Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

July 11,2004 - The GBA is not known as a hotbed for a traditional adventure gaming, which is what makes Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars such a unusual game. Based on the PC game that went by the title of Circle of Blood, it is a surprisingly competent port that translates well onto the GBA. It's a solid and enjoyable game that is bogged down occasionally by a few minor issues and a general lack of polish.

George Stobbart is an American tourist taking in the sights of Paris when his life is interrupted suddenly by an explosion that kills a man. After witnessing the crime, George takes it upon himself to track down the killer, and as a result, starts in motion a series of events that changes his life. It may seem lackluster at first, but it is a nice deviation from saving the world.

Broken Sword plays very much like a novel. Most of the actual gameplay is built around progressing and interacting with the game's world. Mechanics revolve around pushing forward the plot via item management, talking with other characters, getting descriptions of various things in your environments and moving about. Additionally, the entire story is relayed from the perspective of George, and he lends his own perspective to just about everything in the game, solidifying himself as the narrator. This lends the game to a feel that it is entirely about the story of the game, and it works. As you shuttle back and forth between the locations, take in the descriptions of the trivial background, and advance the major plot points, you really do feel like the game is playing out like a novel. The text is very novel-like, and your mind tends to fill in the gaps.

Part of the game's novel-like feel is due to the pacing of its puzzles. As any adventure game player will tell you, the core of the gameplay comes from the puzzles. Broken Sword's puzzles do a great job of staying related to the story, while still presenting a bit of a challenge on their own. That isn't to say this game is particularly hard. Puzzles are logical and generally easy to figure out.

Its relatively easy nature is due to Broken Sword's structure. There are a linear set of people to talk to, items to acquire and items to apply to people. For the most part, you end up moving from point A to point B to advance, and the game won't let you straggle far ahead without first talking to someone important or gathering a few critical items. For the most part, you will probably have what you need where you need to have it, and it is a simple matter of figuring out what to do as a result. This eliminates a lot of the guess work and helps game flow, but there are likely puzzles in here that will stump you anyway, so don't worry about breezing through the whole game.

Games, News, Reviews, Media and More