Customer Reviews

BROKEN SWORD COMBO (2 GAMES, DVD-ROM)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I played this game when it first came out in the 90s and i have been looking for a copy of the shadow of the templars for a long time and this came with both broken sword I & II. Great buy if you are a fan of Broken Sword or of classic puzzle solving games.

I used to play these games when I was younger and I wanted to share them with my girlfriend. I remembered them being fun but had forgotten just how fun they really are. If you like interactive movies and solving mysteries the Broken sword series are the games for you. The story lines are strong and the puzzles are challenging but not so impossible that you have to buy a guide to figure out how to get through the game, (i hate that)

A very cinematic experience. The voice acting is beautiful. I give it the highest rating!

I recently got into the Broken Sword series when i purchased the new Nintendo DS version. I had forgotten how much fun the adventure game genre was! These two classics are a treat to play. The hand-drawn backgrounds and witty dialogue put the point and click transe on me again. These first 2 games in the series follow the familiar adventure game format of exploring, chatting with the locals, picking up every item in sight and wondering what you are going to use it for to advance to the next area. I find these old titles relaxing, you can just chill back in your chair with one hand on the mouse and enjoy an epic yet humorous story. The graphics won't blow you away but they have that nostalgic charm to them. The developers really did a good job of creating character depth for George and Nico (The 2 main characters). You really begin to care about them and their journey. This package is a steal considering you get 2 classic heavy weights from the 90's. Everyone needs to try Broken Sword at least once, Revolution put a lot of love into these titles, install these 2 bad boys and feel the love!

I love the Broken Sword series and the two older games did not disappoint. I was really happy to find both of them conveniently in one disk. I highly recommend them to any adventure game fans.

These games are very entertaining and fun. The graphics are superb. The voice acting was very likeable. The puzzles in the first game were challenging, and I often needed hints to get through them. The puzzles in the second game were easier, and I was able to get through it without hints. The dialogue is full of humor that is laugh out loud funny. My favorite part of the first game was to ask every character about all of George's items. Most times they have nothing to do with that character, but there is usually a reply scripted. (Try asking everyone about the greasy tissue!) Unfortunately, this is gone from BS2. The story is excellent and intriguing. A grand mystery and a search for long lost artifacts really gave me a lot of enjoyment.

These two games are possibly the finest example of what a good adventure game should be. The entire Broken Sword series (there's four games) is fantastic, but the best of them are definitely the first two games, The Shadow Of The Templars and The Smoking Mirror.

Released in 1996 and 1997 respectively, these games are very well made for their time and despite being a linear adventure game, have loads of replay value.

Here's my overview of individual points of the games:

- Plot
Both games have an interesting and fascinating plot - Shadow Of The Templars concentrates on the Knights Templar and their treasure, while The Smoking Mirror focuses on the ancient Mayan civilization and an evil deity called Tezcatlipoca. You need to unravel the plans of villains, uncover clues and solve the mysteries involving both. I don't want to give too much away, so let me just say the plots are engrossing and make you want to keep playing.

- Graphics
For games released in the mid 90's, the graphics are fantastic. Sure, there's a bit of blockiness on the videos that play, but that's easily ignorable. The locations you play are gorgeously detailed with lots of objects and things to look at. You visit locations such as Paris, Ireland, Syria, the Caribbean, London and South America, all true to their real life locations. The characters look great too.

- Sound/Voice Acting
The voice acting in both games is top notch. The voice actor for lead character George Stobbart is performed superbly by Rolf Saxon, who provides George's funny inner thoughts and sarcastic comments. The voice actress for Nico Collard is different in both games, but this isn't a problem. The games both have some great background music and some great sound effects.

- Gameplay
Gameplay is simple and very fun - as you can click on many objects in each location to have George say something about them. In Shadow Of The Templars, you can even show every item in your inventory to people you talk to and most of the time they reply with a funny comment. They took this out in The Smoking Mirror, but that's only a tiny complaint. But with dozens of things to click on and lots of fun things to do, the games keep you playing for hours.

- Complaints
Hardly any complaints from me, except that for some reason on one particular part in the first game my game kept crashing unless I skipped a video that played beforehand. But I think this may be due to a stratch on my disc or something.

If I had to pick, I'd pick the first game as the better of the two, but they're both fantastic. Possibly my favourite part of the games in general is George's inner comments to himself and his funny lines to other characters. The voice acting is truly the star of this game.

If you've been considering playing these games, do so! They are two of the best adventure games ever made - the following two games aren't as good and introduced frustrating new features (such as box puzzles and parts where you have to sneak around and not be seen). But these first two games are simple and still amazingly fun.

Highly recommended! 5 stars.

A bit cludgy running on Vista. Had to install a useless DDL, just to get the game to install. But I did not have to then run it in a compatibility mode. It did go ahead and use the vista tools. The interface is a bit old, not real user friendly, and the graphics are poor by todays standards, but it does have a pretty good story line. It is a serial game where everything has to be done in a serial sequence.

My guess is that because this is a game designed for older machines, the current drivers on my computer, windows 7, don't support the game architecture. Nothing I could do to get this game to run.

I made the mistake of ordering this from CDROMUSA on 11 Jan. 2008. It is now Feb. 14, and I am still waiting to get a remedy for two games with serious flaw of NO VIDEO! The games have sound only. This has been checked in my home by a comp tech who says the issue is not my system, but rather flawed cd's. Apparently when they were made, they neglected to copy the video. So, save your money; buy only from local, reputable sources.