2014.24: Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse

Time Took To Complete: 10.5hours. Walkthrough used; Episode 1: 1, Episode 2: 5.

I haven't played a Broken Sword game in a long time but I definitely remember liking them. So I am not sure how faithful this one was to the series. It might have been a bad one or what I used to enjoy in previous Broken Sword games, I have simply outgrown or don't enjoy any more. Because this game was cheesy as hell. To the point it almost felt like a morning cartoon for the kids. I really didn't enjoy that aspect. A lot of one liners and jokes simply fell flat. Made for a bit of a grind through the story.

Speaking of the story, it is telegrammed to hell and back. You can read everything in seconds and then the game does the "OH SO AMAZING" reveal. Sorry bud, figured it out ages ago. It's not fun when you are always 10 steps ahead of the game. Anyone who has ever read/ seen a mystery story will find the story very predictable.

 

The characters, especially George was a bit of an asshole. A game starts with a very cool touch and makes itself out to be a considerate story, and George to be a caring character. But then there were SO many moments in the game, whether through  gameplay or dialogue that made George an absolute asshole. Not the "oh George!" kind of fun asshole, but a full on "um WTF, I don't want to play as this guy" type of asshole. So really bad balance struck there on that front. Nothing charming about George.

Another big minus for the story for me was it's got religious roots. Which I automatically find really boring. Nothing against religion (believe what you want - may peace with you), I just don't enjoy it as an aspect of my adventures. So that was another misfire.

The gameplay followed in the story's footsteps for the majority of episode 1. Very simple tasks and logics that you just 'click your way through'. Rarely was I switched on, and rarely did solving a puzzle satisfy me. I guess they took feedback from Episode 1 because Episode 2 steps up the 'difficulty'. But of the 5 times I used a walkthrough only couple were "OK you got me, game" kind of deals. The rest were cheap tactics like finding a click-able thing in the environment that was kind of 'out of the way'. Basically a pixel hunter kind of "puzzle".

So I haven't got much satisfaction from gameplay either to be honest.

So why did I finish it is a good question. First of all, the scenery art is absolutely gorgeous. That was one of the things that brought a smile to my face. When a scene loads up and you get the stunning visuals.

Another reason was; I just wanted to finish it :)

But having done so, I am left with not a very memorable adventure and worse, wondering what I liked about this franchise in the first place!

 

Maybe I need to go back to old ones and find that out. But as far as this outing, it was a big fat MEH from me;

4/10.

2014.23: Murdered: Soul Suspect

 

Time Took To Complete: 5.8hours - Times Walkthrough Used: 0

This game starts with a very interesting concept of a man chasing his own killer, and through that, keeps you hooked for the first couple or so hours. After that you kind of realise, it's a mindless marker chaser with very little being left up to the player. Rest assured the times walkthrough used count is of no greatness of mine, it's just the game is very easy and guides you through things very clearly and obviously.

It's a shame too as it has some nice mechanics that give more choice to player than usual adventure games, like after an investigation, the game will ask you "how do you think this or that happened?" and you put the pieces together yourself through the clues you've found. But again, it's pretty damn obvious which clues go with which questions.

The characters are all OK here. The lead detective (Ronan) is the usual grumpy cop kind and the game does a good job balancing his harsh side with his professional detective side. He is mostly tested with his partner acquired during the game, a bitchy young girl, ironically called, Joy. Their relationship is nothing to write home about, it's the usual she doesn't listen to him but they get along type of deal. But it's there and works to add another layer to the game.

The story has a couple of high moments but is not paced particularly well. You tend to 'just find things' and make great progress in the investigation that way. There was no "A-HA!" moments on finding these key clues. There are also a lot of obvious clues that lead to key findings that cops for unexplained reason never seem to find which took a lot of immersion away from the game to be honest. I don't want to give it away but there is especially one item that is at a very obvious place, in an area police set up as a crime scene that will lead them to a very important place - Yet it's just sitting there with no cop noticing it. It's not marked as evidence or anything in the crime scene either. Very odd.

So really it's not dong anything bad, it's just a bit of a mindless wonder. Actually I say it's not doing anything bad, there are these sections where you have to kill demons and this is a very tedious 'stealth' game. Where you jump between hiding spots and try to get behind the demons to take them out. The game uses this a lot in later game, because you gotta get that play time up right! Gets very tedious and feels lazy.

So overall, if you are looking for an adventure game, there are indeed better ones but I don't think you'll full on regret going through this adventure - It's an OK one;

5/10.