I was close to the end.

Ghost Dogs had a good setting, interesting story and great potential, but after loving The Scarlet Hand I was pretty disapointed by this one.

This is totally subjective : I think the setting turned me off… it revolves around a soap opera! I hate those.
Add to that too many pixel hunting and I’m out. Not a great loss.

Some say the puzzles are too easy… anyway there are plenty of it and that does it for me.

The theme catches you for the first seconds and won’t let you go till the end, just a captivating gorgeous great game.