Secrets Of The Ark: Broken Sword IV

by Dreamcatcher

Product Features

• Virtual Actor System enables the player to read character emotions and develop close relationships with the diverse cast of characters
• Globe-trotting adventure with featuring rich and varied environments from around the world for players to explore
• Challenging logic puzzles test your wits
• Gripping story mixes fact & fiction with traces of conspiracy theory to create an immersive new legend
• Authentic ancient artifacts and historical references blur the boundary between fact and fiction

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000MNI5QG
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: February 13, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,831 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

In Secrets Of The Ark: A Broken Sword Game you'll continue the adventures of a heroic archaeologist. After reluctantly battling dragons, Mayan gods and becoming a Knight of a long lost Holy Order, George Stobbart settled down to a desk job. When a mysterious woman enters his life, it puts him on the trail of an artifact of great and terrible power known as "The Angel of Death." This weapon is hidden in the legendary Ark of the Covenant, and Stobbart is on its trail. Jump into the dark world of conspiracy theories, daring adventure and ancient societies, in the fourth installment of the Broken Sword franchise.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars George and Nico save the world once again, February 13, 2007

By 

S. Hodge - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Secrets Of The Ark: Broken Sword IV (Video Game)

Charles Cecil of Revolution Software originally planned Broken Sword as a trilogy, but due to fan demands, American George Stobbart and Parisian photojournalist Nico Collard are hot on the trail of yet another conspiracy involving the Church and the occult (Templars). In previous Broken Sword titles, George and Nico traveled the globe investigating murders, cover-ups, and conspiracies revolving around the Knights Templar. Their fourth outing proves to be more of the same, beginning in New York and spreading to Istanbul, Arizona, Rome, and the Vatican.

There are several changes since the last Broken Sword game (Sleeping Dragon), the most glaring of which is the outsourcing of the game's graphics to Sumo Digital. The graphics are less polished, the colors flat, pathfinding is frustrating, animations are jerky, and most annoyingly, the bloated inventory (I was carrying the same items twenty hours later!). The 3D character modeling in cutscenes was horrible, and looked ten years old.

Also, the backstory is not as well developed as previous games. The character dialogue is, well, perfectly in character for George, with many witty comments, but the biggest problem here is that the story doesn't make you feel invested in George's adventure. Also, the part of the game that takes place in Phoenix was easily the weakest part, bordering on the absurd. Perhaps most offensively, the ending is all of.....thirty seconds. No, I'm not exaggerating. After you complete your final action, the ending is less than a minute, which left me deeply dissatisfied after spending twenty hours getting there.

The puzzles are, for the most part, intuitive: I only had to consult a walkthrough once or twice, and the answers were right in front of me. The unwieldy inventory makes combining items difficult, and you have no way to get rid of extra items that you've accumulated. Gone are the hated box puzzles from Broken Sword 3, and in its place is an enjoyable substitute, the "computer hacking" puzzles. I loved this touch, which seemed a perfectly believable addition to George's universe. He uses his PDA to hack into servers to look up information and override electronics. These are logic puzzles more than anything else, and can be solved by trial and error. Only one is a timed puzzle that has the potential to kill George if you fail, otherwise you have unlimited time (the only limit is your patience!). Like BS3, there are several "sneak" portions where you have to avoid detection by guards and monks.

However, there are several good things happening in Angel of Death (Secrets of the Ark in North America). The music is excellent, as usual: generally low key, with local touches in each of the locations. There is an "aha!" theme that plays when you solve a puzzle, providing useful feedback. There are several unusual locations to explore, including a a shady salami factory with mob connections, a communion wafer factory and Topkapi Palace (previously explored in the Discovery Channel's excellent FMV adventure Byzantine: The Betrayal). The voice acting, particularly George, was excellent as usual, except for a few weak spots (the African-American character slipped into a native British accent every other line). And the new Nico will be a source of debate: Cecil chose a native French speaker, but oddly enough, I'm so accustomed to the previous Nicos that the "real" French actress sounded fake! I felt detached from Nico in this game; she's in it only briefly, and is wasted in the Phoenix portion. And you get to play as George and Nico once again. Secrets of the Ark will definitely appeal to fans of the Broken Sword series, but there are too many glaring inconsistencies that may put off new players. There is a patch available on the game's official website that corrects some gameplay issues.

