Customer Reviews

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

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

 

 

Broken Sword,a game I tried at my cousins house.I think the game Broken Sword is an excellent game for anyone 13 and/or up.But it can also be for mature children who are 10.It dosen't have many curse words at all.I guess it's the thought of people dying that woulden't be appropriate for younger children.It also might be hard for younger children to understand the story.Well, now i'm going to tell you what the game is about.Your character is George Stobbard a tourist visiting Paris.Then while your having a drink at a cafe,a clown bombs the cafe and kills a man.You barely survive the blast.You want to get to the bottom of this.You ask witness's questions.Collect informaton of where he might be.And you try to get on the killers trail.You also collect clues along the way.Oh,and your on your own.The police stop looking for him and your on your own.Well,there is this girl who you meet,and she kind of gets involved.And you kind of like her.Well,you need to buy it to find out.It's a real entertaining game.I mean that's what video games are all about,am I right? It's really cheap too.The art is really cool too.It kind of looks like an adventure computer game.You know? Well i'm trying to say that it has like a flat not 3-D type art.It also has eery music,which is really cool.Well,I tottaly recommend it.Especially for people like me who like suspense and horror video games.

Broken sword is an Adventure style game that follows the adventures of an American named George Stobbart in Paris. While at a café, he is nearly the victim of a bombing. Driven by irritation at the fact that he was nearly killed and that someone died as well as a sense of adventure, he begins a private investigation into the bombing. He is helped along by a young woman journalist named Nico.

What he finds is a conspiracy that stretches across Europe and holds within it, the secret of the lost treasure of the Templar knights.

Review:
I have played one of the sequels to this game and found it somewhat entertaining. When I found this game I thought it was worth giving it a try. I was wise to do so as Broken Sword is easily one of the more entertaining adventure games I have played in some time. It's not an entirely serious game and has some somewhat comic moments. But it has a decent plot for an adventure game and enough of a hook to make the player want to keep playing to the end.

Graphics:
As a game released in the late 90's in the middle end of the Playstation's lifecycle, Broken Sword is something of a throwback. It boasts hand drawn backgrounds for its various locations. The characters are cartoonish sprites rather than 3d renders. For this type of game, that is generally to be expected.

The game boast various cut scenes as well. These are cartoon animations, somewhat cheesy in nature, but staying in the same style as the character animations in the game itself.

Obviously, the Playstation graphics are not as nice as those found on the PC, given that the Playstation has a much lower resolution than the PC. This does hurt the game a bit I'd say, but certainly the game is par for the course in terms of this type of game on the system.

Sound:
Broken Sword is fully voiced. There are probably around 15 to 20 fully voiced characters. The major characters are well voice acted, though at times the sound quality seems a bit spotty.

Music and sound effects are mediocre. This is not a strong point for this game.

Gameplay:
Gameplay in Broken Sword is traditional point and click adventure fare. This is actually the first time that I have played an adventure game on the Playstation. Given that it was designed for a point and click interface, it easily could have gone horribly wrong. It doesn't, but it does have its moments.

Be sure to read the manual. It warns that the mouse cursor has three speeds, medium, which is the default speed, slow and fast. The game moves the cursor more quickly by skipping pixels on the screen, which is still far slower than a computer mouse. The slow and fast modes are activated by holding the shoulder buttons on the controller.

I did not realize this at first. After dying in the game, I retraced my steps and for the life of me could not collect a critical object needed to advance. The cursor needed to be within a few pixels of the object to detect it. The default speed kept jumping over the item. It took a while to realize what was going on and use the shoulder buttons. This could be a potentially game breaking problem, though if players are aware, it's easy to overcome, though hunting the pixel will thus become more prominent.

There are also some points in the game where quick action is required or the player will die. With a mouse, this would not be a problem, but with a controller, it can get tricky if you're unfamiliar with the controller or the game controls. Saving your game often becomes a necessity as these points are game enders. Thankfully, there are only a couple of them.

