Now however, it seems it might be fighting back.

The Sleeping Dragon is the third Broken Sword game. The first two were rather successful and among the last of the old style 'point and click' games. In keeping with the move in gaming styles and the better hardware available TSD has seen the series progress whilst still keeping very much in the tradition of the first two.

The game is centred on the exploits of Charles and Nico, the heroes of this adventure. As the game starts both characters are up to their necks in trouble. Charles has just survived a rather nasty plane crash and a plunge from a cliff, whilst Nico, a reporter in Paris, finds the person she was supposed to be interviewing murdered. At the start of the game both of them are in separate locations working on seemingly separate cases, but as the game progresses the pair are reunited and their adventures become linked. You control them separately to work out and overcome the numerous problems the game presents you with.

   

Graphics-wise this game is lovely - the visuals are very much in keeping with the old style adventures. There is no gimmicky cel shading or bullet time here - think of it as a virtual grown-up playable cartoon. Gone is the old point and click interface of the old games, but as with the progression from text-based inputs to mouse-based, this feels just as natural. You now use the joypad to move the character with the left stick, very much like Tomb Raider and the like, but it's still an adventure game at heart and there is no fancy running and jumping, just puzzle solving and gradual progression as the story unfolds around you. As is the case in these games you can interact with almost anyone and anything, be it speaking, examining or picking up. This is all carried out by pressing a button which relates to an icon showing on the screen, it's all very simple and straightforward. The only problem is one that has cropped up before in games with similar control style - the movement of your character depends on the view of the camera - its fine most of the time but there are occasions that the camera changes and without realising you walk back through the door you have just come through. It's just a small problem and one you soon accept and compensate for.

Sound wise things are also good. The dialogue is all spoken and the voices used seem to fit the characters very well. Also those characters with accents are not cheesy or too hammy sounding.

   

It's not all good news though. In its new makeover and approach the game has introduced a new style of puzzle that was never possible with point and click; block moving puzzles. Anyone who has played Tomb Raider games will know about this. You have to pull and push all sorts of blocks, crates and furniture around the level to allow you to overcome some problem or other. This wouldn't be too bad every now and then, but there is far too much of it for my liking. Also another problem and longstanding annoyance of mine are "doors for decoration" being in a room, going for a door and finding it serves no purpose at all, it soon wears thin and gets very annoying.

Apart from the block pushing, the rest of the puzzles in the game are all good and logical ones. Nothing can not be overcome without a little bit of thought, perhaps a few minutes break and a quick review of the inventory. It's very reminiscent of the old style Lucasarts games. If you are stuck it's probably down to you not having tried something, and not bad programming or illogical combinations - for me this is the most important thing in an adventure game. Also unlike a lot of the older games there is never a case of missing something that is hidden in the scenery, all the important things are highlighted and your character turns their head towards objects as a quick hint.

Due to the nature of the game it's not going to be one for everyone. The younger or less patient among you would probably be better going for a faster paced game. Adventures are slow, progressive games but are also very rewarding. Anyone who has found memories of any of the games mentioned earlier will get a lot from this.