The Good:

+ You get to play as George and Nico

+ Music

+ Choice of locations

+ No more crate puzzles like BS3

The Bad:

- 3D Character modeling in cutscenes and close-ups looks ten years old

- Poor controls

- Noticeable lag on older computers / jerky animation makes precise movements impossible

- Plot holes / lack of backstory

- Nico's downplayed role

- Ending

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Second thoughts, a really good game (my bad!), July 8, 2007

By 

Go B'eamer "B'eamer" (Clayton, CA United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Secrets Of The Ark: Broken Sword IV (Video Game)

When I first got this game, I thought I made a mistake. The controls were extremely sluggish making it impossible to control objects and complete any of the timed puzzles. I met the minimum specs for playing the game, so why didn't it work? Answer: get a game-quality graphics card and like ATI or NVIDA and the game plays smoothly. Once I got past the technical frustrations, I settled into the game. I did not encounter any other bugs whats-so-ever. The storyline is fun and new, and humorous at times. The puzzles are clever and not too hard, although on a couple I had to get a clue on-line (I hate doing that!) so they are not all easy. This is a great adventure game for new and seasoned gamers alike. I racked up 24 hours of game play so I got my money's worth. I would definitely buy the sequel to this game.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly acceptable for the Genre., March 29, 2007

By 

D. Bouchard "Rushthatspeaks" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Secrets Of The Ark: Broken Sword IV (Video Game)

Broken Sword IV is your standard point and click adventure game with plenty of funny if not campy humor. Though due to it's often frustrating puzzles and overly subdued nature this game will only strongly appeal to true fans of the point and click genre.

Graphics- Though the graphics look good on a good computer, often times they lack the color and shading to properly immerse the player into the enviroment. Oh also, at first you'll think the game is true 3d, well it's not. You may have trouble navigating your way around until you get familiar with the controls. The game mostly relies on shifting camera angles with an occasional dip into true 3d if you run down a hall Etc.

Sound- The music doesn't really stand out in my mind as anything worth mentioning. In fact I think I kept it off most of the time. The sound effects are suitable for being mostly peripheral and easily ignored, it's the character dialogue and the game's humor that shines.

Gameplay- The game is very subdued in it's nature and the action is sparse or non existent. There is no combat and most of the action takes place in cut scenes after you solve puzzles that are often frustratingly hard until you figure them out, then you'll find yourself frustrated that you didn't figure these same puzzles out faster. Most of the game consists of solving puzzles via collecting, combining and or using items on different parts of the enviroment. There is a LOT of dialogue to sit through in Broken Sword IV as many of the game's puzzles won't be accessable until you listen to certain character's entire dialogue sequence. This can often be frustrating in itself as you will try every combination possible of a puzzle, only to finally cave in and talk to a nearby npc, then go back and try the exact same thing and have it work. GRRR! Thankfully this dialogue, though superfluous drives the story well enough and is humorous enough not to become a bore.

Story- It's a good solid story, if not a bit cliche. Though sadly like many games that rely on story Broken Sword IV's story starts with a bang then ends all too abruptly, not wrapping up tightly enough to fully satisfy the player. Poor closure for a game that is mostly story driven.

Overall- Broken Sword IV is definitely a rental that again, will only really satisfy true fans of the point and click genre. Unfortunately I'm not sure you can rent this game as I believe it is only for the PC. So maybe get it cheap and play it on a rainy Sunday in winter when you have nothing else at all to do. It'll be like watching a straight to video thriller, better than a sharp stick up [...]