As a side note, this game is compatible with the PlayStation mouse if you have one. I have no idea if a mouse works on the PS3. I didn't actually try that.

Aside from the above, Broken Sword's puzzles are really not that difficult and for the most part, fairly logical. At only one point did I feel the need to use a walkthrough and I feel it was at the only point of the game where it wasn't clear that the action could be taken. I would say that this game is a medium level difficulty game.

Story:
The plot of Broken sword is standard conspiracy theory stuff twisted in with some amount of real history. The Templar Knights feature quite heavily. George Stobbart is a fun character with a dry wit and of course, Nico is appealing with her French accent.

Players travel all over Europe looking for clues and meet characters that are unique and memorable. I seem to recall that this was the case with the other Broken Sword game I played. Characters were something developed quite heavily.

Some things seems to come just a little too fast for my taste. I felt there should have been more build-up for the revelation of the conspiracy and also, for the romance between Nico and George.

Bottom Line:
Despite being 12 years old, Broken Sword remains a fun game and a nice diversion. The puzzles are really not that difficult, especially for experienced players, and the story is solid enough to keep a player's interest. Controller difficulties can be a problem at times, but forewarning can keep those to a minimum. Playtime probably would average 8 to 12 hours depending on player. 4 stars

This game's biggest problem is the pointer is very slow moving around the screen, so i have to dock it a whole star just for that.
Now graphically this game is cool, sound is surprisingly doity and light. The challenges range in dificulty but it is very addictive once you have a decent tv to display it on. A sleeper hit for THQ, which is know for Smackdown, not Britishesque style hidden object- based puzzle games. Patience is a virtue and you will need it to beat this game. If you think your clever then play this game, possibly too difficult for most American based audiences that are used to Mario jumping around type games. Probably common to Big Fish gamers, hidden object style of thinking.

To all of those who would like to try this game.....
if you're the person who likes to solve puzzles and play a game in perfect form 2D then this is your game!!!, at first thoughts the idea of playing this type of game is not good but trust me once you began the game you will love it.
for the people who thinks of jumping to next episodes you must play it sequence by another because they all relate to each other.

I had this game on PC - basically 12 out of 10. But on PS1, I gotta say it loses a bit. The downloading from scenario to scenario is annoying, which in the PC you don`t have. And sometimes the games slows down a bit, nothing to worry about really. But in overall, this is a MUST game to have. Full of entertainment and knowledge too! Comedy included!

This is one of the best adventure games made for any system. it is NOT for kids. Don't be fooled by the fact that it uses cartoon-like animation. Not that it's violent or inappropriate. It is not. But it IS sophisticated. It's really made for adults. It has a fabulous plot and great brain teasing problems to solve in order to move forward with the story.

I went to my grandma's house one day and my older cousin had this game called Broken Sword and my sister had trouble playing it so I gave it a whirl.I found it to be the best game I ever played!I just fell in love with Goerge Stobart and how hard and crisp the art was.And its such a fun game!I didn't get that far before we left and I begged my mom to buy it for me but it was to old we couldn't find it anywhere.Thank God I found it here!Were definetley going to buy it soon!All I have to say is I hope you enjoy it and please buy it! It's not to hard and it's not to easy.You'll definetley think it's fun . Trust me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it's a pity not to play this game. RENT IT to see if you can install it on your PC and if u can, BUY IT!!!!

Although there are lotsa jokes near the beginning, you should be aware that , story looks like Angels and Demons or Da Vinci Code=history+mystery.

The puzzles are ok, but they are bit illogical near the end of levels, so download FAQ and use it if stuck :) . Story is so cool I caught myself peeking in walkthrus just to see how it unfolds...

This game is GREAT, both graphically and storywise.

Although the game is old, I guess this game can be interesting nowadays and WILL be, since it looks like flawless old school cartoon and has lotsa humour.

This game is a great adventure. The 2D graphics are awesome. If you can find this game for the PC, then grab it! It is also known in the U.S. under the title "Circle of Blood".

This game has inaproppriate BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH! Thank you,for CONSIDERING THE FOLLOWING.