Old School Charm – Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse PS4 Review

<p>The<em> Broken Sword<&sol;em> game series has been around for quite a while&semi; almost twenty years now actually&period; After all those years and five entries the game has strayed very little from its point and click adventure roots&period; The latest entry&comma;<em> Broken Sword 5&colon; The Serpent’s Curse<&sol;em>&comma; is no different&period; Although the visuals look sharp and sound design is up to par with any other new game&comma; there is no mistaking that this game’s roots are buried firmly in the past and the game &&num;8212&semi; in addition to the players &&num;8212&semi; is better for it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Like any<em> Broken Sword<&sol;em> title&comma; the game revolves around a multi-layered and entertaining mystery&period; This outing involves a stolen painting&comma; murder&comma; and of course&comma; plenty of supernatural twists&period; Series regulars George Stobbart and Nico Collard are smack in the center again along with an impressive array of entertaining&comma; hilarious&comma; and dangerous characters&period; George is as smart aleck and funny as ever&comma; and Nico is a breath of fresh air for female video game characters&period; She is strong&comma; capable&comma; and independent without feeling the need to constantly remind everyone that she is strong&comma; capable&comma; and independent&period; All the other characters are as equally entertaining with a nice array of newcomers&comma; as well as some surprising cameos from past characters&period; Every development in the story reveals more depth to the mystery and introduces the player to more people who may or may not be friendly&period; It’s all part of the fun of unraveling the mystery and finding out who fits in where and how&period; Storytelling has always been a strength of the <em>Broken Sword<&sol;em> series and this entry is no different&period; If the point and click style of gameplay isn’t enough to keep you engaged&comma; then the thrilling mystery just might be&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;91412" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-91412" style&equals;"width&colon; 756px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;&quest;attachment&lowbar;id&equals;91412" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-91412"><img class&equals;" wp-image-91412" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04175700&sol;2512454-0001-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Goats&period; The bane of the adventure games&period;" width&equals;"756" height&equals;"426" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-91412" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Goats&period; The bane of adventure protagonists &lpar;Broken Sword 5&colon; The Serpent&&num;8217&semi;s Curse&comma; Revolution Software&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Of course&comma; that old style adventure gameplay might just be a little too much to take for some people&period; While companies like Telltale Games have brought adventure games back to the forefront by streamlining the experiences and removing most of the puzzle elements&comma; <em>Broken Sword<&sol;em> clings to the old tropes almost religiously&period; Your enjoyment of this game will hinge directly on your enjoyment of this old-school style that many other game companies have left by the way side&period; I&comma; for one&comma; enjoyed the return to form and reveled in my chance to crack some truly head scratching puzzles&period; Most of the time I found that the solutions were much simpler than I was making it&comma; but there were a few moments of frustration that I experienced&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In classic adventure game style&comma; you have to investigate pretty much everything in the environment and then combine certain elements to solve a puzzle&period; Some of these solutions were quite obscure and even when I put it together I had to admit that it didn’t make a whole lot of sense&period; While some of the solutions are staring you right in the face&comma; other boil down to you obsessively clicking on every conceivable object in your inventory until something finally works&period; It gets the job done&comma; but I never felt smart for solving these riddles&semi; just lucky&period; Fortunately&comma; these are the exception to the rule and most of the puzzles are fun and engaging if you just do a little thinking&period; There’s also a helpful hint system in the menu if you don’t want to resort to internet walkthroughs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;91413" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-91413" style&equals;"width&colon; 709px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;&quest;attachment&lowbar;id&equals;91413" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-91413"><img class&equals;" wp-image-91413" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04175645&sol;tumblr&lowbar;n9hkrvirqf1qavy6wo1&lowbar;1280-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"GAH&excl;" width&equals;"709" height&equals;"399" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-91413" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">GAH&excl; &lpar;Broken Sword 5&colon; The Serpent&&num;8217&semi;s Curse&comma; Revolution Software&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Broken Sword 5<&sol;em> is a welcome return to a classic franchise that fans will be thankful to jump back into&period; While it doesn’t create any new problems on its own&comma; it also doesn’t fix any of the old ones that these sorts of games have become known for&period; These minor annoyances won’t bother everyone though&comma; as I know that there are scores of people who just love the sort of obscure puzzle solving that this series affords&period; If you’re one of those people&comma; then you should definitely check this little gem out&period; I’ve had a lot of experiences in video games that stick with me&comma; but at one point in this title I was given the challenge of dressing myself up to resemble a drunk woman’s deceased husband in an effort to get her to engage in a disco style dance with me&period; Now&comma; if that doesn’t sound fun to you&comma; then I suggest you check yourself for a pulse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>A PS4 code for Broken Sword 5&colon; The Serpent&&num;8217&semi;s Curse was provided by Revolution Software for the purpose of this review&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;